A Note from the Editor

October 4, 2018 Mansha Daswani

We all know how hard it is to figure out what you’re going to watch these days. When you’re spoiled for choice, you have to strategize. What do I have to watch live so I can avoid the inevitable Twitter spoilers? What do I want to stockpile to binge-watch? What SVOD subscriptions are must-keep and what can I let go of? I mean really, how much time in any given day can you spend digesting all the wonderful content that is out there? From the perspective of those of us covering this amazing period in the media business, there’s really never enough time. And we had that same sense of being overwhelmed by the variety out there as we crafted our lineup for the main feature in this edition of World Screen, which is focused on the showrunners, executive producers and writers who bring magic to our screens day after day. We spend a lot of time (and, to be fair, pages) exploring the logistics of pulling financing together and windowing, but without a great story to tell, no matter how smart the business model is, viewers will be unenthused. To hear from this wonderful array of talent was a treat. We were able to cover the globe and span a variety of storytelling styles, from self-contained procedurals to twist-laden serialized thrillers, emotional family sagas and genre-bending science-fiction, with interviews with Dick Wolf, Greg Berlanti, Chris Chibnall, David Shore, Angela Kang, Carlton Cuse, Álex Pina, Bruce Miller, Lorenzo Mieli, Eric Newman, Jörg Winger and Hisashi Tsugiya. They follow an excellent feature from our contributing editor, Elizabeth Guider, on how studios, networks and platforms are managing relationships with top-tier talent. So you’ve been warned—you might have to put a show or two on hold so you can read all of this insightful material.

You’ll also want to dive into the interviews with Angela Bassett and Mariska Hargitay. Anna Carugati, World Screen’s group editorial director, spoke with both actresses about their hit network shows—9-1-1 and Law & Order: SVU, respectively. Hargitay, now in her landmark 20th season on the hit procedural, also weighs in on the show’s role in the #MeToo era as an industry comes to grips with the sins of its past—and present.

There are also interviews with BBC’s Tony Hall, AMC Networks’ Josh Sapan, Lionsgate’s Jon Feltheimer, A+E Networks’ Paul Buccieri, MGM’s Mark Burnett and Hulu’s Lisa Holme. You’ll find profiles of the World Screen Trendsetter Award honorees and a special report on MarVista marking its 15th anniversary.

You can see the World Screen MIPCOM edition here.

A full rundown of what’s in our regional and genre-focused MIPCOM editions is below. Follow the links to access our digital editions online, or get the Issuu app for iOS and Android so you can read them on the mobile device of your choice.

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