Yesterday I had the pleasure of sitting down at a luncheon given by the Hollywood Radio and Television Society.  The guests of honor were the five heads of the major broadcast networks. I wrote this mostly as a play-by-play so that’s how it’s gonna read.

The President of the HRTS gives a state of the union speech. They’ve grown the organization. Everything is awesome, he announces the new leaders for the organization.  Mr. Sean Perry, head of unscripted entertainment at WME is tall, and the new president. There’s quite a bit of glad-handing and speechifying. I have no idea if anyone has done as amazing a job as everyone says everyone else has, but if they have, then it’s amazing times.

The panelists are asked to come out, and they do indeed come out.  Paul Lee, head of ABC, Nina Tassler head of CBS, Kevin Reilly, head of Fox, Jennifer Salke head of  NBC, Mark Pedowitz, head of CW.  Jeff Probst is moderating, four time winner of Emmys for “hosting” Survivor.

Kevin Reilly is asked about pitch season. Says it got crazy this year. Ms. Tassler says the best shows always win, the best pitches show up at the right places.  Describes this season as frenetic. Paul Lee says there’s been a huge rush of ambition. Mr. Reilly says comedy has lain fallow for years. Nina disagrees.  Comedy has been huge this season.

Tassler says press has gotten hugely involved in recent years and everything is  reported on which makes a difference.  Salke says you get emails from press, before they’ve even left the grounds, and that it all ads to the frenzy.

Salke says that it’s caused her to be more aggressive, she sits in as many pitches as she can hear. She trusts her gut. Tries to avoid clutter.  Reilly shakes his head at that. Very funny man. Says buying a show is like buying a house. Wants to see a great future there.

Lee makes the comment that single and multi camera are vibrant now. Pedowitz says its a time of evolution.  Your measurement changes now, how do we get paid for the live plus seven ratings? A moment in time to make it work even better than before.

Reilly believes that this is a genuinely exciting time. Believe in the value of what we did. There’s clarity coming into the market place.

Then the panelists are asked about the risks of giving content to entities like Netflix.

Tassler thinks that these are great opportunities. A great upside. “As we’ve seen, people want our content.” Lee feels optimistic, says that a few years ago you just looked at ratings, now you can sell across the world, Netlix, Amazon, putting a show out before its launched creates a buzz. It’s now possible to launch a show with a huge amount of buzz.

Reilly believes that nothing that has replaced the network launching pad. What they have are valuable brands.  Tassler agrees that things still start on broadcast. If something is a big, network, hit show it can add value to other platforms it comes from.

The panelists were asked if there was any concern that we’re training viewers to expect no interruptions when it comes to ads?

Salke says this is a big issue, especially when trying to present a pilot, if you have to cut into it multiple times. Pedowitz says that they have a full commercial load, and that the viewer will watch a full load of commercials.  Reilly comments that they’ve done studies on interruption advertising, and that they cannot figure out how to replace it. Advertising works.  In four years 100 million will stream TV on devices. Networks need the same ad revenue. Pedowitz is confident that the audience is willing to watch full load of commercials, it will transition.

Lee makes the point that there’s a lot of talent coming in from movies. TV is the place for great storytelling.  Reilly agrees, and brings up the point that Steve Jobs spent, 450 million on ads, much of it on network TV ads.

Product integration hasn’t worked for networks yet.  Salke says that it has to be an organic connection. It can work, it just has to be embraced creatively. Audiences are savvy to that, can’t fool them in scripted. Takes them out of the show.

Jeff Probst asks if there’s anyway to know if ratings are truly accurate, and if so if they would want to know the accurate numbers.

Lee states that he would want to know absolute numbers yes, quicker numbers, live plus seven at the end of seven days. The more specific these numbers can be, he’d like to see digital counted. Tassler admits that they all rely on Nielsen, they have to and will continue to do so. No audience member should be uncounted.

Reilly sees the need to hold Neilsen honest, data collection is gonna be very important, there’s a coming day of instant data, with more of our own sources to keep checks and balances.  Yeah, You want to know the truth, you want accurates. Salke agrees, but says that the higher numbers reflect the shows that are doing well, capturing zeitgeist. There has to be a push back on the accuracy of the measurement. A lot is riding on that.

Lee says that comedies are doing well.  There was a lot of effort into comedy did well this year. Tassler agrees and says that showrunners and writers are already out there tapped into what’s going on in the world at large, you begin to hear common themes that emerge, season to season.  There’s a major influx of new talent. Reilly says there’s a sense of hope, escapism is one of the primary functions of television.  Salke states that underdog shows are awesome. Shows you can empathize with/idolize, those are universal themes. Audiences want inspirational.  Tassler wants relatable, and relevant, says shows like Person of Interest reflect a bit of paranoia in the zeitgeist.  Pedowitz says the difficulty of predicting shows a year out is you can’t predict too darkly, you need relatable characters, relatable themes.

How concerned are the networks with brand identity?

Tassler says that the shows themselves are the brands. You still have development of a show, working on tailoring that show for your particular audience.  Reilly admits that there’s a certain DNA that lives on in a network, you can turn that to a certain extent, you can rebuild on a different track, a bolder sensibility, he feels there’s a sense of risk at Fox. Salke says that a great show is a great show. She has a willingness to evolve the brand.

Probst asks them that if they had a crystal ball years ago, would they have bought Jersey Shore.

Tassler laughs and says they know their audiences, and it’s not delivering the kind of numbers they need.

Probst again asks if there’s a show that could work on multiple platforms.

Reilly answers sincerely and says that’s part of what of gets us out of bed every morning.  If it works on TV, it spreads across access points.  Lots of sales aspects. Tassler comments that the nature of our business is to rediscover what you love about it. Fox is very aggressive with 12 months a year development.  You’re always wondering who’s gonna bring you the next great concept.  Reilly takes a stand, saying that our business is changing and it is changing fast. We need to change. There’s a holistic way of looking at the business. I think we have some fine examples of what’s the best on TV. But when you sit back and watch the end of the season, some of it is kind of embarrassing. Creative is difficult, but there is inefficiency that’s not good for entities

Lee wants to get to a position where we’re launching shows all across the year, we can do it better.  Reilly says the current fall season approach, lining up at the starting line is ridiculous.  Tassler says they are highly selective, launching fewer shows. She gets more involved with the show itself. Make fewer choices but we’re very invested in those hits.

Tags: abc, cbs, fox', jennifer salke, kevin reilly, mark pedowitz, nbc, nina tassler, paul lee, The CW