davidconnell.net

OK, if you haven’t heard yet, Mad Men is being shelved for a year and won’t debut until 2012, most likely next March, due to contract disputes between the show’s creator Matt Weiner and AMC. To get the full skinny, read Variety, the definitive source for this type of thing.

Before you jump to conclusions about another Hollywood schmuck clawing for more money, know that AMC is pushing $30 million over the negotiating table to Weiner and that the sticking points between the two sides is creative control. Namely:

• AMC wants to shave 2 minutes from each episode to include more advertising,
• AMC wants more product integration in each episode to drive revenue,
• AMC wants to cut two cast members to reduce costs.

In essence, the show about advertising is fighting over advertising.

Taking each of these individually, the first one seems fine to me, I mean seriously, what’s two minutes? I’m going to fast forward through the commercials anyway and Mad Men will still be longer than most hour-long dramas on basic cable — 45 minutes instead of the average 42-44 minutes. On the other hand, more product integration would send the show into farce. I mean, how could you get more product placement into Mad Men? It’s a show about advertising brands and products, the whole damn show is product placement. To me, this is where you take a stand.

Finally, cutting cast-members should be a non-starter, but it may be necessary. When I hear this, I  think about Alison Brie, who is now ensconced over at Community and is probably going to demand some more coin to be on Mad Men. I love Trudy and would hate to see her go, but is she necessary to the show? Not really. (I also think about HBO and how none of this wold have happened if they’d just picked up the show when Weiner presented it to them.)

Look, AMC is a business and it has to make sense for them to air Mad Men. While many of us love the show, it is not a ratings hit for the network and after four seasons, it probably never will be. It’s a niche and niches have to make money in order to stay on the air. If I were in Weiner’s shoes I’d give in on the two minutes,  find a way to cut some extraneous cast members and fight like hell to keep additional product placement out of the show.

But my real question is: What would Don Draper do?

He’d find a way to sucker AMC into creating a two-hour Mad Men movie to air over the summer that would advance the plot, create event programming, and satiate the needs of the fan base. He’d get AMC to premier it on Netflix instant two weeks before the network release and have the Netflix showing  sponsored by BMW, with minimal exclusive ads. Then show it again on AMC, again sponsored by BMW, but chock-full of ads.

This would create buzz, highlight AMC’s innovation and provide Wiener with an opportunity to stretch creatively. It would also give him the chance to retire some of those costly characters.