The companies behind the critically acclaimed drama “Mad Men” — cable network AMC and producer Lionsgate — are battling with
the show’s Emmy Award-winning creator over a new contract and budget
cuts, which would include trimming the large ensemble cast.
If Weiner does not agree to a new deal, AMC and
Lionsgate have signaled they are prepared to continue to produce “Mad
Men” without him. Lionsgate has an agreement in place with AMC for a
fifth season with or without Weiner, whose contract expired after the
fourth season ended last fall.
Dropping Weiner would be tantamount to blasphemy to
the show’s incredibly devoted, but relatively small, audience. Like his
mentor
supervises the writing of every episode and is known for obsessing over
the details of “Mad Men,” which uses the Lucky Strike-smoking,
secretary-leering, four-martini-lunch lifestyles of
The stalled talks mean that the show, which usually
starts its 13-episode run in the summer, now won’t air its fifth season
until early 2012. People close to the show think March is the earliest
it could be back on the air.
Although “Mad Men” has modest ratings — last season
it averaged 3.2 million viewers — and is not even AMC’s most-watched
show (“The Walking Dead” has that distinction), it put the network on
the map and fired it into the cultural zeitgeist.
When critics talk about the new golden age of
television, “Mad Men” is often the first show they cite as an example.
Since it debuted in 2007, the show has won 13 Emmys and four Golden
Globes and was the first basic cable series to win the Emmy for
outstanding drama series, an honor it received in 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Set in the early 1960s, chronicling the upheaval between McCarthy-era
conformism and the countercultural revolution to come, “Mad Men” has
been praised for bringing new depth to the secret lives of secretaries,
boardroom flacks and housewives.
For the show to remain under Weiner, he will have to agree to a three-year pact worth about
according to people close to all the parties involved in the
negotiations who declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature
of the talks. At that figure, Weiner would become one of the
highest-paid producers in television.
Weiner, through his spokesman, declined to comment.
One of the major sticking points concerns the number of commercials in each episode. Currently, AMC pays about
to Lionsgate for each episode of the show. To cover the rising costs of
airing “Mad Men,” the network has indicated it wants to add more
commercials, which would obviously cut into the show’s length.
Another obstacle in the negotiations are the use of
so-called product placement and product integration in the program. The
network would like to see more of them as a means of generating
additional revenue. And certain to prompt outrage among fans, up to six
members of the cast may be axed from the show in a cost-cutting move
over the next three seasons, a person close to the show said.
For his part, Weiner has been extremely protective
of the show and in the past has fought efforts to bump up commercial
time on his show. Two years ago, AMC compromised with Weiner and added
more commercials without trimming the program length.
Relations between Weiner, AMC and Lionsgate have
over the years frequently been less than harmonious. In the current
tumult, it’s unclear though when Weiner was first approached to discuss
a new deal for a fifth season. People close to him say he was only
recently asked about renewing his deal, while those in the Lionsgate
and AMC camps say they’ve been trying to complete this for almost a
year.
As for the cast, Weiner has cut characters before. For instance, a very popular closeted gay character
was dropped from the show after Season 3. But that decision was
Weiner’s, and — according to people close to Weiner — the show runner
would regard being forced to shed actors as interference with the
creative process.
Over the last four years, “Mad Men” has been a launching pad for previously little-known or unknown actors. Series’ star
transformed the network from an obscure channel filled with old movies
into a major destination for original series programming.
The unexpected success of “Mad Men” naturally has
translated into dramatic growth in advertising revenues for the
network. According to SNL Kagan, an industry consulting business, AMC’s
ad revenue in 2006, the year before “Mad Men” premiered, was
Meanwhile, Lionsgate has done well by “Mad Men” too. The company takes in between
per episode from the show in fees from AMC, sales abroad and DVDs,
people familiar with the show’s finances said. Lionsgate has said it
expects “Mad Men” to ultimately generate more than
It’s unclear whether the lengthy break between
seasons could hurt ratings for “Mad Men.” There are plenty of other
choices. But as with HBO’s “The Sopranos,” which once went almost two
years between seasons, “Mad Men” has such an intense following its
audience may be willing to wait.
———
(c) 2011, Los Angeles Times.
Visit the Los Angeles Times on the Internet at http://www.latimes.com/.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
