Filmways

Last updated
Filmways, Inc.
Company type Corporation
Industry Motion pictures
Television programs
Founded1952;72 years ago (1952)
Founder Martin Ransohoff
Edwin Kasper
Defunct1982;42 years ago (1982)
FateAcquired by Orion Pictures and renamed as Orion Pictures Corporation
Successor Orion Pictures Corporation
Headquarters Sonoma County, California
Key people
Martin Ransohoff
Edwin Kasper
Rodney Erickson

Filmways, Inc. (also known as Filmways Pictures and Filmways Television) was a television and film production company founded by American film executive Martin Ransohoff and Edwin Kasper in 1952. [1] It is probably best remembered as the production company of CBS' "rural comedies" of the 1960s, including Mister Ed , The Beverly Hillbillies , Petticoat Junction , and Green Acres , as well as the comedy-drama The Trials of O'Brien , the western Dundee and the Culhane , the adventure show Bearcats! , the police drama Cagney & Lacey , and The Addams Family . Notable films the company produced include The Sandpiper , The Cincinnati Kid , The Fearless Vampire Killers , Ice Station Zebra , Summer Lovers , The Burning , King , Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill and Blow Out , and Death Wish II .

Contents

Filmways acquired several companies throughout the years, such as Heatter-Quigley Productions, Ruby-Spears Productions and American International Pictures. It was also the owner of the film distributor Sigma III Corporation ( Closely Watched Trains , Hi, Mom! ), and Wally Heider Recording in Hollywood.

History

Filmways was formed in 1952 by Martin Ransohoff and Edwin Kasper, who would part with Filmways five years later. The company originally produced television commercials and documentary films. In 1959, Filmways entered the television sitcom arena in a big way when many executives of McCadden Productions (a production company founded by comedian and actor George Burns) joined Filmways following McCadden's Chapter 7 bankruptcy earlier the same year. Filmways TV Productions was formed with former McCadden executive Al Simon as president, producing its first TV series, 21 Beacon Street . During that time, McCadden also produced the pilot which would later become the series Mister Ed . Burns sold the rights to Filmways, and Burns and director Arthur Lubin formed The Mister Ed Company as a joint venture. As a result, Mister Ed became a smash hit. From 1962 until 1971, Filmways produced its biggest hit, The Beverly Hillbillies for CBS, created by Paul Henning, another former McCadden executive.

In 1967, the company had acquired small film distributor Sigma III Corporation, as well as its film library in an effort to expand onto motion picture production and distribution. [2] Two years later, in 1969, the company acquired Heatter-Quigley Productions, the game show producer known for their biggest hit, Hollywood Squares . [3] Also that year, the company bought Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma County, California, [4] and Wally Heider's recording studios in Hollywood and San Francisco. [5] Filmways was also listed as a co-developer of Ontario Motor Speedway in San Bernardino County, California, which opened in 1970. In 1972, Ransohoff left Filmways as president.

Filmways housed studios in Manhattan at 246 East 127th Street, which were built for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1920s.

In 1974, it acquired book publisher Grosset & Dunlap from American Financial Group. In May 1975, it revived the television syndication firm Rhodes Productions after former parent Taft Broadcasting renamed the original company to Taft, H-B Program Sales two weeks earlier. [6] In 1976, Richard L. Bloch became CEO. In 1977, it founded Ruby-Spears Productions with former Hanna-Barbera alumni Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. Later that year, Rhodes Productions was spun off into an independent corporation, and launched its syndication unit Filmways Enterprises, headed by Jamie Kellner. [7] On July 12, 1979, after Samuel Z. Arkoff's retirement, Filmways purchased American International Pictures (AIP). Their TV subsidiary, AITV was eventually merged into Filmways Enterprises. [8]

Filmways had lost nearly $20 million during the nine months ending in November 1981. However, it partially exited bankruptcy by selling a few of its previously acquired assets. In 1981, Ruby-Spears Productions was sold to Taft Broadcasting, owners of the Hanna-Barbera animation studio and Sears Point Raceway was sold to Speedway Motorsports. In 1982, Grosset & Dunlap was sold to G. P. Putnam's Sons.

In February 1982, Filmways was acquired by Orion Pictures (with E. M. Warburg Pincus & Company and Home Box Office (HBO) for its pay and cable television rights). [9] Filmways was then reincorporated as Orion Pictures Corporation on August 31, 1982. [10]

Announcements at the end of productions

Most productions ended with the announcement, "This has been a Filmways presentation". For some shows, the voice-over was made by a cast member:

Ownership of film, television properties

Today, most of the Filmways library, including Green Acres , The Addams Family , Cagney & Lacey (continued by Orion), Death Wish II (a Cannon film), The Hollywood Squares , and Mister Ed is now owned by Amazon MGM Studios (via Orion Television).

The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction are owned by Paramount Global. Viacom (the parent of CBS from 1999 to 2005, actually started as CBS' syndication arm) syndicated these two programs since the 1970s. In the case of Hillbillies, Amazon MGM Studios (via Orion Television) still owns the copyrights to the episodes, excluding episodes from the first season and the first half of the second season, which have fallen into the public domain. However, any new compilation of Hillbillies material will be copyrighted by either MPI Media Group or CBS, depending on the series content.

