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Apr 6, 2024 · Trifecta Entertainment & Media is a prominent syndication and distribution company formed in 2006 by two former executives of MGM Television . Logo (2006-) Visuals: On a black background, three shiny powder blue lines come together and form an outline of a powder blue right triangle.
Trifecta Entertainment & Media is an American entertainment company founded in 2006. The company's founders previously held jobs as executives at MGM Television.
Background: Trifecta Entertainment & Media is a prominent syndication and distribution company formed in 2006 by two former executives of MGM Television. Logo: On a black background, we see three shiny powder blue lines coming together and forming a solid powder blue right triangle.
- Background
- Famous Players Film Company
- Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures traces its history back to May 8, 1912, when it was originally founded as Famous Players Film Company by Hungarian-born Adolph Zukor. He had been an early investor in nickelodeons (film theaters that cost 5 cents for admission), and saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman, he planned to offer motion pictures that would appeal to the middle class by featuring leading theatrical players of the time (leading to the slogan "famous players in famous plays"). By 1913, Famous Players had completed five films and Zukor was on his way to success. That same year, fellow aspiring producer Jesse L. Lasky opened the Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law Samuel Goldfish (later known as Samuel Goldwyn). The Lasky company hired Cecil B. DeMille, a stage director with virtually no film experience, as their first employee; DeMille would find a suitable location site in Hollywood for his first film The Squaw Man.
In 1914, the former company was renamed Paramount Pictures Corporation, as the second oldest-running movie studio in Hollywood, with Universal Pictures being founded only eight days earlier. Lasky left Paramount in 1932 with Zukor blaming him for the studio's financial issues at the time. In 1948, Paramount was taken to the United States Supreme Court. This case, known as United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., resulted in studios being forced to divest themselves of their theater holdings and, in addition to the concurrent rise of television, would mark the beginning of the end for the old "studio system". In 1959, Adolph Zukor stepped down from running the studio and assumed the role of chairman, which he held until 1964. On March 24, 1966, Paramount was acquired by Gulf+Western Industries, which later became Paramount Communications on June 5, 1989. As part of the acquisition by Gulf+Western, Lucille Ball's Desilu Productions and the Desilu lot were brought under Paramount's control and, in 1967, Desilu was renamed to Paramount Television. On March 11, 1994, Paramount Communications was merged with Viacom. On December 31, 2005, Viacom split into two companies: one retaining its original name (inheriting Paramount, MTV Networks and BET Networks) and the other being named CBS Corporation (inheriting Paramount's television production and distribution arms, currently known as CBS Studios, CBS Media Ventures and Paramount Global Content Distribution, respectively), with both companies owned by National Amusements. One year later, Stage M, where movies and TV shows such as Wild Things, City Hall, The Wedding Singer, Executive Decision and Star Trek: The Next Generation scored there, permanently closed and was demolished two years later to house a new post-production facility.
(1912-1916)
Nicknames: "Pre-Paramount Mountain", "The Masks" Logo: On a black background, we see two masks alongside a mirror or a simple oval, which reads: PRODUCED BY THE FAMOUS PLAYERS FILM CO. ADOLPH ZUKOR PRES. The text "Distributed by Paramount Pictures Corporation" appears below. Variants: •Sometimes, the "Distributed by Paramount" notice doesn't appear. •On Poor Little Peppina (and possibly other films), the masks and the mirror are different and a different font is used.
1st Logo (July 12, 1912, September 14, 1914-1917)
Nicknames: "The Original Paramountain", "Paramount Mountain" Logo: On a black background, we see a mountain above a few clouds surrounded by stars. There is text over the mountain reading: Paramount Pictures Variant: Depending on the film, the colors are different. FX/SFX: None. Music/Sounds: None or the film's opening music. Availability: Ultra rare. Editor's Note: This marks the first use of the studio's famous mountain, though it may look strange to those familiar with the later designs.
