Fox Television Group’s Dana Walden & Gary Newman

Partnerships don’t always work, but when they do, the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. For nearly 20 years, Dana Walden and Gary Newman, the co-chairmen and CEOs of the Fox Television Group, have been working in lockstep, sharing creative sensibilities and business objectives.

They first started working together in 1999 as heads of Twentieth Century Fox Television, the studio that brought to life a diverse range of hit shows, from 24 and Bones to Glee and Modern Family. In 2014 Newman and Walden also took the helm of the Fox Broadcasting Company, at a time when all broadcast networks were witnessing declines in audience shares. They reinvigorated FOX’s schedule with Gotham, Empire, Sleepy Hollow and a reboot of The X-Files. This season they added to the schedule Lethal Weapon, 24: Legacy and the much-anticipated return of Prison Break.

Today, the Fox Television Group includes FOX, the studio and Fox 21 Television Studios, which produces for premium and basic-cable outlets. While one priority for Walden and Newman is to provide FOX with compelling breakthrough shows, they feel an equal responsibility to the creators and showrunners that work at the studio, to make sure their passion projects find the best possible home. They remained true to this pledge this season with Dan Fogelman’s series This Is Us, which has been a breakout hit for NBC, and Scott Silveri’s Speechless, the critically acclaimed comedy on ABC.

As Walden and Newman tell World Screen, putting the needs of talent first has always been a goal of their partnership. They have repeatedly reaped the rewards of this strategy, supporting talent such as Ryan Murphy, who after Glee created the anthologies American Horror Story; American Crime Story (the first season of which, The People v. O.J. Simpson, won multiple awards); and this year’s Feud: Bette and Joan, about the rivalry between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Howard Gordon, who shepherded the 24 franchise as well as Homeland with showrunner Alex Gansa, also has a home at the studio. More recently, Fox aligned with Lee Daniels, the force behind Empire and, this season, Star. As Walden and Newman point out, this commitment to talent has yielded a range of different voices and points of view, which not only satisfies audiences but also is good for business.

WS: In your roles as heads of the studio, what were some of your goals when you were planning this season?
NEWMAN: When we were thinking about the 2016–17 season, it was not that different from our normal process. We have always thought that the primary goal of the studio is to supply the FOX network with great development and a diverse slate of distinctive programming. Secondarily, we think about the outside networks and positioning key selective projects with them. Maybe the thing that made this last year a little different was that we were facing a challenge at the broadcast network, because it was going to be the first midseason in 14 years without American Idol. So we knew we had pretty big programming needs for midseason. We went through development with those things in mind, and at the studio we set up a lot of great projects both at FOX and elsewhere. When I now look at the 2016–17 season, among the things that we are particularly proud of at our network are 24: Legacy, Star and The Mick, which is currently the top-rated comedy. Looking beyond FOX, This Is Us is the number one new show on NBC, and Speechless, over at ABC, has gotten so much critical acclaim and strong ratings. It’s been a very strong development year for the studio.

WS: You mentioned This Is Us. A lot of people welcomed a family drama.
WALDEN: That is so much a part of why it is so successful right now and why it’s hit this nerve, along with its extraordinary storytelling. It’s a twist on the traditional character ensemble piece in the way that Dan [Fogelman, the showrunner] and his team play with time. Spending every week with a group of people who love each other, who are committed to each other, who are optimistic about their relationships with each other, feels great and is something that was missing on television.

WS: I love Kate’s story. It’s one of the first times we’ve seen that on network television.
WALDEN: It’s written from a very personal place. Dan has a situation in his own family where they dealt with weight issues, and that is a struggle he knows very well, so he’s telling it from a very personal perspective. He’s writing not as an observer but as someone who has lived in a real situation that is relatable. To so many people around the world, but certainly in this country, obesity is a real issue, and there are a lot of people who fight routinely with their weight. This character is so vulnerable and yet confident. I love that the actress Chrissy Metz has so much confidence. She is not playing a character that doesn’t like herself. And talking to Chrissy, [I’ve learned] she has always been in a relationship; she’s never had a hard time dating. This isn’t a woe-is-me character, but she has a very specific challenge that sometimes overwhelms her—that creates great drama.
NEWMAN: When Dan first talked about this show, he described it from Kate’s point of view. For him, this was a show about Kate. It’s not that the other stories aren’t important—they are. But that one was so personal to him that he really locked into it. The show is—there is no other way to describe it—a joy to watch.

