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58-517: 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. Desilu Productions was an American production company founded and co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball , best known for shows such as I Love Lucy , Star Trek , and The Untouchables . Until 1962, Desilu

116-404: A security guard . The sound stage is the central component of a studio lot. Most studios have several; small studios may have as few as one, and large studios have as many as 20 to 30. Movie studios also provide office space for studio executives and production companies, and makeup rooms and rehearsal rooms for talent. If space allows, a studio may have an outside backlot . Finally, there

174-414: A deal at Paramount Television for their own projects. In 1988, Murphy signed a contract with CBS to develop their own TV projects. In 1989, Gulf+Western was re-incorporated as Paramount Communications , named after the company's prime asset, Paramount Pictures (the name of which was also used for the company as a whole). That firm was sold to Viacom in 1994. In 1990, Paramount had signed Arsenio Hall to

232-467: A division of Universal Television with Universal holding theatrical and home video distribution rights, while NBCUniversal Syndication Studios holding television distribution rights. Some of EMKA's films were remade by Universal in later years such as Meet Joe Black , a remake of Death Takes a Holiday , and a few other films became adapted by Revue Studios as television series. This article about an American film distributor or production company

290-617: A division of Paramount Television until 2004. The first major hit from Viacom Productions to debut after becoming a division of Paramount Television was Sabrina the Teenage Witch , based on the Archie Comics of the same name . Starring Melissa Joan Hart as the title character , the series lasted four seasons on ABC (in contrast to the lack of success from the parent company on the network in this period) and three on The WB between 1996 and 2003. In 1995, Paramount struck

348-613: A faster recovery, contributing to the increasing dominance of Hollywood over New York City. The Big 5 By the mid-1920s, the evolution of a handful of American production companies into wealthy motion picture industry conglomerates that owned their own studios, distribution divisions , and theaters , and contracted with performers and other filmmaking personnel led to the sometimes confusing equation of studio with production company in industry slang. Five large companies: RKO Radio Pictures , 20th Century Fox , Paramount Pictures , Warner Bros. , and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer came to be known as

406-656: A growing proportion of Hollywood movie revenue, with approximately 70% of total movie revenue coming from international ticket sales; and the Chinese domestic box-office revenue is projected to outpace those of US in 2020. The growth of film studios and filmmaking outside of Hollywood and the US has produced popular international film studio locations such as Hollywood North ( Vancouver and Toronto in Canada ), Bollywood ( Mumbai , India ), and Nollywood ( Lagos , Nigeria ). As

464-504: A larger television library as well, since Viacom had television production and distribution units as well prior to the Paramount acquisition. The distribution company, Viacom Enterprises (which syndicated the classic CBS library among other shows), was merged into Paramount Domestic Television while the production company, Viacom Productions (known at the time for its co-productions with Fred Silverman and Dean Hargrove ), continued as

522-597: A motion picture of their own because they are not entertainment companies or motion picture companies; they are companies who sell only studio space. In 1893, Thomas Edison built the first movie studio in the United States when he constructed the Black Maria , a tarpaper-covered structure near his laboratories in West Orange , New Jersey , and asked circus, vaudeville, and dramatic actors to perform for

580-600: A multi-year exclusive production contract for film and television projects, and let his talk show to be renewed through 1994. In 1992, Paramount had struck a deal with various talent writers and producers. The talent were Don Johnson , Kathy Speer and Terry Grossman, Barry Fanaro and Mort Nathan , Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo , Tim O'Donnell , Janet Leahy , John Mankiewicz , Christopher Crowe and Jacob Epstein and Ken Solarz. Also that year, Donald P. Bellisario had left Universal Television after 12 years to sign with Paramount Television. The Viacom merger gave Paramount

