NBC Universal’s Angela Bromstad

October 2006

By Anna Carugati

As president of NBC Universal
Television Studio, Angela Bromstad is responsible for a diverse slate of shows,
from the formidable Law & Order franchise to the hit House and the
innovative Heroes. She has high hopes for a number of new dramas, including
the cop show Raines, The Black Donnellys from Crash’s
Paul Haggis and Friday Night Lights, about high-school football.

WS: There are
quite a few big-name talents attached to your slate of new shows. Was this by
design or did it just happen by chance?

BROMSTAD: I would say
it’s somewhat by design. As an internal studio we are competing with Warner
Bros. and other studios that have big talent, and when they sell to the
networks, they have the advantage of bringing a big package [including stars,
writers and producers]. So we want to be able to compete. Also, as NBC relies
more on its own studio for the development of new shows, we want to be able to
provide them with the same high quality as outside studios. So we did go after some
big names. Also, we were fortunate enough that this was the year that Brian
Grazer was behind Friday Night Lights and Paul Haggis created The Black
Donnellys.

WS: Would an established writer like Haggis be given more
creative freedom than a lesser-known writer?

BROMSTAD: We try and
foster creativity with everybody, whether they are incredibly experienced or
not. Initially we sat down with Paul and we battled out some issues such as the
budget and shooting schedules, but it went pretty smoothly. I think there was
natural skepticism on both of our sides. On his there was, “OK, the studio and
the network—what aren’t they going to let me do?” And our point of view
was, “He’s a big feature-film guy now, how is he going to torture us with the
budget?” There was that guarded relationship, but what ended up was a
tremendous respect for one another because he was a phenomenal director. He was
incredibly financially responsible, and he was shooting in New York during
those horrific rains last year, and he stayed on schedule. He was completely
professional, and it was fantastic.

WS: NBC Universal
Television Studio produces House, which airs on FOX. Is it part of
your strategy to work for other networks as well?

BROMSTAD: Yes, it is.
NBC is always our first priority, but we have such a slate of writers and we
will absolutely have to continue to sell to the outside. NBC can only produce
and air so many shows. We want to keep our shows on long enough for them to be
successful in an afterlife.

WS: To what do you attribute the longevity of Law &
Order?

BROMSTAD: The original Law
& Order will go down as one of the most innovative, brilliant
ideas in television. Its longevity is due to the form of Law & Order and to the
fact that people love a procedural and they love crime. And because the show
bases its episodes on real stories ripped off the headlines, and they’ve been
able to do such a multitude of stories over the years. They keep the series
fresh with cast changes. Law & Order: SVU has been more
successful than Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Criminal
Intent really took off in its second season, but it hasn’t been doing as well
against Desperate Housewives. We’ve made casting changes and we
hope that in its new time slot it will bounce back.

WS: How is new
media affecting the development process? Do you think of any of these
possibilities when you’re in the process of creating a great drama?

BROMSTAD: Absolutely. We heard the pitch for Heroes when we were
looking at [new media] and thought it was a show that would have a lot of
possibilities on digital platforms. Although Heroes was doing OK
on the network, iTunes really gave it a high profile in the digital community
and within our company, which realized this is an important asset. So we
absolutely think about that in the development process. We develop things now
specifically for an Internet distribution outlet, but our main focus will
always be the biggest, broadest audience.

WS: Given NBC’s
slide in the ratings, did you feel more pressure this year than you had in the
past to come up with a really exceptional slate of programming?

BROMSTAD: We feel pressure every year. I would say that we’ve had
this pressure looming over us for the past four or five years as we lost some
of our cornerstone shows. But we feel that we’re good right now: not only did
we produce great shows, but the network picked up really great shows and NFL
football is back on NBC. We’re more positive now than we have been in the
past.