Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Media |
Founded | 1986 |
Founder | Oprah Winfrey |
Headquarters |
|
Key people |
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Owner | Oprah Winfrey [3] [4] |
Number of employees | 12,554 (2012) |
Parent | Harpo, Inc. |
Divisions |
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Harpo Productions (or Harpo Studios) is an American multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey and based in West Hollywood, California. [1] [2] The name "Harpo" is "Oprah" spelled backwards, and it was also the name of her on-screen husband in the film The Color Purple (1985).
The company's origins can trace back to 1985 when Oprah appeared in The Color Purple . Winfrey founded her own company in 1986.
Oprah Winfrey got her roots in 1988 when Harpo Productions had to acquire her eponymous talk show from ABC O&O WLS-TV in Chicago, and automatically renewed its deal with King World Productions, who held minority interest, which was set to expire in 1991. [5]
Harpo Productions' subsidiaries consist of Harpo Print, the company's publishing house, and a minority interest in cable network Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Harpo originally owned 50% of OWN along with Discovery Communications, which purchased 24.5% of OWN in 2017 [6] [7] and a further 20.5% in 2020, [8] leaving Harpo with 5% ownership. [6] [7]
Past subsidiaries include Harpo Films, the company's film studio which shut down in early 2013, and Harpo Radio, the company's radio broadcasting division that shuttered on January 1, 2015. [9] The company was previously based in Chicago, with Harpo Studios situated in the West Loop neighborhood. The building was demolished in 2016, and new headquarters for McDonald's opened on the site in 2018. [10]
In January 2021, it was announced that Harpo Productions will produce an Oprah Winfrey documentary for Apple TV+. [11] That documentary series became known as The Me You Can't See , which Winfrey co-hosts with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
On January 1, 2011, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) launched. [12] It is co-owned by Harpo Studios (5%) and Warner Bros. Discovery (95%). [6] The network replaced the Discovery Health Channel, a cable channel previously owned by Discovery Communications, Inc. The network initially had a variety of new shows, including some hosted by the stable of experts Winfrey has cultivated on her daytime talk show including: The Gayle King Show, Our America with Lisa Ling , In The Bedroom with Dr. Laura Berman and Enough Already! with Peter Walsh .
Together with Hearst Magazines, Harpo Print, LLC publishes O, The Oprah Magazine . [13] The company also published O at Home, which Hearst officially folded in 2008 after a four-year run. [14] In July 2020, it was announced that O, The Oprah Magazine will end its regular print edition after the December 2020 issue. [15] [16] The December 2020 of O Magazine featured an article where Oprah thanked readers and also acknowledged it was the magazine's "final monthly print edition." [17]
Harpo Studios was the home of The Oprah Winfrey Show from January 15, 1990. located in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago. The studio also housed The Rosie Show , an American evening television talk show which was hosted and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell, airing on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Harpo Studios has Emmy Award–winning teams in production designs, lighting, camera work, editing, audio direction and graphic design. It also served as the location for the set of The Women of Brewster Place . Scenes from Beloved were also filmed on a set in Harpo Studios. The studio was sold to developer Sterling Bay in 2014 and was demolished in 2016. [18] The site would be home to the new global headquarters of McDonald's.
The land where the production studio stood once housed the 2nd Regiment Armory that was used as a makeshift morgue for victims of the capsizing of the steamer SS Eastland . [19] The 88,000-square-foot (8,200 m2) facility was renovated and opened in the late 1980s for her show. [20]
Company type | Division |
---|---|
Industry | Film production |
Founded |
|
Defunct | 2013 | (as telefilm producer)
Headquarters | United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Owner | Harpo, Inc. |
Parent | Harpo Productions |
Founded in 1993, Harpo Films, Inc. was the biggest division of Harpo Productions, run by Kate Forte for 18 years. It was an active supplier of motion pictures, developing and producing award-winning features and long-form television programs, including the "Oprah Winfrey Presents" telefilms for the ABC television network. Harpo Films was based in Los Angeles, California.
In late 2008, Harpo Films signed an exclusive output pact with HBO. [21] Previously, Harpo Films had a deal with ABC, which included production of Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom's For One More Day . [21] In February 2013, Harpo Films was shut down, citing that "the demand for long-form projects, especially on the broadcast side, has dried out." [22] Many of its employees were expected to move on to Harpo Studios' new scripted series division. [22] A small number of films already in production were released under the Harpo Films banner in 2014. Since then, the label has appeared irregularly on various films for which Winfrey has served as a producer.