638-773: A multi-year overall deal with Paramount to produce their projects under the Bungalow 78 Productions banner, and had plans for a series with a 13-episode commitment for CBS . Paramount then turned around, along with Kemp, with part ways, to turn the project over to Warner Bros. Television with new showrunners Ed Decter and John J. Strauss on the board. Paramount continued to build its television library. In 1999, Viacom acquired full interest in Spelling Entertainment Group (which included Spelling Television , Big Ticket Entertainment , Worldvision Enterprises , and Republic Pictures , among other companies), and

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696-430: A new Star Trek series as the cornerstone of the network. But these plans were scrapped, and Star Trek: Phase II was reworked into Star Trek: The Motion Picture . In 1979, Terry Keegan, Paramount employee, joined with Arthur Fellows to launch a Paramount-affiliated production company The Fellows/Keegan Company, who was worked until 1983, when it went alternative deals with the company. In 1983, Gary Nardino had left

754-583: A package of 60 Paramount films for syndication. Charles Bluhdorn 's Gulf+Western bought Desilu in 1967, which was merged into Paramount, who had been Desilu's next door neighbor since the closure of RKO Pictures . The sale resulted in Paramount Television assuming production of Desilu programs in December of that year. The three Desilu lots – the original RKO Studios and two Culver City locations – were included in

812-623: A pod development deal within the studio. In January 1995, Paramount finally launched a television network, the United Paramount Network, or UPN for short, which later merged with Time Warner 's The WB in 2006 to form The CW . Paramount Television produced the bulk of the series airing on UPN, including the first program ever shown on the network, Star Trek: Voyager . UPN became 100% owned by Viacom in 2000 after Chris-Craft sold its share (its television stations were sold to News Corporation ). Along with Star Trek: Voyager ,

870-519: A program deal with Procter & Gamble for a three-year period. It also expanded with a first-look partnership with NBC to obtain their projects created by the partnership that year. Also that year, it entered into a partnership with the Fox Broadcasting Company to launch a joint partnership with Television Production Partners to help them advertise their projects, and also include support from Fox's production partners. In 1994,

928-654: A tram tour of the backlot where films such as Psycho and Back to the Future were once shot. In fall 2019, movie mogul Tyler Perry opened Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta . The studio lot is claimed to be larger than any movie-studio lot in Hollywood. In the 1980s and 1990s, as the cost of professional 16mm film equipment decreased, along with the emergence of non-film innovations such as S-VHS and Mini-DV cameras, many young filmmakers began to make films outside

986-407: Is a secure compound enclosed by a tall perimeter wall. This is necessary to protect filmmaking operations from unwanted interference from paparazzi and crazed fans of leading movie stars . Movement in and out of the studio lot is normally limited to specific gates (often capped with grand decorative arches), where visitors must stop at a boom barrier and explain the purpose of their visit to

1044-733: Is a studio "commissary", which is the traditional term in the movie industry for what other industries call a company cafeteria . In addition to these basic components, the largest film studios are full-service enterprises offering the entire range of production and post-production services necessary to create a motion picture, including costumes, props, cameras, sound recording, crafts, sets, lighting, special effects , cutting, editing, mixing, scoring, automated dialogue replacement (ADR), re-recording, and foley . Independent suppliers of all these services and more (e.g., photographic processing labs) are often found in clusters in close proximity to film studios. Nitrate film , manufactured until 1951,

1102-459: The patents relevant to movie production at the time. Early movie producers relocated to Southern California to escape patent enforcement, thanks to more lenient local courts and physical distance from company detectives and mob allies. (Edison's patents expired in 1913.) The first movie studio in the Hollywood area was Nestor Studios , opened in 1911 by Al Christie for David Horsley . In

1160-407: The vertically integrated structure of the movie industry constituted an illegal monopoly . This decision, reached after twelve years of litigation, hastened the end of the studio system and Hollywood's "Golden Age". By the 1950s, the physical components of a typical movie studio had become standardized. Since then, a movie studio has usually been housed on a "studio lot." Physically, a studio lot