Filmways co-produced Eye Guess , The Face Is Familiar , Personality , and You're Putting Me On with Bob Stewart Productions. Those four game shows are currently owned by Sony Pictures Television (SPT). Filmways syndicated Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman that was produced by T.A.T. Communications Company. That too is owned by SPT (via ELP Communications). SPT co-distributed the MGM library for a short time.

The rights to nearly all movies Filmways co-produced with major studios have been retained by the studios that originally released them; 10 Rillington Place is owned by Columbia Pictures, Save the Tiger is owned by Paramount Pictures, Two-Minute Warning is owned by Universal Studios, and so forth. Most of the foreign-language films released by their Sigma III division have reverted to their original producers, but a small number of English-language films Sigma III handled such as Cul-de-sac and Hi, Mom! were retained by Filmways and are now owned by Amazon MGM Studios (via Orion Pictures). The rest that were originally released by MGM prior to May 23, 1986 are currently owned by Warner Bros. (via Turner Entertainment Co.).

Television series

TitleYearsNetworkNotes
21 Beacon Street 1959 NBC
Mister Ed 1961–66 Syndication/CBS
The Beverly Hillbillies 1962–71 CBS
Petticoat Junction 1963–70 CBS
The Addams Family 1964–66 ABC
Green Acres 1965–71 CBS
The Trials of O'Brien 1965–66 CBS
Eye Guess 1966–69 NBC co-production with Bob Stewart Productions
The Hollywood Squares 1966–81 NBC co-production with Heatter-Quigley Productions
The Double Life of Henry Phyfe 1966 ABC
The Face Is Familiar 1966 CBS co-production with Bob Stewart Productions
The Pruitts of Southampton 1966–67 ABC
Personality 1967–69 NBC co-production with Bob Stewart Productions
Dundee and the Culhane 1967 CBS
The Debbie Reynolds Show 1969–70 NBC
Bearcats! 1971 CBS
Ozzie's Girls 1973–1974 Syndication
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman 1976–1977 Syndication produced by T.A.T. Communications Company. T.A.T. took over syndication during season 2
Big Hawaii 1977 NBC
King 1978 NBC
240-Robert 1979–81 ABC
Thundarr the Barbarian 1980–82 ABC (1980–82)/NBC (1983)co-production with Ruby-Spears
Cagney & Lacey 1982–88 CBS continued by Orion Television

Feature films

Release DateTitleNotes
June 21, 1962 Boys' Night Out distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
November 14, 1963 The Wheeler Dealers
September 17, 1964 Topkapi distributed by United Artists
October 27, 1964 The Americanization of Emily distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
June 23, 1965 The Sandpiper
October 11, 1965 The Loved One
October 15, 1965 The Cincinnati Kid
1967 Too Many Thieves
June 20, 1967 Don't Make Waves
November 13, 1967 The Fearless Vampire Killers
December 6, 1967 Eye of the Devil
October 23, 1968 Ice Station Zebra
November 17, 1968 Journey to Jerusalem distributed by Sigma III
February 9, 1969 A Midsummer Night's Dream television film
July 23, 1969 Castle Keep distributed by Columbia Pictures
December 21, 1969 Hamlet
April 27, 1970 Hi, Mom! distributed by Sigma III; Produced by West End Films
July 1970 The Moonshine War distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
May 12, 1971 10 Rillington Place distributed by Columbia Pictures
June 30, 1971 What's the Matter with Helen? distributed by United Artists
September 2, 1971 See No Evil distributed by Columbia Pictures
November 22, 1971 King Lear distributed by Altura Films
July 14, 1972 Fuzz distributed by United Artists
February 14, 1973 Save the Tiger distributed by Paramount Pictures
July 21, 1974 The White Dawn
November 14, 1975 The Other Side of the Mountain distributed by Universal Pictures
November 7, 1976 21 Hours at Munich television film
November 12, 1976 Two-Minute Warning distributed by Universal Pictures
February 10, 1978 The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2
July 11, 1980 How to Beat the High Cost of Living
July 24, 1980 The Earthling
July 25, 1980 Dressed to Kill
September 26, 1980 Without Warning
October 3, 1980 The First Deadly Sin
November 28, 1980 The Babysitter television film
May 8, 1981 The Burning produced by Miramax Films
July 24, 1981 Blow Out
October 9, 1981 Full Moon High
March 1, 1981 Miracle on Ice television film
November 12, 1981 Roar
December 11, 1981 Four Friends
February 19, 1982 Death Wish II US distribution; produced by The Cannon Group, Inc.
July 16, 1982 Summer Lovers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanna-Barbera</span> American production company

Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. was an American production company that was active from 1957 until its absorption into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001. Founded on July 7, 1957 by Tom and Jerry creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera along with George Sidney, it was headquartered at the Kling Studios from 1957 to 1960, then on Cahuenga Blvd from 1960 to 1998 and subsequently at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Sherman Oaks from 1998 to 2001.

American International Pictures LLC is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing films from 1955 until 1980, a year after its acquisition by Filmways in 1979.