2nd Logo (1917-February 15, 1927)
Nicknames: "The Three Mountains in the Credits", "Three Paramountains", "Paramount Mountain II" Logo: We see one of the following bylines at the top of the screen: •"ADOLPH ZUKOR PRESENTS" (films produced on the East Coast). •"JESSE L. LASKY PRESENTS" (films produced on the West Coast). •"ADOLPH ZUKOR AND JESSE L. LASKY PRESENT" (films produced on both coasts). Below this, we see the title of the film and a little more info. Somewhere on the screen, we see a snow capped mountain poking out of a cloud at the bottom. The mountain is surrounded by a ring of stars. We see the text overlapping the mountain reading "A Paramount Picture". At the bottom of the screen is a box. On either side of the box, there are two Paramount pseudo-logos. Each has a ring of stars inside a ring. On the pseudo-logo on the right, we see the words "Paramount Pictures". On the pseudo-logo on the left, we see some writing. At the top of the box, we see "COPYRIGHT [YEAR]". Inside the box, we see the words "FAMOUS PLAYERS-LASKY CORPORATION" in a large font. Below this, in a slightly smaller font, we see the words "ADOLPH ZUKOR, PRESIDENT". Below Zukor's name, we see the words "NEW YORK CITY". Below the box, we see, in a large font, "ALL RIGHTS RESERVED". Variant: On some of Paramount's earlier movies, the pseudo-logo "A Paramount Picture" is nowhere to be seen in the movie's title, keeping only the two small pseudo-logos below the title. Instead, the full "A Paramount Picture" logo is seen after it. After a few seconds, the movie's credits overlap the logo. It can be seen on movies like Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926). Closing Title: We see the words "THE END" on the screen. At the top of the screen is the title of the movie. Below "THE END", we see the opening logo. Closing Variants: On some films like the above described, the "A Paramount Picture" logo appears after the movie ends. After a few seconds, the "THE END" overlaps the logo and fades out. Another variant, from Stage Struck (1925), shows the "THE END" in white script with the "T" and E" in fancy lettering. After a few seconds, the "A Paramount Picture" pseudo-logo is seen on a reddish pink background. FX/SFX/Trivia: None. It was actually a painting that was filmed by a cameraman. Music/Sounds: None. Availability: Extremely rare. •Most of Paramount's silent output featured its print logo over the opening and ending titles, while later films featured the onscreen logo fading into the film's title card. •Like most silent films before 1924, the rest are in public domain or have passed on to other companies that released versions with copyrighted music scores. Most of these versions use new opening titles due to lost material for the original credits (the current version of Metropolis is an example of this); however, some films such as such as the restored version of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan have survived with the original Paramount tags intact. •A picture showing the filming of this logo can be found on page 71 of the book A Pictorial History of the Western Film. •The variants are ultra rare, although it was kept intact on the Grapevine Video DVD of Love 'Em and Leave 'Em.
3rd Logo (January 18, 1926-May 17, 1955)
Nicknames: "Dark Mountain", "Paramount Mountain III", "Ben Lomond Mountain" Logo: We see a snow-capped mountain against a dark sky, with clouds that look like smoke. Encircling the mountain are 24 stars, accompanied by the following text in a majestic script font overlapping the mountain:ParamountAt the end of the movie, we see "The End", in script, overlapping the company name. On many movies, "The End" fades out, leaving only the logo and "A Paramount Picture". Variants: •Sometimes, the clouds around the mountain are foggier. •Although the same general design of this logo remained the same, there were subtle changes from 1929 to 1931, including brighter stars and drop shadow text on some films released from 1927 to 1930, or a slightly different design on films from 1935 to 1939. From 1939 to 1942, the words "A" and "Picture" fade out a little, and the word "PRESENTS" fades in below "Paramount". •There are also sepia variants. •In earlier color films released from 1931-38, the logo is colored in blue/purple. Starting in 1941, the logo is more colorized. •On the infamous Koch Media widescreen DVD and Blu-ray of the 1939 animated film Gulliver's Travels, the opening Paramount logo is still on a (poorly) retouched widescreen background, then the "filmed" portion of the mountain stretches and morphs as its fades into the opening title card. The closing variant is similar to the opening version as well, morphing and all. •Sometimes, the word "Release" replaces "Picture", although The House That Shadows Built uses the word "Program" instead. •On Horse Feathers and Now and Forever, the text is in a noticeably different, smaller font. Also, one star is missing. Trivia: Legend says the mountain was doodled by W. W. Hodkinson during a meeting with Adolph Zukor. Hodkinson said it reminded him of his childhood in Utah. FX/SFX: Just the gliding clouds. Music/Sounds: The beginning/end of a movie's theme. Starting with the 1930 feature Paramount on Parade, almost all of the Paramount feature films used the fanfare "Paramount on Parade" (written by Elsie Janis and Jack King). Availability: Uncommon, but it's still retained on films of the era. •On old prints of Paramount films distributed by MCA TV, they are usually plastered with the MCA-TV logo of the time. On current prints that Universal owns from the MCA package, any of their logos may precede it. •Starting in late 1950 until 1953, it was used in tandem with the 5th logo, with this logo being used primarily on black and white releases. •The last film to use this logo was Forever Female. •The logo makes a surprise appearance at the beginning of later prints of Broadway Bill (originally a Columbia Pictures release that Paramount acquired the rights to years after they remade it as Riding High).
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Trifecta Entertainment & Media is the creation of the top executive team behind a decade of success at MGM Television. We are a unique and innovative independent multi-media company engaged in the development, production, distribution, advertiser sales and media sponsorships of programming across a diverse spectrum of media platforms.