1218-538: The 1957–58 season. The spun-off theater chain purchased control of the ABC , and due to legal requirements sold WBKB-TV (now WBBM-TV ) to CBS . Another attempt by Paramount was known as Paramount Pictures Television. One of the series was Destination Space , a pilot to a proposed series that never got off the ground, produced in association with the CBS Television Network in 1959. In 1966, Paramount

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1276-457: The 1960s and the 1970s, with The Brady Bunch and The Odd Couple becoming the biggest hits for the studio. In 1971, Douglas S. Cramer , who served as vice president in charge of production at the studio had left, to start out his production company affiliated with Columbia Pictures and Screen Gems . In 1972, Thomas Miller , who was vice president of program development and Edward Milkis, who served in charge of post-production would leave

1334-640: The Big Five, the majors, or the Studios in trade publications such as Variety , and their management structures and practices collectively came to be known as the studio system . The Little 3 Although they owned few or no theaters to guarantee sales of their films, Universal Pictures , Columbia Pictures , and United Artists also fell under these rubrics, making a total of eight generally recognized major studios. United Artists, although its controlling partners owned not one but two production studios during

1392-568: The Golden Age, had an often-tenuous hold on the title of major and operated mainly as a backer and distributor of independently produced films. Smaller studios operated simultaneously with the majors. These included operations such as Republic Pictures , active from 1935, which produced films that occasionally matched the scale and ambition of the larger studio, and Monogram Pictures , which specialized in series and genre releases. Together with smaller outfits such as PRC TKO and Grand National,

1450-726: The Paramount Television Group and MTV Productions signed a deal to develop projects commissioned by MTV, and gave Paramount the right of first refusal on projects developed by MTV. For the 1997-98 season Paramount Network Television collaborated with Viacom sister MTV Productions , to produce the NBC comedy Jenny , the UPN (then-sister of MTV ) comedy Hitz , and the WB drama Three , but none of them got success beyond its first season. In 1996, producer Barry Kemp had signed

1508-524: The Paramount name as early as 2007, when the American distribution arm was merged with King World Productions (bought by CBS just prior to the 2000 Viacom merger) to form CBS Television Distribution. The international arm of PTV was merged with CBS Broadcast International in 2004 (one year before the CBS/Viacom split) to form CBS Paramount International Television. In 2009, CBS quietly announced that

1566-445: The Paramount name would be stripped from: the main company (CBS Paramount Television), its production arm ( CBS Paramount Network Television ), and its international arm, with the latter two being renamed CBS Television Studios and CBS Studios International , respectively. With these transactions, Paramount's involvement in television – at least in name only since 2005 – came to an end after 70 years (when

1624-680: The Sailor cartoons; now owned by Warner Bros. through Turner Entertainment Co. ), Harvey Films (most short subjects released between October 1950 and March 1962; now also owned by Universal Pictures through DreamWorks Animation and DreamWorks Classics ), and National Comics Publications ( Superman cartoons; later DC Comics , now also owned by Warner Bros. through DC Entertainment ). On December 15, 1966, CBS president John T. Reynolds left his role and became president of Paramount Pictures' new Paramount Television division. In 1967, Paramount Television Enterprises began distributing Portfolio I,

1682-484: The United States. The network signed network affiliation agreements with more than 50 television stations in 1950; despite this, most of Paramount's series were not widely viewed outside the West Coast. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which filed suit against Paramount for anti-trust violations, prevented the studio from acquiring additional television stations. Paramount executives eventually gave up on

1740-629: The camera. He distributed these movies at vaudeville theaters, penny arcades, wax museums, and fairgrounds. The first film serial , What Happened to Mary , was released by the Edison company in 1912. The pioneering Thanhouser movie studio was founded in New Rochelle, New York in 1909 by American theatrical impresario Edwin Thanhouser . The company produced and released 1,086 movies between 1910 and 1917, successfully distributing them around

