The Dream

The Dream

In the early twentieth century, film maker and producer Adolph Zukor met Jesse Lasky, owner of Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. The two men admired each others previous work and, in 1916, decided to combine forces. They created Paramount pictures and had one of the most familiar slogans in the film industry, "If it's a Paramount Picture it's the Best Show in Town". Proving their slogan true they started turning out more than two pictures per week. During it's peak in the silent film making era, Paramount was making 5 million dollars a year more than other production companies such as Warner, Fox, and Universal.(Paramount)

Paramount Pictures has come a long way since the silent film era. Now owned by Viacom, they have expanded their enterprise from simple movies to state of the art motion pictures, television shows, and other forms of home entertainment such as VHS and DVD.

They have been an important driving force in film and television, and have been impacting our entertainment industry for almost 90 years. Paramount engages in many activities, and has influenced telecommunications and films through these. Paramount is comprised of three separate entities, which work together and individually to produce revenue for Paramount and Viacom. Paramount has increased its revenue by profiting from all of its many sources of income, which have helped the company to remain a leader in the film industry.

Paramount's many activities, including movies, television shows, home entertainment, and theme parks have rocketed Paramount to huge success. Some of Paramount's box office hits include Titanic, which is the all time box office leader, Mission Impossible, Ghost, Forrest Gump, and many film collections such as The Godfather and Indiana Jones. Paramount also teamed up with other Viacom owned companies such as Nick Movies to produce Rugrats in Paris: the Movie and Snow Day.(Viacom) Paramount did not only focus on movies, it branched out and stirred up the television industry also. Paramount's Television history is "Home to award-winning comedies, the most successful franchise in syndication history, and a library of classic shows" (Viacom) and boasts over 55,000 hours of programming. The Paramount Television group has also created hits such as Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210, and the infamous Star Trek franchise. In addition to movies and television, Paramount has made their motion pictures available for home use through their Paramount Home Entertainment group. This group has provided households all over the world with the classics and the box office hits, and even Nickelodeon shows like Blues Clues and Rugrats. Another fun experience Paramount has provided for their viewers is theme parks. Paramount has theme parks all over the United States, including a Star Trek theme park in Las Vegas.(Viacom)

Entertainment is not all Paramount has provided for the telecommunications and film industry. Since the company began, the decisions it has made have influenced others in the industry. Even though they may not have always been the most profitable movie making company, they have always been interested in broadening their horizons, and the sky was the limit. Not long after Paramount was created "Zukor decided to maintain his company's supremacy in the industry. He began a theater-buying campaign that amassed single houses and entire circuitsÐ'... By 1930, the firm's movie-house division had grown to include almost 2,000 units and was named Publix Theaters"(Huettig). Paramount helped establish the neighborhood movie theater, along with providing hundreds of award winning quality movies to view. Paramount has also contributed to the competitive aspect of the movie industry, forcing actors and directors to do their best work. Stated by Joseph Youngerman in his book My Seventy Years at Paramount Studios and the Directors Guild of America, he says "If you did a good job, unless you were an actor or a director or a special producer, once you worked at Paramount it was very secure"(75-76). An actor's job was never secure, so they had to keep working hard and producing better performances. This kept the talent market competitive and made movies much more enjoyable.

Viacom, a large media corporation, merged with Paramount in 1994 and now owns Paramount and all of its productions. Paramount is divided into three components, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television, and Paramount Home Entertainment. Paramount Pictures creates and produces movies for theater viewing, while Paramount