Harpo Radio, Inc. was the holding company for the Oprah & Friends channel (156 on XM Satellite Radio). Oprah & Friends featured a broad range of daily and weekly programming on a variety of topics including self-improvement, nutrition, fitness, parenting, health, home, finance, and current events hosted by personalities from The Oprah Winfrey Show and O, The Oprah Magazine .
Regular presenters included specialists from a variety of fields, including Dr. Maya Angelou, Marianne Williamson, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Bob Greene, Nate Berkus, Jean Chatzky, Gayle King, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, and Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peete. Oprah, herself, also personally interviewed some of the most influential voices in the spiritual realm on her weekly program, Oprah's Soul Series.
Harpo Radio, Inc. produced and broadcast the Oprah & Friends channel from an XM studio in Chicago, Illinois, from New York, New York. It shut down on January 1, 2015. [9]
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped in Chicago and produced by Winfrey. It remains the highest-rated daytime talk show in American television history.
Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Science Channel, and TLC. In 2018, the company acquired Scripps Networks Interactive, adding networks such as Food Network, HGTV, and Travel Channel to its portfolio. Since the purchase, Discovery described itself as serving members of "passionate" audiences, and also placed a focus on streaming services built around its properties.
Sony Pictures Television Inc. is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainment and a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Sony Group Corporation.
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.
StudioCanal S.A.S., from 2001 until 2011 known as STUDIOCANAL, today from 2011 to present stylized as STUDIOCANAL and also known as StudioCanal International, is a French film production and distribution company. The company is a subsidiary of the Canal+ Group, owned by Vivendi. As of May 2024 the company has 14 production companies in Europe and the US, and holds around 9,000 titles in its extensive film library.
King World Productions, Inc. was a production company and syndicator of television programming in the United States founded by Charles King (1912–72) that was active from 1964 to 2007.
Dr. Phil is an American talk show created by Oprah Winfrey and the host Phil McGraw. After McGraw's segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002. On both shows, McGraw offered advice in the form of "life strategies" from his life experience as a clinical and forensic psychologist. The show was in syndication throughout the United States and several other countries. Occasional prime-time specials aired on CBS.
The Color Purple is a 1985 American epic coming-of-age period drama film that was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Menno Meyjes. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker and was Spielberg's eighth film as a director, marking a turning point in his career as it was a departure from the summer blockbusters for which he had become known. It was also the first feature film directed by Spielberg for which John Williams did not compose the music, instead featuring a score by Quincy Jones, who also produced. The film stars Whoopi Goldberg in her breakthrough role, with Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery, and Adolph Caesar.
ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is based in 12 countries across 60 production labels, with local production offices in the UK, US, Belgium, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Israel, France, Spain and Scandinavia.
The Color Purple is a musical with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray, based on the 1982 novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker and its 1985 film adaptation. The musical follows the journey of Celie, an African American woman in the American South from the early to mid-20th century.
The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is an American multinational basic cable television network which launched on January 1, 2011, effectively replacing the Discovery Health Channel. OWN is a joint venture between Warner Bros. Discovery and Harpo Studios, conceptualized largely by popular talk show host, Oprah Winfrey—the name of Harpo Studios is Winfrey's first name, spelled backwards.
Oprah Gail Winfrey, known mononymously as Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", she was the richest African-American of the 20th century and was once the world's only black billionaire. By 2007, she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world.
The Nate Berkus Show, also known as The Nate Show, is an American talk show that premiered on September 13, 2010, hosted by interior designer Nate Berkus. The series aired on syndication during its original run from September 13, 2010, to May 24, 2012. The Nate Berkus Show is a spin-off of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Oprah's Lifeclass is an American primetime television show hosted and produced by Oprah Winfrey, which aired on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. The series premiered on October 10, 2011.
Sheri Salata is an American author, speaker and producer. She is the former executive producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show, co-president of Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) and Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.
The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated daytime television talk show, hosted by Mehmet Oz, that aired between September 14, 2009, and January 14, 2022. Each episode features segments on health, wellness, and medical information, sometimes including true crime stories and celebrity interviews. It was co-produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions/Harpo Studios and OzWorks LLC/Oz Media in association with Sony Pictures Television.
The Color Purple is a 2023 American musical period drama film directed by Blitz Bazawule. Marcus Gardley's screenplay is based on the stage musical of the same name, which in turn is based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker. It is the second film adaptation of the novel, following the 1985 film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Spielberg and Quincy Jones. Spielberg and Jones return as producers for the 2023 film, along with its Broadway producers Scott Sanders and Oprah Winfrey, the latter of whom also starred in the 1985 film.