The IndieProd Company


The IndieProd Company is a production company that was formed by Daniel Melnick in 1976 as IndieProductions after he left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

History

In 1976, Daniel Melnick announced that he had left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to start his own production company, IndieProductions. That year, he had signed a deal with Columbia Pictures to produce films on his own.
In 1978, Melnick was hired by Columbia Pictures in wake of the resigning of David Begelman, and The IndieProd Company was temporarily merged into Columbia Pictures. He never meant to be a studio head and left in 1978 to turn back into an independent producer, and Melnick was abruptly replaced as head by Frank Price, and quickly resurrected The IndieProd Company.
In 1980, Melnick moved to 20th Century-Fox where he quickly finished production on All That Jazz, and the same year he worked with Warner Bros. to produce Altered States. IndieProd had left the Fox lot in 1982 in order to make Footloose for Paramount Pictures. He moved back to Columbia Pictures after the completion of the movie, and after the deal ended, the company was acquired by Carolco Pictures in 1987. Under Carolco's leadership, the company produced hits like Air America and Universal Soldier. Around the same time, the company entered television production with a string of television movies, and later made its only television series, A Fine Romance, for Phoenix Entertainment Group.
In 1989, he formed a joint alliance with Ray Stark of Rastar Productions, to form Rastar/IndieProd. The joint venture went defunct in 1991. In 1992, Carolco had sold off The IndieProd Company in light of financial troubles, and The IndieProd Company announced a deal with Japan Satellite Broadcasting and TriStar Pictures to produce and distribute movies. In 1995, the production company attempted to merge with The Konigsberg Company, with funding from Electronic Arts, but failed. Also that year, it attempted a weekly TV series based on Universal Soldier, but never materialized. It also had a deal with Vietnam Television for Vietnamese television rights to the company's movies.
The company quietly went defunct in 2009 with the death of Daniel Melnick.