Orion Releasing, LLC is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon.

Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner on August 2, 1986. Purchased by Time Warner Entertainment on October 10, 1996, as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing the TBS library for worldwide distribution. In recent years, this role has largely been limited to being the copyright holder, as it has become an in-name-only subsidiary of Warner Bros., which currently administers their library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metromedia</span> Defunct American media company

Metromedia was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMont Television Network ceased operations and its owned-and-operated stations were spun off into a separate company. Metromedia sold its television stations to News Corporation in 1985, and spun off its radio stations into a separate company in 1986. Metromedia then acquired ownership stakes in various film studios, including controlling ownership in Orion. In 1997, Metromedia closed down and sold its media assets to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby-Spears</span> American entertainment production company

Ruby-Spears Productions was an American entertainment production company specialized in animation, which was active from 1977 until its closure in 1996. Founded by veteran writers and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, it was headquartered in Burbank, California, with another branch in Rome, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Pictures</span> American television and film studio

Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment through multiple platforms. Through an intermediate holding company called Sony Film Holding Inc., it is operated as a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., which is itself a subsidiary of the Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony Group Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia Pictures Television</span> Former American television and distribution company

Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution company. It is the second name of the Columbia Pictures' television division Screen Gems (SG) and the third name of Pioneer Telefilms. The company was active from 1974 until New Year's Day 2001, when it was folded into Columbia TriStar Television, a merger between Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television. A separate entity of CPT continues to exist on paper as an intellectual property holder, and under the moniker "CPT Holdings" to hold the copyright for the TV show The Young and the Restless, as well as old incarnations from the company's television library such as What's Happening!!

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Spears</span> American animator, writer, television producer, and sound editor (1938–2020)

Charles Kenneth Spears was an American animator, writer, television producer and sound editor. He was best known as a co-creator of the Scooby-Doo franchise, together with Joe Ruby. In 1977, they co-founded the television animation production company Ruby-Spears Productions. Spears along with Ruby would create many other shows such as Jabberjaw, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and Fangface. Spears would also work on the shows Sectaurs, Mister T and Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Martin Nelson Ransohoff was an American film and television producer, and member of the Ransohoff family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MGM Television</span> Television studio arm of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, previously known as MGM/UA Television, is the television studio arm of American media company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) specializing in broadcast syndication and the production and distribution of television shows and miniseries.

Heatter-Quigley Productions was an American television production company that was launched in 1960 by two former television writers, Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley. After Quigley's retirement, the company became Merrill Heatter Productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rysher Entertainment</span> American film and television production company and distributor

Rysher Entertainment, Inc. was an American film and television production company and distributor. It was founded in 1991. In 1993, Rysher was acquired by Cox Enterprises, and was subsequently closed in 1999. That same year, Viacom entered an agreement with Cox Enterprises for distribution rights to the Rysher library, which currently lie with Viacom's successor Paramount Global, specifically its subsidiaries Paramount Pictures and CBS Media Ventures. Ownership of the company's assets changed hands multiple times over the 2000s before finally being acquired by Vine Alternative Investments in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taft Broadcasting</span> American media conglomerate (1939–1999)

Taft Broadcasting Company was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution, Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV is the television syndication division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, in the United States. Its predecessors include NBC Enterprises, Universal Television Distribution, Multimedia Entertainment, PolyGram Television, and Sky Vision. At some point in its history, it was also known as "NBCUniversal Television & New Media Distribution" and "NBC Universal Television and New Media Distribution.” This unit is possibly the parent for the similarly named "NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution" unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Comedy Channel (British TV channel)</span> Former British short-lived satellite television network (1991–1992)

The Comedy Channel was a short-lived satellite television network owned by British Sky Broadcasting during the early 1990s.

Caro Jones was a Canadian-American actress and casting director who was responsible for casting more than 1,000 films, theater productions and television shows over the course of more than forty years, including Rocky, The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramount Television</span> Former television production division of Paramount Pictures

The first incarnation of Paramount Television was operated as the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, until it changed its name to CBS Paramount Television on January 17, 2006.

References

  1. "Broadcasting" (PDF). 1960-11-14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-03-08.
  2. "Sigma III may become Filmways subsidiary" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine . 1967-06-26. p. 78. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  3. "Filmways expands with print, TV additions" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine . 1969-06-09. p. 44. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  4. Thompson Hill, Kathleen (19 June 2015). "Sonoma Raceway's food runs laps around the rest..." sonomanews.com. Sonoma Media Investments, Inc. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  5. "Filmways Acquires Skye in Stock Deal". Billboard. Billboard. 16 August 1969. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  6. "Rhodes under Filmways flag". Broadcasting . May 26, 1975. p. 33.
  7. "From whence it came" (PDF). Broadcasting . 1978-12-11. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
  8. "Radio-Television: Filmways Puts Syndie Activities Under Wing Headed By Brown". Variety . August 22, 1979. p. 58.
  9. "Orion Group Gets Filmways". The New York Times . February 10, 1982. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  10. "Selected Entity Name: Orion TV Productions, Inc". Corporation & Business Entity Database. State of New York. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  11. Mashpedia Video