by Grant Tinker and Bud Rukeyser
The Producer/Network Programmer Relationship: A Slippery
Slope
(as Excerpted From "Tinker In Television")
Grant Tinker served as Chairman of The Caucus for 1979 and 1980, and except
for the five years from 1981-1986 when he was Chairman of NBC, has been an
active member of our organization for the past 20 years. His recently published
memoir, "Tinker in Television," covers forty years of his broadcasting
career. In several places he offers some insightful observations about dealing
with the networks' program departments. -- Ed.
For years, producers have complained
about aggressive network interference in their creative work, maintaining that
nothing good comes out of a committee. Networks take the position that they are
the customer and should have a say in the process. I've been on both sides of
the fence, several times, and this one is an easy call to make.
Start with the fact that most network
executives have never even worked in any meaningful capacity on a television
program, much less produced one. There are a tiny number of exceptions, and I
have found them to be among the most restrained and constructive in dealing with
producers.
Over the years, network executives in
general have become infamous for confusing their role with that of the producer.
As buyers, they unquestionably have the right to the final say. Unfortunately,
all too often they exercise it. This self-defeating sin is usually committed by
the younger, more arrogant networkers. Veteran practitioners often have learned
to be helpful, not dictatorial; that's how they survived to become veterans.
For the people who make the shows, the
producer-program executive relationship is a slippery slope. Someone whose hands
are full simply meeting the relentless demands of supplying programs to a
network schedule has very little time left over for fending off - or
accommodating - supervision from the network. If the phenomenon weren't so
distracting and time-consuming, it would be funny. The young network overseers
come fully equipped with all the jargon and none of the skills and smarts born
of real experience. Heaven only knows how many successful television shows have
gone down the tubes because their producers were obliged to act on bad network
advice.
The best course of action for a producer
is this: Make the show you want to make, the one that follows your vision, the
one you have some passion for. Almost invariably, that show will be far better
than the one that tries to accommodate too many network cooks. Obviously, this
plan would be easier to follow if the networks took their best course of action:
don't try to produce the producers; you've employed them because you think they
know how to make programs. Be ready to help if asked, otherwise get out of the
way.
