Exclusive Interview: NBCU’s Angela Bromstad

November 11, 2010 World Screen
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President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios

The veteran programming executive and producer Angela Bromstad oversees creative affairs for all scripted entertainment programming aired on NBC and produced by Universal Media Studios for NBC and other major broadcasters. Besides shepherding the hits 30 Rock, The Office and House, she also recently developed Parenthood and Community, as well as this season’s The Event, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Outsourced and Love Bites. Most recently, she was NBC Universal’s president of international television production. Here, she was responsible for creating a new international production division, which included strategic TV content partnerships outside the U.S., increased local production and new business creation.

WS: Last winter, when NBC decided to move Jay Leno out of prime time and back into his late-night slot, suddenly there were five 10 o’clock slots to fill. That provided great opportunity to find new shows, but must have been quite challenging.
BROMSTAD: It was challenging, especially because we were almost all the way through with our buying season when the decision to take Jay away at 10 p.m. was made. Fortunately, we had been very aggressive about buying and we had gone after some very large pieces. We knew that even without the 10 o’clock hour we had a lot of slots to fill, so we aggressively started buying and developing, both on the comedy and the drama side. We wanted a wide array of projects, there was a lot of diversity in our development, so fortunately we were somewhat prepared for that change. We just wanted to have as many choices as possible. We bought a lot more from the outside than we normally do and we were also able to generate some things from studio, which we are very happy about, like Law & Order: Los Angeles and The Event.

WS: Steve Stark, the executive producer of The Event, said you were a big champion of that show. What appealed to you about it?
BROMSTAD: Well, when you’re in this position and you’ve been doing it as long as I have, you read so many scripts, you hear so many pitches, it’s really hard to be excited about something or to read something and say, “OK, this is different, this is unique.” Usually, I either get a pitch, or, in this case, the finished script was given to me. My development team had done a lot of work on the script, so by the time it got to me it was pretty well refined and in great shape. When I first read it I just thought, “Oh my God, this is great! This is the way I felt when I read Heroes.”
There was skepticism internally about going down the serialized drama road again, but I knew Lost, Heroes and 24 were ending and there was going to be a void for that audience. Maybe the common wisdom was, Oh, FlashFoward didn’t sustain, V didn’t sustain, let’s not go down that road again. But as a programmer you have to constantly think, I know everyone is saying don’t do that, but now is when we have to do it. We always have to keep fighting that conventional wisdom and although everybody had written off serialized dramas after FlashForward didn’t go well, my creative team and I knew that The Event was unique and special and so we had to keep our heads down, work on it and by the time we had a finished pilot, everybody was wowed.
 
WS: What other shows are you excited about?
BROMSTAD: The other one I am absolutely madly in love with is Outsourced. It is adorable and sweet and gets funnier and funnier and these characters—I think there are some real breakout cast members there. We were so lucky we were able to do Law & Order: Los Angeles and get it ready in time. It has new stories, it looks different, it feels different, but yet it still has that great storytelling. Perfect Couples will be a midseason, it’s a really, really funny comedy. Love Bites is something we are excited about. It’s an anthology series about love and sex—as much as we can get in there!
 
WS: You have the procedurals, you have The Event, a high-concept series, you have comedies and now an anthology series.
BROMSTAD: We like to play it safe but at the same time we know we have to really play outside the boundaries, too. And we’ll do the same thing for this upcoming development season. You never know—sometimes you have better seasons than others—but I think we’ve got some good early [projects].
 
WS: Has development become more of a year-round process?
BROMSTAD: Yes, I think so. You always have to be open to things. We joke we’re like 7-Eleven; we stay open 24/7!
 
WS: Parenthood started a little slowly, but it gained momentum and it has turned into a beautiful show.
BROMSTAD: It really is. Jason Katims, who wrote on Friday Night Lights for so long, [along with] a lot of his team from Friday Night Lights, has come over and Parenthood is a great show. It’s a really special show and just continues to get better and better.
 
WS: Sometimes as a parent, when I’m watching the show I feel, I’m going through that at home, do I really want to see that on the screen? But the way they deal with problems makes you feel good as well.
BROMSTAD: Well, that’s what we are trying to make sure, that there is not too much angst, that there is plenty of relateability, but it’s also got wish fulllfillment.
 
WS: And there is always comic relief right at the right moment.
BROMSTAD: Exactly.
 
WS: Are there any shows that are not on the schedule but that you would want to have?
BROMSTAD: Of all the new shows this season, we are very excited about ours and there is not too much coveting shows on other networks. Obviously, I think Modern Family is just wonderful. I think we need a multi-camera series, that is one of our big targets, not only do we need it for our network, but it’s also something that travels well, so as a studio it’s a big goal for us.
 
WS: Was there anything you learned or discovered in your year and a half in London that has changed the way you look at programming now?
BROMSTAD: I always knew that shows needed to travel, but spending time abroad and in each of the different territories gives you just a completely different understanding, because you can know it intellectually and then to just be there you really understand the value of shows that travel well.
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