History
Filmways was formed by Martin Ransohoff in 1958. In 1966, The company acquired Heatter-Quigley Productions for Hollywood Squares. In 1969, it bought Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma County, California, outside of San Francisco. In 1972, Ransohoff left Filmways as president.
In 1974, it acquired book publisher Grosset & Dunlap from American Financial Group. In May 1975, it bought television syndication firm Rhodes Productions from Taft Broadcasting. In 1978, it acquired Ruby-Spears Productions, which had launched a year earlier. In 1979, after Arkoff's retirement, Filmways purchased American International Pictures. Their TV subsidiary, AITV, became Filmways' new syndication division in 1980, spinning off Rhodes into an independent corporation.
Filmways had lost nearly $20 million during the nine months ending in November 1981. However, it partially exited bankruptcy by selling few of their assets. In 1981, Ruby-Spears Productions was sold to Taft Broadcasting and Sears Point Raceway was sold to Speedway Motorsports. In 1982, Grosset & Dunlap was sold to G. P. Putnam's Sons.
In 1982, Filmways was acquired by Orion Pictures (with E. M. Warburg Pincus & Company and Home Box Office for its pay and cable television rights). A month after, Orion dismissed more than 80 Filmways employees from their jobs and brought in 40 of their own people, including 15 executives. Filmways was reincorporated as Orion Pictures Corporation in June 1982.
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