Steve Mosko

***Steve Mosko***

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) produces and distributes programming across all genres and platforms, from Shark Tank for ABC and Rules of Engagement for CBS and the hit cable series Rescue Me, Damages and the more recent Drop Dead Diva, to the upcoming Community for NBC and The Dr. Oz Show in syndication, to the long-running hit games shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! Steve Mosko, the president of SPT, talks about the studio’s successful production strategy.

WS: As a studio not affiliated to a broadcast network, what creative advantages does SPT have in pursuing programming opportunities?
MOSKO: As an independent studio, there are a couple of advantages. One is, the word independent means that it gives a lot of freedom to the people we do business with: the writers, actors, producers who come here. While some people think that not being associated with a network is a negative, we and the people we work with view it as a positive. We can work with everybody; we’re Switzerland. If you come up with an idea, we’ll develop it with you and then we’ll go sell it to the network that makes the most sense. With us there is a great deal of freedom.
Another advantage is we make money as our partners make money, so we are fully invested in every single show we do. It’s very important to us that it gets to the right network, it’s promoted properly, and it gets the right time period. When producers, writers, actors do business with us, they have a true partner.

WS: Sony was among the first studios to produce quality drama for basic cable channels, with budgets that were different from broadcast networks’ budgets. What’s been your philosophy in producing drama and how do you get all the quality on the screen while watching your costs?
MOSKO: Fortunately, we did see that there was an opportunity years ago when the basic cable networks decided to step up and do original programming. What was interesting is that there wasn’t a legacy as to how these shows were produced. You had a blank piece of paper and you had to figure out what it would cost to produce these series.
If you look at cable shows versus the broadcast network shows, the quality is pretty much the same. And in fact, if you look at the quality of the actors and writers and producers who are doing business on basic cable, it is outstanding. As an example, we have the series Damages and it’s a movie cast with Glenn Close, William Hurt this year and Marcia Gay Harden.
Cable has a lot of appeal for them, and certainly a lot of the cable networks are generating broadcast-network-type ratings.

WS: This must help you now in this difficult economic climate.
MOSKO: Years ago as a company we went through a restructuring, which turned us into a lean mean operation in which we put together our syndication and cable television businesses with our broadcast network business. So way back when, we put our businesses together and created efficiencies that are paying off for us today. Now, while everyone else is trying to decide, “How will I downsize?” we have already done it. I won’t say we were so smart we saw it coming, but I think we recognized that the business was changing and in order for us to compete as an independent studio, we had to make sure we were running an efficient business.

WS: One of the many areas you oversee is advertising. What’s the current climate and what are advertisers looking for?
MOSKO: Well the good news is there is a pulse! That’s a good thing. You can’t deny that we are in a difficult time. However, if you have a great television show that delivers ratings you are going to be fine. That seems like an obvious answer, but I know with the top-tier shows we have: from The Dr. Oz Show to Seinfeld and The King of Queens to Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, that from our standpoint, it’s a tumultuous time, but I think we are going to come out of this OK.
The other side of that, however, is that the people we sell programming to—whether it’s a basic cable network or broadcast network that has a huge portion of its business that is advertiser-supported—they are certainly feeling the impact of the advertising downturn. So it gets back to being smart about the economics and recognizing that our partners are having a tough time with the advertising side, so we have to make sure we’re creative in how we put our deals together.

WS: Once again, quality pays off.
MOSKO: Quality does pay off. It’s quality as well as delivering high ratings. I’m a big believer in the strength of the advertising business on television, both on broadcast networks and cable networks. It’s too powerful a delivery system to be ignored by the advertisers.

WS: And people are staying home and watching TV.
MOSKO: Yes, they are. The good news is viewing per household is going up significantly. Secondly, the consumer experience for television has never been better, and it’s only going to get better. If you think back to what it was like to watch television in your home years ago, it was black and white and then color. But today the quality of the picture, the quality of the sound, the size of the screen, all speak to the fact that this experience is only getting better. And in these economic times people are staying home watching television. Of course, there is talk of TiVo and timeshifting. We have to figure out how we can do a better job at integrating advertising in some of the shows, or be more creative in how we present advertising to the consumer, but the good news is more people are watching TV.