Desilu Productions

Desilu was founded out of necessity to resolve a logistical challenge in a marriage. When CBS approached Lucille Ball in 1950 to adapt her radio show for television, she insisted on including her husband, Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, as a co-star and on remaining in Los Angeles instead of relocating to New York. To fulfill these conditions, the couple established their own production company and, working with cinematographer Karl Freund, developed a method of filming comedy on 35mm film using three cameras in front of a live studio audience. This technique became the industry standard and allowed *I Love Lucy* to be not only a hit but a long-lasting, re-runnable asset that the couple owned in full.

The profits from *I Love Lucy* enabled a rapid expansion. In 1957, Desilu purchased the former RKO studios for approximately six million dollars, giving Ball and Arnaz more sound stages than nearly any other studio at the time. The company produced its own series and also rented out space to other producers, with notable shows including *The Untouchables*, *Our Miss Brooks*, and *Make Room for Daddy*.

The partnership between Ball and Arnaz eventually dissolved under the weight of stress. They divorced in 1960, and in 1962 Ball bought out Arnaz’s shares, becoming president of the company and the first woman to lead a major Hollywood studio. Among her most significant decisions were the greenlighting of two high-budget, untested pilots—*Star Trek* and *Mission: Impossible*—despite skepticism, both of which would go on to become long-running and influential franchises.

Ball found the demands of running a studio increasingly exhausting, and the financial burden of producing ambitious dramas began to strain the company’s finances. In 1967, she sold Desilu to Gulf and Western, the conglomerate that had also acquired Paramount, for about seventeen million dollars. The following year, the company was absorbed into Paramount Television, and the Desilu name disappeared from the corporate landscape, though its production techniques and studio infrastructure continued to influence television for decades.