1798-410: The company to start out a company affiliated with Paramount, Gary Nardino Productions, of which they stayed for six years until 1989. In 1984, former MGM producer Leonard Goldberg joined Paramount to serve as production agreement with the studio via Mandy Films. In 1986, Eddie Murphy , who had success with starring films for Paramount's own movie studio, launched Eddie Murphy Television Enterprises with

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1856-562: The dismantling of the DuMont Network. Television historian Timothy White called the clash between the two companies "one of the most unfortunate and dramatic episodes in the early history of the television industry." The Paramount Television Network aired several programs, including the Emmy Award -winning children's series Time for Beany . Filmed in Hollywood, the programs were distributed to an ad-hoc network of stations across

1914-475: The experimental TV stations that later became KTLA and WBBM were founded). Paramount had been the first major Hollywood studio to be involved in television. When CBS Paramount Television was renamed CBS Television Studios, Paramount Pictures joined forces with Trifecta Entertainment & Media in distributing the Paramount and Republic film libraries on television. Film studio There are also independently owned studio facilities, who have never produced

1972-729: The film industry had once hoped—movie studios were increasingly being used to produce programming for the burgeoning medium. Some midsize film companies, such as Republic Pictures , eventually sold their studios to TV production concerns , which were eventually bought by larger studios, such as the American Broadcasting Company which was purchased by Disney in 1996. With the growing diversification of studios into such fields as video games , television stations , broadcast syndication , television , theme parks , home video and publishing , they have become multi-national corporations. International markets account for

2030-470: The idea of a television network, and continued to produce series for other networks. Paramount Pictures had made a couple of attempts in the mid-1950s to produce series themselves under the Telemount (Television + Paramount) banner. The first, Cowboy G-Men , was a joint effort with Mutual Broadcasting for syndication. The second, Sally starring Joan Caulfield , was a short-lived series on NBC during

2088-716: The latter from Rysher Entertainment ). Most of the new Paramount Television series that debuted on CBS after the merger were not very successful, including Bram & Alice and Out of Practice (starring Happy Days veteran Henry Winkler ). However, four of these series would become hits: JAG spin-off NCIS , Numb3rs , Criminal Minds , and Ghost Whisperer (the latter two were co-productions with Touchstone Television, which later became ABC Studios ). All four of these series would continue under CBS Paramount Television and later CBS Television Studios, with only NCIS and Criminal Minds still airing (both also had spin-offs of their own , with varied success). In 2004, it

2146-475: The minor studios filled the demand for B movies and are sometimes collectively referred to as Poverty Row . The Big Five's ownership of movie theaters was eventually opposed by eight independent producers, including Samuel Goldwyn , David O. Selznick , Walt Disney , Hal Roach , and Walter Wanger . In 1948, the federal government won a case against Paramount in the Supreme Court , which ruled that

2204-423: The most successful Paramount Television shows on UPN were One on One , Star Trek: Enterprise and Girlfriends . In 2000, Viacom acquired its founding parent CBS, which had actually spun off Viacom in 1971. Paramount Television began producing more shows airing on CBS (it already produced JAG , a former NBC production, Becker starring Cheers veteran Ted Danson , and Nash Bridges , having acquired

2262-402: The rights to Rysher Entertainment 's television holdings. Also in 1999, Steven Bochco , being lured from CBS was recruited by Paramount Television for a production/distribution agreement. In 2003, Big Ticket was absorbed into Paramount, but Big Ticket continued to be used as an in-name only unit. In late 2005, Spelling Television has laid off its employees, transitioning from a separate studio to

2320-487: The ruling of the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. case in 1948, Music Corporation of America (MCA) approached Paramount to acquire the television distribution rights to 750 sound feature films released prior to December 1, 1949 for $ 10 million, with payment to be spread over a period of several years. Paramount saw this as a bargain since the studio saw very little value in its library of old films at

