PM Entertainment Group Inc. (stylized as ''pm entertainment group, incorporated'') was an American

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

company which produced a distinctive line of low-to-medium budget films mostly targeted for home-video market. The company diversified into

television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

and larger budgeted star vehicles before being sold by its founders in 2000.

History

City Lights Entertainment (1986–1990)

In 1986, Joseph Toufik Merhi and Richard Joseph Pepin, indie film directors and producers, founded the production company City Lights Entertainment with Ronald L. Gilchrist for their first movies, the comedy ''Hollywood In Trouble'' and

slasher film A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...

''Mayhem''. The films were successful and caught the VHS

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

boom beginning in the mid-late 80s. However, in 1989, the relationship between Pepin/ Merhi and Gilchrist turned sour and their partnership was dissolved with Gilchrist and City Lights keeping the rights to the films already produced or in production. The last films released by City Lights were ''Payback'' and ''Contra Conspiracy'' in 1990. City Lights Entertainment produced eleven films from 1986 to 1990.

PM Entertainment Group Inc. (1989–2000)

Around 1989, after splitting from Ronald Gilchrist, Richard (Rick) Pepin and Joseph Merhi started PM Entertainment (PM Entertainment from surnames Pepin-Merhi). Based on the successful formula pioneered at City Lights Entertainment, PM Entertainment entered into an exclusive distribution contract with

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

and George Shamieh joined as the third partner and head of sales. The first film produced by PM Entertainment was '' L.A. Heat'' directed by Merhi and starring

Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, also credited as Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (born September 4, 1953), is an American actor and singer. Best known for playing Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington in '' Welcome Back Kotter'' (1975–1979), he has also appeared i ...

and

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (February 17, 1936 – May 18, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a Fullback (gridiron football), fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the ...

. The film was quickly followed by two sequels, ''L.A. Vice'' (1989) and ''Chance'' (1990) with

reprising his role as Jon Chance. He also directed ''Angels of the City'' in 1989 and cameos as Jon Chance, but the film's plot is not a sequel to '' L.A. Heat''. The company began bringing together a company of actors and directors to work over multiple projects, including

Wings Hauser Gerald Dwight "Wings" Hauser (December 12, 1947 – March 15, 2025) was an American actor, screenwriter, film director and musician. A prolific character actor, he appeared in over 100 film and television productions since 1967, and was once cal ...

, who directed and starred in three films for the company in the early 90s, and

Jeff Conaway Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway (October 5, 1950 – May 27, 2011) was an American actor. He portrayed Kenickie in the film ''Grease (film), Grease'' and had roles in three television series: struggling actor Bobby Wheeler in ''Taxi (TV ...

, who starred in three films and directed ''Bikini Summer II''. Although the company focused primarily on the action market and

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

s, they attempted to diversify into children's films (''

Magic Kid ''Magic Kid'' (also known as ''Little Ninja Dragon''; released in the Philippines as ''Ninja Sidekick'') is a 1993 American film. Plot Kevin Ryan is an 11-year-old karate-champion from Kalamazoo, Michigan, who spends his summer with his uncle, B ...

'' and '' Bigfoot: The Unforgettable Encounter'') and dramas (''Cellblock Sisters: Banished Behind Bars'') with limited success. During the '90s, PM Entertainment had success within the kickboxing and martial arts genre and championed

Cynthia Rothrock Cynthia Rothrock (born March 8, 1957) is an American martial artist and actress best known for her martial arts films. She holds black belt rankings in seven styles of martial arts and was a high-level competitor in martial arts before becomin ...

and

Don "The Dragon" Wilson Donald Glen Wilson (born September 10, 1954), nicknamed "The Dragon", is an American martial artist, former professional kickboxer, and actor. An 11-time world champion who scored 47 knockouts in four decades, he has been called by the STAR Sys ...

in multiple film projects. In 1996, PM Entertainment diversified into

with the

TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

'' L.A. Heat'', which is largely unrelated to their earlier film, '' L.A. Heat'' as neither

nor his character, Det. Jon Chance, appear in the show. Instead, it focuses on Chester "Chase" McDonald (

Wolf Larson Wolf Larson (born December 22, 1959) is a German-Canadian former actor, screenwriter, and producer. Biography Larson was born in West Germany to Gunther and Ingeborg, he has a younger sister. In his teens he worked as a waiter at the Chippend ...

