Plautus Productions
| Type | Television subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Motion pictures, television programs |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Founder | Herbert Brodkin |
| Defunct | 1967 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California |
| Parent | Paramount Pictures (1963-1967) |
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's popular crime dramas including Brenner, The Defenders, The Nurses (also known as The Doctors and the Nurses), and Coronet Blue, along with NBC's Espionage, the only Plautus production produced for a network other than CBS.
Plautus Productions was a television subsidiary of Paramount Pictures, who acquired it in 1963.[1][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 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 and made its first show, Shane, at Paramount Pictures.[3][4]
Ownership and distribution of television properties
Brenner, The Defenders,[5] The Nurses, For the People and Coronet Blue all ran on CBS and are presently owned and distributed by CBS Media Ventures.
Espionage, which ran for one season on NBC, was co-produced by ATV, an ITV contractor in the United Kingdom. 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.
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 (United States) and ATV (United Kingdom) | |
| 1965 | For the People | Produced for CBS | |
| 1967 | Coronet Blue | Produced for CBS | |
References
- ↑ "PARAMOUNT PLANS EXPANSION IN TV; Acquires Concern Producing 'Defenders' and 'Nurses' Hughes Tool Co". The New York Times. 1963-06-18. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ↑ Adams, Val (1963-06-23). "NEWS OF TV AND RADIO; 'Sunrise Semester' To Be Shown Over C.B.S. Network--Assorted Items". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ↑ "The Museum of Broadcast Communications - Brodkin, Herb (U.S. Producer". www.museum.tv. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ↑ "These are the leaders in new international syndication" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 16, 1966. p. 29. Retrieved June 5, 2026.
- ↑ Mark Alvey. "The Defenders: U.S. Legal Drama". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
- ↑ "Plautus Productions Filmography". Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.