Networks Scrambling For Writers, Producers
As the broadcast networks’ development season for next fall’s new shows kicks into high gear, executives, producers and studios are facing a major problem finding the right people to make good shows.
Never before has the thirst for original programming - specifically comedies - been so great as it is now. As a result, getting good people to write and produce shows is becoming as difficult as locking up big stars.
Recently, the New York Daily News talked to the four major network programming chiefs about the industry. The lack of strong behind-the-scenes talent is a problem with which they all are wrestling.
“It is definitely one of the greatest crises in the business. There is so much programming and there aren’t that many writers,” said ABC Entertainment President Jamie Tarses.
“Every network, every studio, we have all discussed this problem. How do we find the next great talent?,” said Fox Entertainment President Peter Roth.
The endless quest for new series is being heightened by the emerging broadcast networks - WB and UPN - and a growing desire by cable channels, such as the USA Network, to create their own shows.
According to TV veterans, many folks behind the cameras wouldn’t be there if the demand for shows hadn’t grown so enormous. Nowadays, senior writers and producers who a decade ago would have spent lots more time gaining some seasoning, are finding themselves in positions of power.
“I don’t think the teams we’re putting on the field are as good as the ones we used to put on the air,” said CBS Entertainment President Leslie Moonves. Failure, he pointed out, means only another line on a resume that helps to find new work. “It used to be in the old days, with the three networks, if you got your show on the air, you worked to keep it there. Now, if you put it on the air and it gets canceled, you get picked up on another show.”
Which has served only to aggravate the problem. While the good shows lock up the top talent and sail right along, the less talented bounce like pinballs among the lower-tier shows that come and go.
So, how is TV trying to turn around this off-camera fuzziness? For one thing, executives at all of the networks make frequent trips to comedy festivals looking for talent (for both sides of the camera).
“We’ve started our own new-voices program,” said NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield. “We think we have to constantly be looking for the new talent that’s not coming to us through traditional ways. We are finding people and they are going to our shows.”
Perhaps. But then there’s also the point of view that considers it all pretty much of a crapshoot.
“Ultimately, I don’t think you can teach ‘Make a Hit Show 101.’ It comes from inspiration and vision; a voice and a point of view,” said ABC’s Tarses. “We’re just rolling the dice anyway. Look at television and, for the most part, nobody has more than one show, maybe two in them. Just because somebody does it once doesn’t mean they can do it again.”