2378-630: The sale, but the Justice Department forced Bluhdorn to sell the Culver Studios to avoid a monopoly. The old RKO globe is still in place at the corner of Gower and Melrose in the Paramount lot. The first PTV production to premiere after the re-incorporation was Here's Lucy . Paramount only produced the first season however, selling their stake in the show to Ball after the season finale. Throughout that, Paramount started good relations with ABC , allowing it to produce several shows in

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2436-555: The same year, another 15 independents settled in Hollywood. Other production companies eventually settled in the Los Angeles area in places such as Culver City , Burbank , and what would soon become known as Studio City in the San Fernando Valley . The stronger early public health response to the 1918 flu epidemic by Los Angeles compared to other American cities reduced the number of cases there and resulted in

2494-578: The studio system. Filmmakers and producers such as Mike Judge , Adam Sandler , Jim Jarmusch , Robert Rodriguez , Steven Soderbergh , Quentin Tarantino , Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater made films that pushed boundaries in ways the studios were then reluctant to do. In response to these films, many distributed by mini-studios like Miramax , the majors created their own in-house mini-studios meant to focus on edgier, independent content. Focus Features

2552-516: The studio to start their own production company Miller/Milkis Productions with a development deal at the studio. Happy Days would go on to be a hit for both the studio and Miller/Milkis, with subsequent spin-offs that were served to launch a franchise. In 1977, Gary Nardino then become president of the studio. Gulf+Western had plans to launch a television network in the late 1970s, the Paramount Television Service , with

2610-601: The studios increased in size they began to rely on production companies like J. J. Abrams ' Bad Robot to handle many of the creative and physical production details of their feature films. Instead, the studios transformed into financing and distribution entities for their films (generally made by their affiliated production companies). With the decreasing cost of CGI and visual effects , many studios sold large chunks of their once-massive studio spaces or backlots to private real-estate developers. Century City in Los Angeles

2668-1027: The television production arm of Paramount Pictures , rebranding the company as Paramount Television. The Paramount Television Network was a venture by American film corporation Paramount Pictures to organize a television network in the late 1940s. The company built television stations KTLA in Los Angeles and WBBM-TV in Chicago; it also invested US$ 400,000 in the DuMont Television Network , which operated stations WABD (now WNYW ) in New York City, WTTG in Washington, D.C., and WDTV (now KDKA-TV ) in Pittsburgh. Escalating disputes between Paramount and DuMont concerning breaches of contract, company control, and network competition erupted regularly between 1940 and 1956, and culminated in

2726-710: The time. To address any antitrust concerns, MCA set up EMKA, Ltd. as a dummy corporation to sell these films to television. EMKA's Paramount library includes the first five Marx Brothers films (although it took until 1974 for rights issues to be cleared for Animal Crackers before it could legally be shown again), the first four Bob Hope – Bing Crosby Road to... pictures, and other classics such as Trouble in Paradise , Shanghai Express , She Done Him Wrong , Sullivan's Travels , The Palm Beach Story , For Whom The Bell Tolls , Double Indemnity , Going My Way , The Lost Weekend and The Heiress . Over

2784-521: The world. In the early 1900s, companies started moving to Los Angeles, California . Although electric lights were by then widely available, none were yet powerful enough to adequately expose film; the best source of illumination for motion picture production was natural sunlight. Some movies were shot on the roofs of buildings in Downtown Los Angeles . Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company , based in New York City, controlled almost all

2842-415: The years, MCA took in more than a billion dollars in rentals of these supposedly "worthless" films. In 1962, MCA purchased the US branch of Decca Records , then the parent company of Universal Studios , and subsequently divested MCA of the talent agency business. MCA was eventually acquired by Japan-based Matsushita Electric in 1990 and then by Seagram in 1995, renamed as Universal Studios in 1996 which

