Considering the childish events that are going on in the NBC-Leno-O'Brien event, I wonder if there is a parallel to be drawn to a bunch of kids fighting in a schoolyard. Is there a grown-up around anywhere? Is there someone really in charge at NBC?
I suspect that Leno, Letterman, and O'Brien were all exploiting the event to improve their ratings, but I am not at all sure about that. Who do I hold responsible for this debacle? Undoubtedly probably everyone involved at the networks, the lawyers, the agents and most probably the talents themselves for a variety of reasons that do not matter at this time.
For the record, I was a senior executive in a variety of entertainment companies. But I was not that senior.
It was a long time ago that I was with a relatively big deal network programming executive and I asked him about a particular programming decision and his reply was something like: "Listen Norman, my job here is to get ratings and I will spend whatever they let me spend to do that, but as a rule, they don't let me spend what I want."
Every executive in almost every business should memorize the lyrics in the following song, which can be used when dealing with the inflated egos of talent, spurred on by their agents who never have learned the meaning of the words "enough already:"
"Got along without you before I met you
Gonna get along without you now
Gonna find somebody who's twice as cute
'Cause I didn't like you anyhow."
When "executives" have the support of their managements, they can and often do wondrous things, and without it, it is easy for them to do "stupid." The most powerful weapon that an executive can use was made famous by Nancy Reagan and it was "just say no."
It is important that you realize what can happen if you "just say no" but when you're negotiating with an adversary who is unwilling to listen or does not hear the word "no," you are "cooked." Not that this is a parallel to the NBC situation, but it might serve as an example of the "just-say-no" theory.
It was in the late seventies that my company was trying to acquire the off-network rights to a "hot series." My president called me and told me that he didn't care what I spent to do this, that he wanted the program to please his board. Following orders, I paid several million dollars more than I would have otherwise to get the deal he wanted.
After that, every agent for every program asked for the same deal for their program and all I would say was "no." It was very funny; they would always ask, "What do you mean by, no?"
I realize that you can lose many deals by having that attitude, but to a greater or lesser extent you will be better served by having it. For a studio or senior network executive to be effective, he or she must leave their ego at home. Having often not done that, I realize how important it is. I once had an agent say to me: "Norman, do you have the balls to step up to a deal this big?" And he about died when I answered: "No, and now where do we go." The following "war story" is mostly irrelevant, but I have always wanted to tell it:
Shortly after joining a studio I was asked to go to dinner with a very young senior executive whom I had not met previously. As soon as we sat down he told me that, unless he got what he wanted, he was going to accept another job. My reply to him was to ask if he wanted a drink. I managed to spend two hours with him without even mentioning the issue at hand. I watched as he wanted to reintroduce the subject but I would not get into it with him.
As dinner ended he said: "Norman, what is your answer to what I just told you?" and I replied that my answer was "no." He was shocked and I explained the following.
1. Never discuss something like that until after coffee.
2. Always ask for what you want first and be prepared to discuss it.
3. Never threaten anyone as a first position in a negotiation.
He took the other job, and I hired someone else who did just fine. I wonder what will happen to NBC when Comcast takes over. Whatever happens, it will be interesting. At 11:30, though, I am asleep and I don't care what is carried by NBC.
Loading comments… 