) and Detective August Brooks (

Steven Williams Steven Williams (born January 7, 1949) is an American actor in films and television. He is known for his roles as Captain Adam Fuller on ''21 Jump Street'', NYPD Detective Lt. Jefferson Burnett on '' The Equalizer'', Det. August Brooks on '' L.A ...

), two

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

police detectives investigating robbery/homicides. The series aired on

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

for two seasons beginning on March 15, 1999. Following the success of ''L.A. Heat'', PM developed a second TV series, ''Hollywood Safari'', which acted as a continuation of their 1997 film of the same name with

Ted Jan Roberts Ted Jan Roberts (September 24, 1979 – June 6, 2022) was an American actor, martial artist, stuntman, and producer. He was best known as the title character of the television series ''Masked Rider'', an American adaptation of the Japanese tokusa ...

reprising his role as Josh Johnson and was joined by Sam J. Jones playing his father, Troy. The show ran for one season before its cancellation. In 1997, PM Entertainment decided that they wanted to double its own facilities on Sun Valley, in order to move to a nearly 15-acre site.

The Harvey Entertainment Company (2000–2002)

PM Entertainment's business model changed in the late '90s to accommodate distributors' requirement that films hire bankable names for projects, and they began making films such as ''

Inferno Inferno may refer to: * Hell, an afterlife place of suffering * Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire Film * ''L'Inferno'', a 1911 Italian film * ''Inferno'' (1953 film), a film noir by Roy Ward Baker * ''Inferno'' (1980 film), an Italian ...

'' with

Jean-Claude van Damme Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (, ; born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme (, ), is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate schoo ...

which greatly affected their profit margin. Joseph Merhi and Richard Pepin sold the company to

The Harvey Entertainment Company The Harvey Entertainment Company (formerly known as Harvey Films and Harvey Entertainment, or simply Harvey, and later named Sunland Entertainment Co.) was the production arm of comic book publisher Harvey Comics. It was founded in 1957. A majo ...

in early 2000 $6.5 million in cash and a further $1.45 million in stock. George Shamieh remained as head of the company under the new owners. The company continued to produce star vehicles such as ''Layover'' with

David Hasselhoff David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on the soap ...

and ''Camouflage'' with

Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (February 11, 1926November 28, 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. He made his a ...

, but Shamieh departed the company in late 2000 due to financial restructuring of

CineTel Films CineTel Films Inc. was an independent film production company and distributor based in West Hollywood, California. History The company was founded in Chicago in 1980 as Chicago Teleproductions and later moved the company's headquarters to Los ...

was brought in to market the library of PM Entertainment and sell rights for upcoming productions ''

Con Express ''Con Express'' is a 2002 direct-to-video action film with a political edge, starring Arnold Vosloo, Sean Patrick Flanery, and Tim Thomerson. It was written by Paul A. Birkett and Terry Cunningham and directed by Cunningham. The movie uses film f ...

'' and '' Lost Treasure'' with

Stephen Baldwin Stephen Andrew Baldwin (born May 12, 1966) is an American actor. He has appeared in the films ''Born on the Fourth of July (film), Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Posse (1993 film), Posse'' (1993), ''8 Seconds'' (1994), ''Threesome (1994 ...

. These would be the last films produced under the PM Entertainment banner. Facing liquidation, in 2001,

sold off its assets, excluding PM Entertainment, to

Classic Media DreamWorks Classics is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded as Classic Media in 2000 by Eric Ellenboge ...

, although PM Entertainment remained in the hands of Harvey chief Roger Burlage, which later placed the company up for sale, and two years later, the company sold PM Entertainment and its library of over 150 films and 2 TV series to Echo Bridge Entertainment, who also acquired the assets of

Films

Television programs

References

{{Reflist

External links

2007 Audio Interview with Richard W. Munchkin about Joseph Merhi and PM Entertainment

An oral history of PM Entertainment, a low-budget high-octane American dream
Mass media companies established in 1989 Companies disestablished in 2002 Film production companies of the United States Defunct American film studios