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Filmways, Inc.

Company type	Corporation
Industry	Motion pictures Television programs
Founded	1952; 73 years ago (1952)
Founder	Martin Ransohoff Edwin Kasper
Defunct	1982; 43 years ago (1982)
Fate	Acquired byOrion Pictures and renamed as Orion Pictures Corporation
Successor	Orion Pictures Corporation
Headquarters	Sonoma County, California, U.S.
Key people	Martin Ransohoff Edwin Kasper Rodney Erickson

Filmways, Inc. (also known asFilmways Pictures andFilmways Television) was atelevision andfilm production company founded by American film executiveMartin Ransohoff and Edwin Kasper in 1952.^[1] It is probably best remembered as the production company ofCBS' "ruralcomedies" of the 1960s, includingMister Ed,The Beverly Hillbillies,Petticoat Junction, andGreen Acres, as well as the comedy-dramaThe Trials of O'Brien, the westernDundee and the Culhane, the adventure showBearcats!, the police dramaCagney & Lacey, andThe Addams Family. The company also briefly distributedSCTV in the United States and also distributed a syndicated half-hour edition of reruns ofSaturday Night Live in the late 1970s. Notable films the company produced includeThe Sandpiper,The Cincinnati Kid,The Fearless Vampire Killers,Ice Station Zebra,Summer Lovers,The Burning,King,Brian De Palma'sDressed to Kill andBlow Out, as well asDeath Wish II.

Filmways acquired several companies over the years, such asHeatter-Quigley Productions,Ruby-Spears Productions, andAmerican International Pictures. It was also the owner of the film distributor Sigma III Corporation (Closely Watched Trains,Hi, Mom!), andWally Heider Recording in Hollywood.

Filmways was formed in 1952 by Martin Ransohoff and Edwin Kasper, who parted 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 ofMcCadden Productions (a production company founded by comedian and actorGeorge 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 seriesMister Ed. Burns sold the rights to Filmways, and Burns and directorArthur Lubin formedThe 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 forCBS, created byPaul 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 acquiredHeatter-Quigley Productions, the game show producer known for their biggest hit,Hollywood Squares.^[3] Also that year, the company boughtSears Point Raceway inSonoma County, California,^[4] andWally Heider's recording studios in Hollywood and San Francisco.^[5] Filmways was also listed as a co-developer of theOntario Motor Speedway inSan Bernardino County, California, which opened in 1970. In 1972, Ransohoff left Filmways as president.

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

In 1974, it acquired book publisherGrosset & Dunlap fromAmerican Financial Group. In May 1975, it revived the television syndication firmRhodes Productions after former parentTaft 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 foundedRuby-Spears Productions with former Hanna-Barbera alumniJoe Ruby andKen Spears. Later that year, Rhodes Productions was spun off into an independent corporation, and launched its syndication unitFilmways Enterprises, headed byJamie Kellner.^[7] On July 12, 1979, afterSamuel Z. Arkoff's retirement, Filmways purchasedAmerican 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 toTaft Broadcasting, owners of theHanna-Barbera animation studio and Sears Point Raceway was sold toSpeedway Motorsports. In 1982, Grosset & Dunlap was sold toG. P. Putnam's Sons.

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

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

• Petticoat Junction: first, Billie Jo Bradley (Jeannine Riley) and later, Betty Jo Bradley (Linda Kaye Henning)
• Green Acres: Lisa Douglas (Eva Gabor), who says, "This has been a Filmways presentation, darling."^[11]
• The Beverly Hillbillies: Elly May Clampett (Donna Douglas). Following a few episodes, the voice of Jethro,Max Baer Jr., can be heard saying, "Aww, shuddup, Elly May", following her announcement. Seasons 1–3, however, feature Bill Baldwin, the announcer for the show's sponsors.
• Mister Ed: Roger Addison (Larry Keating). Later seasons feature Mister Ed (Allan Lane) saying it after Keating's death in 1963.
• The Addams Family: The logo was silent, but in some episodes the phrase was recited in a deep baritone voice byTed Cassidy, although he did not use his usual "Lurch" voice. A few other times,Carolyn Jones recited the phrase and added "darling" at the end.

Today, most of the Filmways library, includingGreen Acres,The Addams Family,Cagney & Lacey,Blow Out (both continued by Orion),Death Wish II (a Cannon film),The Hollywood Squares, andMister Ed is now owned byAmazon MGM Studios (viaOrion Television).

The Beverly Hillbillies andPetticoat Junction are owned byParamount Skydance.Viacom (the parent ofCBS from 1999 to 2005, actually started as CBS' syndication arm) syndicated these two programs since the 1970s. In the case ofHillbillies, 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 thepublic domain. However, any new compilation ofHillbillies material will be copyrighted by either MPI Media Group or CBS, depending on the series content.

Filmways co-producedEye Guess,The Face Is Familiar,Personality, andYou're Putting Me On withBob Stewart Productions. Those four game shows are currently owned bySony Pictures Television (SPT). Filmways syndicatedMary Hartman, Mary Hartman that was produced byT.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 byColumbia Pictures,Save the Tiger is owned byParamount Pictures,Two-Minute Warning is owned byUniversal 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 asCul-de-sac andHi, 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 byWarner Bros. (viaTurner Entertainment Co.).

• Filmways
• American companies established in 1952
• American companies disestablished in 1982
• Mass media companies established in 1952
• Mass media companies disestablished in 1982
• 1982 mergers and acquisitions
• Defunct American film studios
• Film distributors of the United States
• Film production companies of the United States
• Television production companies of the United States
• Companies based in Sonoma County, California
• Defunct companies based in California
• 1952 establishments in the United States
• 1982 disestablishments in California
• Former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer subsidiaries
• 1952 establishments in California
• Warburg Pincus companies

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