Exclusive Interview: USA Network’s Jeff Wachtel

PREMIUM: USA Network has ascended the cable-TV ratings heap in the U.S. with its strong lineup of original programming, which makes up 25 percent to 30 percent of the schedule, according to Jeff Wachtel.

Wachtel, president of original programming at USA Network as well as co-head of original content at Universal Cable Productions, tells World Screen about the channel’s “Characters Welcome” tagline and how it defines the kinds of projects he’s looking for.

WS: How important have original productions been to the surge in ratings and critical acclaim of cable networks?
WACHTEL: Cable networks have seen that original programming helps drive the value of the assets of the network. As networks differentiate themselves and sell themselves in an increasingly competitive market, the thing people can point to as exclusive to that network is its original programming. From USA to AMC you’ve seen how audiences, advertisers and affiliates all get a handle on the network from their original programming, even though original programming makes up, in AMC’s case, less than 10 percent of its schedule.

WS: What has been USA Network’s original-programming strategy?
WACHTEL: About 25 percent to 30 percent of our schedule consists of original programming, including wrestling and reruns of our original shows. Almost any brand is really an umbrella, something that helps you find a common theme for your programming. We’re fortunate to have our brand identity, which is “characters welcome,” feed very organically into what made us successful in our earlier days, with Monk and The Dead Zone, which was character-based programming.

That’s shifted somewhat to more of a blue-sky narrative, a more upbeat, aspirational brand. We don’t go for the grim and gritty. The first thing we always look for is a great original voice. While there is a significant emphasis on the brand, if you try to fit a show into it, it can be a little self-defeating. What you want to do is find something that’s great and unique and original and then see how it fits in.

You start with something great. We try to start off with the writers. Television is a writer-driven medium and USA is a writer-driven network. Another thing we do is look for things that are not that exposed in the current marketplace, maybe a new take on an old idea.

After that, there is strong work done to see if something fits right within the wheelhouse of the brand or if it pushes the envelope of the brand. Covert Affairs was an interesting one for us because we had not done a show that had a real-world analogue, the CIA. Every other show was part of or tangential to reality. Monk took place in a San Francisco that not everybody might identify as San Francisco. It lived in a world of its own. Covert Affairs lives very much in the real world. With Doug Liman [Fair Game, The Bourne Ultimatum] as one of the producers and very invested in the production and direction, we spent a lot of time crafting some truly high-end action sequences. Every episode has one or two of those scenes.

WS: With the emphasis you place on quality, have you seen the cost of producing your series escalate?
WACHTEL: We have very carefully managed costs. All our shows are shot in places where we can take advantage of tax incentives. We also try to keep the ensemble of players down. We love working with character actors and have the show make the star rather than go after stars. We like to start with a shorter cycle, like 13 episodes, and in success we build that out to 16 or 18.

WS: What advantages do you draw from launching one or two shows at a time as opposed to the broadcast networks that historically have launched several in the fall at the beginning of the season?
WACHTEL: An advantage we find in cable is that we really can dedicate all our resources to a single launch at a time. When we’re launching a series that’s the only thing we’re thinking about. We’re able to marshal all our resources from marketing, press, scheduling, production, finance—everybody is focused on the show of the moment.

White Collar had an extraordinary launch behind the series finale of Monk. We were able to take advantage of the real inflow of audience to the final episodes of Monk to kick-start a new show. We love the idea of programming blocks. Not necessarily a full evening, but we’ve now, on a number of occasions, launched a new show on the back of a success. We just did that with Fairly Legal.