Revisiting NATPE–Ben Silverman on Change Part 1

To me, the title of this posting seems almost ironic. Last semester…which really was only about 4 short months ago…we were discussing NBC’s Ben Silverman in my Electronic Media Programming class. But, the discussion at that time focused on the irreverent way he was doing his job as head of programming for the peacock network. And, the lack of hits he had been able to score during his first year. We listened to this podcast from KCRW’s The Business where the prediction seemed to be that Silverman’s job wouldn’t last the calendar year of 2008.
But, at NATPE 2009 Silverman was being honored with a Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award.
Ben Silverman–Posterboy for Change.
And he has brought about a ton of change at NBC. Green lighting shows to production without seeing a pilot, having major sponsors buy into financing a production based only on the weight of the actor associated with a show (i.e., Ford on the now-canceled Christian Slater show...)

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The Audioprof Blog