Plautus Productions
| Television subsidiary | |
| Industry | Motion pictures, television programs |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Founder | Herbert Brodkin |
| Defunct | 1967 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California |
| Parent | Paramount Pictures |
Plautus Productions was an American television and film production company during the 1960s. The company was founded by producer and director Herbert Brodkin.
Plautus Productions was best known as the production company for some of CBS' popular crime dramas including Brenner, The Defenders, The Nurses, and Coronet Blue.[1]
Plautus Productions was a television subsidiary of Paramount Pictures.[2]
History
Plautus Productions was formed in 1959 by producer Herbert Brodkin and Paramount Pictures. The main sole purpose of the company at time of its founding was to provide production and distribution services to Brodkin's new series Brenner which premiered on CBS that same year.
After finding success with Brenner, Brodkin, who served as the president of the company, used that company to produce some of his other television series.
The series was responsible for the series The Defenders, The Nurses, (later The Doctors and the Nurses), Espionage, (the only Plautus Production produced for a network other than CBS), For the People, and Coronet Blue.[1]
The company closed in 1967, two years after Brodkin, along with fellow producer and business associate Robert "Buzz" Berger founded Titus Productions which took most of Brodkin's attention away from Plautus.[3]
Ownership and distribution of television properties
Brenner
The television series Brenner is now owned and distributed by CBS Television Distribution.
The Defenders
The Defenders, which ran on CBS from September 1961 until May 1965, is currently distributed and owned by CBS Television Distribution and has been since 2007. Before CBSTD, the series was distributed by Viacom and CBS Paramount Television.[4]
The Nurses
The Nurses, also known as The Doctors and the Nurses, ran on CBS from September 1962 until May 1965. The series is now owned by the CBS Corporation.
For the People
Like The Defenders, For the People is also owned by CBS and, since 2007, distributed by CBS Television Distribution.
Espionage
Espionage ran for one season on NBC. Though distributed by the now defunct ITC Entertainment outside of the United Kingdom, the program's distribution rights are now with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which also owns the program.[5]
Coronet Blue
Coronet Blue aired on CBS in 1967. The series was distributed by Viacom until 1994. From 1994 until 2006, the program was distributed by Paramount Domestic Television and by its successor CBS Paramount Domestic Television from 2006 until 2007. Currently, and since August 2007, the series has been distributed by CBS Television Distribution.
Productions by Plautus
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Notes | |
| 1961 | The Young Lovers | ||
| Killer Instinct | TV movie | ||
| 1962 | The Broken Barrelhead | ||
| Night Shift | |||
| The Naked Heiress | |||
| The Image of Angela | |||
| The Last Six Months | |||
| The Voices of the Death | |||
| The Locked Room | |||
| 1963 | Judgment Eve | ||
| 1967 | A Time to Be Born, A Time to Die | [6] | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Notes | |
| 1959-1964 | Brenner | Produced for CBS | |
| 1961-1965 | The Defenders | Produced for CBS | |
| 1962-1965 | The Nurses | Produced for CBS Also known as The Doctors and the Nurses | |
| 1964-1965 | Espionage | Produced for NBC | |
| 1965 | For the People | Produced for CBS | |
| 1967 | Coronet Blue | Produced for CBS[7] | |
References
- 1 2 "CTVA - Herb Brodkin/Plautus Productions". ctva.biz. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ↑ "Coronet Blue - Herb Brodkin's Television Empire Crumbles". www.tvobscurities.com. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ↑ "The Museum of Broadcast Communications - Brodkin, Herb (U.S. Producer". www.museum.tv. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ↑ Mark Alvey. "The Defenders: U.S. Legal Drama". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
- ↑ "CTVA UK - Espionage". ctva.biz. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ↑ "Plautus Productions Filmography". Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- ↑ "Plautus Productions [us]". www.imdb.com. Retrieved December 7, 2014.