2900-488: Was created by Universal Pictures and Fox Searchlight was created by 20th Century Fox for this purpose. EMKA, Ltd. EMKA Limited is a company that is owned by the Universal Television division of NBCUniversal with the sole function of overseeing the 1929 – 1949 Paramount Pictures sound feature film library, with some exceptions. It was founded in 1958. In February 1958, nine years after

2958-435: Was highly flammable, and sets and backlots were and still are very flammable, which is why film studios built in the early-to-mid 20th century have water towers to facilitate firefighting . Water towers "somewhat inexplicably" evolved into "a most potent symbol ... of movie studios in general." Halfway through the 1950s, with television proving to be a lucrative enterprise not destined to disappear any time soon—as many in

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3016-689: Was merged with CBS Productions to form a new entity of Paramount Network Television, which produced all new shows for CBS. CBS Productions was rendered defunct in September 2004 by folding it up into Paramount Network Television, though the CBS Productions logo continued to be used on older co-productions airing on the CBS television network until 2006, becoming an in-name only unit of the studio. In 2001, Warren Littlefield moved his Littlefield Company from NBC Studios to Paramount Television. Ed Redlich

3074-736: Was on the verge of bankruptcy, when the studio was bought out by Gulf+Western . By that point, Paramount had largely distanced itself from television, having stopped production of its early shows, closed down its networks, and sold off the stations it owned. It also sold most of the early half of its sound-era theatrical library (mostly pre-1950 works) to such companies as EMKA, Ltd. —a wholly owned subsidiary of MCA (pre-1950 theatrical live-action sound features; now owned by Universal Television ), U.M. & M. TV Corporation (most short subjects released through October 1950; now owned by Paramount Pictures through Melange Pictures ), Associated Artists Productions – also called a.a.p. [sic] for short ( Popeye

3132-399: Was once part of the 20th Century Fox backlot, which was among the largest and most famous of the studio lots. In most cases, portions of the backlots were retained and are available for rental by various film and television productions. Some studios offer tours of their backlots , while Universal Pictures allows visitors to its adjacent Universal Studios Hollywood theme park to take

3190-519: Was renamed CBS Paramount Network Television. Paramount's final series was Courting Alex (co-produced with Touchstone Television) for CBS. Programs produced by Paramount Television before and after the split are distributed on home media by Paramount Home Entertainment (pre-2005 Paramount programs are released through CBS Home Entertainment due to CBS Studios owning the pre-2005 Paramount television library). The company survived as CBS Paramount Television for three years. However, CBS began phasing out

3248-472: Was sold to Vivendi in 2000. In 1997, Universal Television was sold to USA Networks , 5 years later on May 28, 2002, its entertainment assets were sold to Vivendi Universal. In 2004, Vivendi, merged its entertainment division with General Electric 's NBC to form NBC Universal . In 2011, Comcast bought 51% of NBC Universal from Vivendi and renamed it NBCUniversal, and in 2013, Comcast bought remaining 49% of NBCUniversal from GE. EMKA continues to exist as

3306-482: Was struck to a deal with Paramount Network Television in 2005. At the end of 2005, Viacom split into two companies, one of which was called CBS Corporation , the other retaining the Viacom name. Despite Paramount Pictures being owned by the new Viacom, CBS Corporation inherited Paramount Television, as well as the right to retain the Paramount name. On January 16, 2006, the new incarnation of Paramount Network Television

3364-702: Was the second-largest independent television production company in the United States behind MCA Inc. 's Revue Productions until MCA bought Universal Pictures , and Desilu became and remained the number-one independent production company until it was sold in 1967. Ball and Arnaz jointly owned the majority stake in Desilu from its inception until 1962, when Ball bought out Arnaz and ran the company by herself for several years. Ball had succeeded in making Desilu profitable again by 1967, when she sold her shares of Desilu to Gulf+Western for $ 17 million ($ 155 million in 2023 dollars). Gulf+Western then transformed Desilu into

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