WS: There is a lot of anticipation for Prison Break. When you bring back a popular series, what do you want to keep from the original, and what do you want to refresh to draw in new viewers?
WALDEN: We look at these event series on a case-by-case basis. I would say our primary goal is to reconnect with the original creators who have the passion for telling more stories. [Creator and showrunner] Paul Scheuring came in with [actor] Wentworth Miller when we had our first meeting, and he had a really good reason to tell the stories in this world. He had an idea of where these characters were going, on a new journey that was compelling. It was great to just listen to his vision for the return. When you reunite the cast of one of these shows that was so successful, there is something so satisfying about that—satisfying to the fan base in letting them reconnect with characters that were meaningful at points in their lives, and satisfying to create entirely new journeys around those characters. It feels like a reward for the original viewers and a great opportunity to introduce these great characters to new viewers.

WS: What has contributed to the longevity of the 24 franchise?
NEWMAN: It’s one of those amazing concepts. The real-time element at the heart of the storytelling of this series creates an urgency and propulsion that you don’t see on other shows. Whether it is Jack Bauer or now Eric Carter, played by Corey Hawkins, [we are watching] someone who is making a sacrifice to protect all of us, someone who is putting the well-being of the country ahead of his own life, even ahead of some of the people he loves. These guys are given a nearly impossible choice, and they are heroic. They rise up and, against all odds, do the right thing. It’s the sort of storytelling, for a viewer, that makes for great emotional rides. We happen to have unbelievable pros at the helm of that show. Howard Gordon has been there since season one. Manny Coto and Evan Katz also joined very early. This is the type of storytelling that they have developed a knack for.

WS: With more outlets producing original programming, is it increasingly difficult to find talent in front of and behind the camera?
NEWMAN: There is no question that it is more difficult than ever. There are so many shows in production—this year it’s more than 450, whereas just five years ago it was about 250—so talent is very tied up. It’s a challenge, but at the studio we are all about the talent coming first [and have been for] a long time. We try to create an environment where we allow people to develop the shows that are closest to their hearts. Then we take those projects and figure out where they can best be developed, rather than saying to people we are in business with, “You’ve got to do shows just for FOX or just FX.” We have found that that has made us a pretty great home for talent. I can assure you that Dan Fogelman is feeling incredibly supported on This Is Us, a show that [is well placed on NBC]. Pitch felt like a show that could work on the FOX network. Now with talent in even higher demand, those are the kinds of conversations that we can have with talent or their representatives about what sort of opportunities we can offer.

WS: What is the environment at Fox 21 that has yielded so many critically acclaimed shows? Because they write for cable, do those creators and showrunners have even more freedom than some could have writing a broadcast network show?
WALDEN: Yes, I think there is a greater degree of freedom. The trade-off is that it’s very difficult on cable to hit that big culturally relevant show like This Is Us or Empire, but you can be more targeted and more true to certain viewers. The team at Fox 21 is made up of great executives who all have a lot of experience working with fantastic showrunners. I would say if there is a super skill involved in any of this, to the extent there is for executives, it’s seeking great writers. They have very good taste in creative partners. When you start a show with Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon or Ryan Murphy, you’re betting on the best of the best. You are betting on people who are inspired and have stories they want to tell. We’ve had the great fortune of having very long-standing relationships with many of them, so I would say the great news for us about our partners and overall deals is that a lot of them move back and forth, from cable to broadcast, depending on the story they want to tell and how they want to tell it.

WS: Are there advantages to limited series or anthology series?
NEWMAN: The biggest advantage of limited series is that you’re not asking talent for a multi-year commitment. Typically actors, but also some directors, might not want to do television because it would be a 5- or 7-year commitment. Just last year, Fox 21 hired John Travolta, Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange to do projects that only required a one-season, 10- to 12-episode commitment. From a marketing standpoint, it’s a mixed bag because for the network you need to invest a lot of money to create awareness and build people’s excitement for the show, yet you’re not going to have the benefit of that for multiple years. Instead, you just have the benefit for one season. On the other hand, these limited series tend to be bigger ideas with big hooks, and they lend themselves a little more easily to mounting a marketing campaign for the project. I think that’s why, in this very crowded market, you see networks peppering their schedules with limited event series.

