The Showrunner in television literally runs the show, like a hands-on CEO: In charge of vision, creative (often the head writer), leading (and inspiring) a crew of hundreds, managing multiple agendas from the network to the legal department, marketing and advertisers while putting out daily fires and tapping into the personal magic that earned them the role in the first place.
Sharing all his wisdom on the subject is Jim Biederman, seasoned Showrunner, Executive Producer, Writer and Director specializing in comedy programming with a list of trailblazing credits including Kids In the Hall, the Howard Stern Radio Show, The Whitest Kids You Know, the Onion News Network, The Big Gay Sketch Show and Would You Rather With Graham Norton (where I had the distinct pleasure of being Jim's Talent Executive)
This is really and truly a masterclass:
- Ask questions
- Listen more, speak less
- Show respect
- Protect your staff
- Never respond right away to the notes from the network
- Get comfortable with tough choices and difficult conversations
- Learn to bounce back early from failure
- TV is global
- Be curious and learn to work across language and cultural differences
- We can all earn something from The Joy Act, a standard feature in Chinese programming (it's not what you think!)
Successful showrunning is so much about the power of language and how we communicate. Jim's goal is to always make sure that everyone working on the show feels welcome and valued at the table. And this:
You don't need to be aggressive about it. You can just say, I think there's another way to solve this problem.
(It dawned on me listening to this episode that with the amount of negotiating and compromise required to get a show on the air...Showrunners could be useful mediators in global conflicts.)
Check out more of Jim's work at http://www.jimcotv.com/.