Filmways: Difference between revisions

| industry = [[Motion picture]]s, [[television program]]s

'''Filmways, Inc.''' (also known as '''Filmways Pictures''' and '''Filmways Television''') was ana [[television]] and [[film]] production company founded by [[United States|American]] film executive [[Martin Ransohoff]] and Edwin Kasper in 1952.<ref>https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1960/BC-1960-11-14.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> It is probably best remembered as the production company of [[CBS]]’' “"[[rural]] [[comedy|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 (1964 TV series)|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 (1981 film)|The Burning]]'', ''[[King (miniseries)|King]]'', [[Brian De Palma]]'s ''[[Dressed to Kill (1980 film)|Dressed to Kill]]'' and ''[[Blow Out]]'', and ''[[Death Wish II]]''.

Filmways acquired famousseveral companies throughout the years, such as [[Heatter-Quigley Productions]], [[Ruby-Spears|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 Studios#Background|Wally Heider Recording]] in Hollywood.

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 1966, the company acquired [[Heatter-Quigley Productions]], the game show producer known for their biggest hit, ''[[Hollywood Squares]]''.

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.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1967-06-26 |title=Sigma III may become Filmways subsidiary |pages=78 |work=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting Magazine]] |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/67-OCR/1967-06-26-BC-OCR-Page-0078.pdf |access-date=2023-06-14}}</ref> Two years later, in 1969, the company acquired [[Heatter-Quigley Productions]], the game show producer known for their biggest hit, ''[[Hollywood Squares]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1969-06-09 |title=Filmways expands with print, TV additions |pages=44 |work=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting Magazine]] |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/69-OCR/1969-06-09-BC-OCR-Page-0044.pdf |access-date=2023-03-16}}</ref> Also that year, the company bought [[Sonoma Raceway|Sears Point Raceway]] in [[Sonoma County, California]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Thompson Hill|first=Kathleen|title=Sonoma Raceway's food runs laps around the rest...|url=https://www.sonomanews.com/article/lifestyle/sonoma-raceways-food-runs-laps-around-the-rest/|website=sonomanews.com|publisher=Sonoma Media Investments, Inc.|date=19 June 2015|access-date=24 April 2022}}</ref> and [[Wally Heider Studios|Wally Heider's recording studios]] in Hollywood and San Francisco.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Filmways Acquires Skye in Stock Deal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qSkEAAAAMBAJ&dq=heider+filmways+acquired&pg=PA46|magazine=Billboard|publisher=Billboard|date=16 August 1969|access-date=24 April 2022}}</ref> 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.

In 1974, it acquired book publisher [[Grosset & Dunlap]] from [[American Financial Group]]. In May 1975, it revived the television syndication firm [[Blair Entertainment|Rhodes Productions]] after former parent [[Taft Broadcasting]] renamed the original company to Taft, H-B Program Sales two weeks agoearlier.<ref>{{cite news|title=Rhodes under Filmways flag|magazine=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]]|date=May 26, 1975|page=33}}</ref> In 1976, [[Richard L. Bloch]] became CEO. In 1977, it founded [[Ruby-Spears|Ruby-Spears Productions]] with former Hanna-Barbera alumni [[Joe Ruby]] and [[Ken Spears]]. Later that year, [[20th Television#Blair Entertainment|Rhodes Productions]] was spun off into an independent corporation, and launched its syndication unit '''Filmways Enterprises''', headed by [[Jamie Kellner]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=1978-12-11|title=From whence it came|work=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]]|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/78-OCR/1978-12-11-BC-OCR-Page-0070.pdf|access-date=2021-08-09}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Radio-Television: Filmways Puts Syndie Activities Under Wing Headed By Brown|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=August 22, 1979|page=58}}</ref>

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

* ''[[Green Acres]]'': Lisa Douglas ([[Eva Gabor]]), who says, “This"This has been a Filmways presentation, darling.”"<ref>[http://playerww99.mashpedia.com/player.php?ref=mashpedia&q=zDRiRMON9CM Mashpedia Video]</ref>

* ''[[The Addams Family (1964 TV series)|The Addams Family]]'': The logo was silent, but in some episodes the phrase was recited in a deep baritone voice by [[Ted Cassidy]], although he did not use his usual “Lurch”"Lurch" voice. A few other times, [[Carolyn Jones]] recited the phrase and added "darling" at the end.

Today, most of the Filmways library, including ''[[Green Acres]]'', ''[[The Addams Family (1964 TV series)|The Addams Family]]'', ''[[Cagney & Lacey]]'' (continued by Orion), ''[[Death Wish II]]'' ([[Golan-Globus|a Cannon film]]), ''[[The Hollywood Squares]]'', and ''[[Mister Ed]]'' is now owned by [[Metro-Goldwyn-MayerAmazon MGM Studios]] (alsovia owner of[[Orion Pictures|Orion which it purchased in 1998, and the pre-1988 Cannon Films libraryTelevision]]) until MGM quietly relaunched Orion Pictures on September 11, 2014.

[[CBS]] holds distribution rights to ''[[The Beverly Hillbillies]]'' and ''[[Petticoat Junction]]'' are owned by [[Paramount Global]]. [[Viacom (original1952–2005)|Viacom]] (the parent of [[CBS]] from 1999–20051999 to 2005, actually started as CBS’CBS' syndication arm) syndicated these two programs since the 1970s. In the case of ''Hillbillies'', [[OrionAmazon Pictures|OrionMGM Television]]Studios (nowvia a subsidiary of [[MGMOrion Television]] in 2013) 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 (TV series)|Personality]]'', and ''[[You're Putting Me On]]'' with [[Stewart Television|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 [[ELP Communications|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 Pictures|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 (1966 film)|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 its [[Turner Entertainment|Turner Entertainment Co.]] subsidiary).

=== Television divisionseries ===

| ''[[Personality (TV series)|Personality]]'' || 1967–69 || [[NBC]] || co-production with [[Stewart Television|Bob Stewart Productions]]

| align="right"| November 17, 1968 || ''[[Journey to Jerusalem (1968 film)|Journey to Jerusalem]]'' || distributed by Sigma III

| align="right"| May 8, 1981 || ''[[The Burning (1981 film)|The Burning]]'' || produced by [[Miramax|Miramax Films]]

| align="right"| November 12, 1981 || ''[[Roar (1981 film)|Roar]]'' || rowspan="2" | international distribution

| align="right"| December 11, 1981 || ''[[Four Friends (1981 film)|Four Friends]]'' ||

| align="right"| July 16, 1982 || ''[[Summer Lovers]]'' || rowspan="2" | distributed by [[Universal Pictures]]