WS: What improvements need to be made in audience measurement and in the type of ratings that are used?
NEWMAN: Ratings measurement is very challenging. Obviously, we would like measurement that really represents total viewership, no matter what platform people are watching on and no matter when. We would like to have that data and to be able to aggregate it. That creates some challenges for advertisers who sometimes have timely messages, and so you have to be flexible in the way you do business with advertising partners. Ratings haven’t kept up with changing viewer habits, and change always comes a little bit slower to incumbent companies. I feel that Nielsen is trying to be more inclusive in the way they measure ratings [on multiple] platforms. I think it’s difficult for them to measure but the technology exists, certainly, to be measuring on a 30-day window. But I don’t think any of us are selling our advertising that way yet. We may be selling 7-day windows at best. But there is a lot of viewing happening between day 8 and day 30. I imagine, over time, we will be able to convince Nielsen and, hopefully, our advertisers to both measure and take seriously the fact that all viewers who are watching a show are valuable.

WS: How have you seen marketing techniques evolve as viewers are watching on demand?
WALDEN: As distribution has evolved from just exclusive opportunities on platforms, our goal is to get our programming in front of our viewers wherever they want to watch it, for the most part. Obviously, we have to be able to monetize those viewers, but to the extent that we can, it’s beneficial for us to be following our audience. And that is true with our marketing as well. When Gary and I first came over to the network, we approached our marketing the way we approached the development of our shows. Our philosophy is, you have to have a great degree of showmanship, you have to have great content that breaks through, and you have to create content that is consistent with our shows and involves the input of our great creators. And you have to be extremely aggressive so that your marketing is penetrating and you are not using an old-school [strategy] such as, We are going to do a certain number of GRPs [gross rating points] across cable to promote a drama. You have to create events. [For season ten] of The X-Files, our PR team created a fantastic event at a shopping center in Los Angeles that made it look like a UFO had just landed there. Then, together with people in the shopping center who started posting on social media about what was going on, our marketing team amplified it and created quite a buzz on both Facebook and Twitter. I would say that our goal right now is to make sure that our shows are top of mind, and that takes events. We just had a fantastic partnership with Samsung on 24: Legacy. We put one of the show’s creators, Howard Gordon, with the Samsung marketing team, and together they came up with the idea to do a VR experience called The Raid that is exclusively available on Samsung platforms. It’s a VR experience of the raid—with our star, Corey Hawkins—of the terrorist compound that leads to the beginning of our show. We are using it as a prequel, and Samsung has been really happy with this partnership. As a matter of fact, they bought media across the Super Bowl to support The Raid that also supported the premiere of our show. That’s not a traditional marketing lever that you would pull, but when you have an engaged marketing team that is experienced and creative and willing to try things that are out of the box, it’s amazing how you can amplify a message.

WS: For the studio and for FOX, what have been the advantages of diversity?
NEWMAN: We have a very diverse audience of viewers. Telling stories that come from different points of view, and [having] great shows with actors that look like our friends and neighbors and people across the country, creates an inclusive network, one where viewers can tune in and feel that they are going to see something that welcomes them and has something to do with their experience. Clearly, not every show can serve every constituency in our society, but it’s important, if you want to be a broadcaster, that your slate of programming offers diverse points of view and experiences. We do it because it’s a good thing to do and we feel that it’s right, but beyond that, it’s great business. We don’t feel in any way that we are sacrificing our business agenda to do this—the two link up perfectly well. We are doing the right thing and also the smart thing. We feel so great about so many of our shows. We first started learning this lesson back with Glee and Modern Family. They had such an impact on our culture. We got feedback from so many viewers who responded to seeing diverse characters. I think what took longer was to get diversity behind the camera. This year, half of our pilots are written by women, and we feel great about that. We’re going to have a slate of pilots that represent more points of view and that is good for a broadcast network.

WS: It leads to more viewers seeing characters on screen that they can relate to in a very personal way.
NEWMAN: Definitely, and the interesting thing is that one shouldn’t have the illusion that only women can write for women, and only men can write for men, and only African Americans can write for African Americans—that’s far from true. All these people have stories to tell. They all bring their own unique points of view, and that makes our projects far richer and more layered, which I think the audience appreciates.