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 A Member Profile by Chris Davison, chris@lthmedia.com
Eric Tannenbaum is Producer at Tantamount Studios. Eric began his career watching his father working in the studio system and has since worked in many areas of the business. I recently had a chance to interview Eric to discuss Two and a Half Men, economics, and New World Entertainment.
Q: Can you tell us about your background and what made you want to work in entertainment? how did you first get involved with the HRTS?
-growing up, my father worked as an executive at many of the studios, from Universal to Paramount to MGM to Columbia, and it always seemed fun and exciting to me. I always loved television. When I was a kid I got to go to the sets of The Brady Bunch and The Odd Couple, and I said someday I want to do what he does…having no idea what that meant.
When I first started out at New World Entertainment as an assistant/gopher I got invited to one of the early HRTS Network Presidents luncheons, and once again I thought this would be a cool thing to be a part of.
Q: What makes "Two and a Half Men" such an enduring hit?
-very simple. Two things: the writing and the acting. It's consistently funny and the quality has been there from day one.
Q: As a creative producer, what are some differences working in broadcast versus cable?
-as producers we've done most of our work in broadcast TV, although we'd very much like to do more in the cable world. Ultimately it's really the same skill set. Working on something you're excited about, trying to make it as good as it can be and trying to put the best possible people in every position. When something comes out really good that's what's exciting.
Q: What are your thoughts on brand integration?
-my thoughts on brand integration have always been simple. If it can be organic to the process, and not feel like you're doing a commercial within a TV show, then I am all for it. The economic models are virtually impossible to make sense of, so therefore any situation that enables the economics to make more sense and allows us to make the show we want to make is a win-win for everybody.
Q: Any thoughts on recent changes to the Primetime Emmy telecast?
-my only continuing thought is why wasn't Two and a Half Men nominated for Best Comedy Series?
Q: What's your biggest hope for the online and mobile spaces? biggest fear?
-my hope for online and mobile spaces is that they continue to be ways to enhance content and offer further creative places for talented people to be able to express themselves. No one yet has really fully connected all the dots of TV to online then back to TV, other than as a promotional tool, and the economics of it are a mystery to everybody.
The biggest fear for content producers is that the availability of TV shows online may ultimately have a serious impact on the back end value of their content. Of course you want more eyeballs to see your show but again the economic impact to the creative people/producers still seems vague.
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