Exclusive Interview: FremantleMedia’s Thom Beers

PREMIUM: Thom Beers, previously the CEO and executive producer of Original Productions, talks to World Screen about his new responsibilities for FremantleMedia North America’s overall management, business operations and the development and production of some 600 hours of programming.

WS: What opportunities do you see for FremantleMedia in the North American market?
BEERS: Clearly we’ve done well navigating the waters of North American cable television and now network television. We have 16 series on nine networks. So, it’s a really healthy environment for us. I think the key to it is this: great storytelling—it’s the gold standard of every network. If you’re a good storyteller and understand how to cast a show, and understand character arcs and story arcs and dramatic arcs—and you’re good at it—you can work anywhere. And right now it’s the storyteller’s world; it’s our market.

WS: One approach that has made your shows so successful is finding iconic figures that the audience can relate to. Do you think that philosophy will apply to any show that FremantleMedia will be producing?
BEERS: No, not all. There are shows that are entertainment shows, there are shows that are scripted entertainment, and scripted reality, and then what we call authentic TV. We do a great deal of authentic TV, meaning most of the people, the subjects that we film, would be doing exactly what they were doing whether we had a camera [on] them or not. These crab fishermen are crab fishermen. When we’re not there, they’re still fishermen. And if you’re drilling for oil, if we’re not there, you’re still drilling for oil. You’re still driving trucks. You’re still cutting down trees. In Storage Wars, you’re still out there shopping for a storage container.

But there are other worlds—for instance, our America’s Got Talent and American Idol—where people are living in a competitive environment and singing for their supper and trying to win a big prize. It’s not like people do that during their real lives. That’s a competitive environment. So we thrive in both worlds—we thrive in the real world and we also thrive in the competitive-environment world. And there are huge opportunities in scripted. So, there are a number of worlds that we have been very successful in.

WS: FremantleMedia North America has set the bar very high with certain shows. When you’re developing a show, can you sense that it’s going to take off that way?
BEERS: I wish I could tell you yes! My goodness, if you’re looking at the environment right now and what’s being commissioned, who would have thought that there would be competing celebrity high-diving shows? That’s something so completely out of the realm of what you’d expect, which I like. When we started doing that “tough-man TV,” when I did the car shows, nobody had ever done a car show like Monster Garage. Nobody had ever really done these kinds of “testostero-reality shows.” We’re always right in the front of [the curve].

There are a ton of opportunities out there. All I know is that the easiest, [most] direct route is the route that will win. The more convoluted you make things, the more difficult it gets. The audience now, they really want to be entertained. They want to be challenged. They want their heartstrings to be tugged at and they want [to] laugh, they want to cry. Those are the elements that you’re looking for in a winning show. And obviously, when it really comes down to it, what is it more than anything else? You’re either watching people in the tough-world environment, where they’re taking high risks for high rewards, or you’re watching people in the competitive environment who are living their dream. They’re both good [genres].

WS: A lot of FremantleMedia shows generate substantial ancillary revenues. Do you see continuing that business?
BEERS: Oh my God, yes. The guys in the FremantleMedia Enterprises group are completely surrounding shows with everything from apps to plush, software to games, clothing to CDs and music. That’s the world I lived in for a long time, too. When I created the series Monster Garage, we ended up with over 70 licenses and they did more than $100 million in revenue, in Monster Garage sunglasses, motor oil, T-shirts, everything. So, you certainly understand the opportunity when a fan really wants to embrace a show. The key to it, though, more than anything else, is that [viewers] have to embrace the show first. You’re not going to make 9,000 licenses for a show you just put on the air. It’s got to be a hit. And then when you’ve got, like we do, the infrastructure that moves really quickly once a show is a hit, that’s when you have a good combination, a wonderful chemistry.