Exclusive Interview: CBS Studios’ David Stapf

PREMIUM: As the president of CBS Studios, David Stapf heads what many showrunners consider to be the best home for creating innovative procedurals; he talks to World Screen about the success at the studio.

WS: CBS Studios has been producing some of the most successful procedurals on television. What makes it such a popular genre and as viewers’ tastes evolve, will the procedural genre have to evolve?
STAPF: Good question and it’s a complicated question because I’ve never looked at the procedural as purely formulaic, uninteresting, or overly-plot driven. All of our “procedurals” that have worked have worked because of the characters and because of the evolution, however fast or slow, of those characters. People still talk about Grissom and Sarah on CSI, even though Billy Petersen, who played Grissom, has been off the show for four years. Every show evolves naturally in its story telling, just like human stories evolve. Look at The Good Wife. Is The Good Wife a procedural? Sure, there is case and there’s a beginning, middle and end of every single episode. And the cases are really interesting and often times topical, but I don’t know that America would say, “That’s a procedural.” To me all that “procedural” really means is there is a franchise behind it, and in each episode there is a job involved and that something gets resolved—it doesn’t have to completely get resolved—but there is a beginning, middle and end to every episode.

WS: Are there lessons that broadcast networks can learn from cable, like making shows that are edgier or take risks or create a lot of buzz?
STAPF: There are lessons that definitely can be learned from cable. One of the things that I take away from cable is in a land where there are so many choices, I think it’s incumbent upon every show to “eventize” itself—become an event. How do you make noise? How do you stand out? Some of the cable properties have done that well. That’s a lesson to be taken away, but you have to decide which game you are in. When we are producing for broadcast networks, it’s a bigger, more global, broader universe. There is nothing wrong with that at all. We don’t feel the need to make our shows edgier or resemble cable, that’s doing a disservice to the actual show that we are producing. It should be true to whatever the story is you’re telling, otherwise you’re imposing something on the show that it isn’t.

WS: There has been talk of year-round development and premiering of shows as opposed to premiering all new shows in the fall.
STAPF: We’re launching two scripted shows in the summer: Under the Dome from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and Stephen King and Unforgettable, which is a show we had on last season and we are bringing back for the summer. I don’t know that I would say that we have moved into an era of year-round development, but we are not just looking at the fall to premiere shows. Ultimately, we are in the content business, I’m on the side that produces the shows, so when we make them matters less. What matters is making the shows as good as we possibly can.

WS: Since The Sopranos, there have been a lot of flawed characters on television. Do you think it is more difficult to present to the audience one who is more “normal”?
STAPF: I don’t know. Mark Harmon is on NCIS, the number one show on television. Is his character flawed? A little bit. I think if a character is authentic and real, that’s what matters more. I don’t think there is a person alive that doesn’t have some chinks in the armor. What people respond to is authenticity and the ability to ask, Do I see myself there? How much you can relate to the characters is more important than someone who has a gigantic flaw, or particular baggage. One of the reasons The Sopranos worked so well was that Tony was a fully developed 360-degree character. [He] was a guy who loved his family deeply, but was conflicted all over the place!

WS: You mentioned NCIS, I love that show. What’s been the secret to its success?
STAPF: I won’t pretend to know what the secret is. I’m a fan of the show as well and what I love about it is what you love about it: I love those characters, I love the humor, I love the play-along mystery part. America fell in love with those characters years ago and thankfully our writers, producers and actors have continued to grow those characters and surprise us and allow us to fall in love with them. They figured out that balance [between character relationships and crime solving]. Everything always boils down to good writing, good directing and good producing and fantastic acting.

WS: And you say it as if it were so easy to do!
STAPF: Exactly!

WS: Why is a pilot so important when you are developing a show and what are the advantages to having one as opposed to going straight to series?
STAPF: You learn a lot through a pilot. If you look at a pilot, much like we do, as a little bit of a road map, a little bit of a litmus test, there is nothing better than seeing something on its feet to learn what you need to know to make a good series. It’s a big leap to go straight to series. So much of art is subjective and intangible, so the more tangible you can make it, the better. A pilot affords you the ability to see it and test it and then to make adjustments. Often times when you go straight to series, you don’t have time in between the first episode—or what would have been the pilot episode—and the next episode. If you are doing a pilot and essentially shooting it in April, and then not airing it until September, it gives you a lot of time to make adjustments if necessary.

WS: Your studio has been primarily producing for CBS, but also for cable networks.
STAPF: Yes, we are. We have a new series starring Jon Kenney and Rebecca Romijn for TNT that we are very excited about. And we are absolutely looking to produce smartly for both premium cable and basic cable. Again, we’re in the content business, so we are looking to produce everywhere.

WS: What different creative freedoms does Showtime offer compared to ad-supported networks?
STAPF: Just the obvious language and nudity; the edges are further out in premium cable but that isn’t necessarily the reason you produce for them. There is a misconception that a lot of writers want to be in premium cable because they can do edgier stuff. That may be the case with some people, but I think the question for each show is, where does this story belong? If you look at Masters of Sex for example, the Masters & Johnson show for Showtime, for that story to be true to itself, it really needs to be done on premium cable.

WS: Are you in contact with Armando Nuñez [the president and CEO of the CBS Global Distribution Group] when you are developing shows?
STAPF: Constantly. He and I are very good friends, which makes it a lot easier to be in business. I seek his counsel a lot: Is this a show that is going to be easier or harder to sell? It doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t do a show if he says, “Oh, this is going to be a hard one to sell.” We just know it’s going to be a little more challenging to work with. I consult with him a lot. But if you asked him the question, what are you looking for? He’d say. “I just want it to be good; give me a good show.”