CHAT WITH ROBERT
USA TODAY’s Robert Bianco chats with readers Mondays at 2 p.m. ET at facebook.com/ USATODAY. Read edited excerpts below, email questions to askbianco@usatoday.com or tweet them to @biancorobert and visit him live online.
QIs Reign coming back? I thought it had been renewed?
A Yes, CW is bringing Reign back for a fourth season, starting in February. Because you did not ask, and because shows like Flash, Jane the Virgin and
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend have left me feeling more charitable toward CW, I’ll spare you my opinion of that particular decision. Though I suppose, in a way, I just did.
Q Watching the credits for some shows, I see executive producers, supervising producers, co-executive producers, sometimes more than a dozen! Are these just friends and relatives riding the gravy train? Looks like payroll padding to me.
A Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. As a general rule, TV shows are run by the people who write them (it’s one of the things that separates the television industry from the film industry) — and all of those writers get producer credits. In addition, you have non-writing producers who perform what you might think of as the executive/business functions on the show. As for who does what, you’re right in thinking it’s confusing and ever-changing, but in most cases, the most important name to look for is the person with the final “executive producer” credit, as that’s usually the person in charge.
None of that counts as payroll padding. What often does count as padding is the producer credit that goes to stars and their friends and family (though some actually do the work the credit implies); to agents and managers who help set up the deal; to studio executives; to writers who pushed the show through as part of some overall deal; and to former writers who have left or been pushed out but still retain a credit — which is why some of the long- est running series have the most names. Just think of it as one more reason there’s no business like show business.