Comic-con: why cable is soaring thanks to creative erosion in films and network fare

ANALYSIS FROM COMIC-CON: Last evening, I attended a Comic-Con preview screening for the USA series_ Psych_ and saw that rabid fans camped out 12 hours in a line around the block just to

glimpse an episode that will soon screen on their TV sets. Today, I see an Emmy nomination count for cable TV series that dwarfs network television, certainly in all of the sexiest

categories. And back here at Comic-Con, movie studios start today trying to hook the geek crowd on big-ticket films with a parade of stars and hype, but there will be lines just as long for

panels for cable shows like _The Walking Dead, Sons Of Anarchy_ (which I’ll moderate), _Breaking Bad, Vikings_ and others. Cable is surely doing something right, in the middle of a creative

period that will be remembered years from now as something approaching the way feature aficionados remember the 1970s. This isn’t new to the likes of HBO, built on the network reject_ The

Sopranos_ and other series. But how did it become so widespread that even Netflix is getting into the act? I’d argue cable is reaping the benefits of a creative drought at the play-it-safe

major networks, but mostly from an increasingly polarized feature film business that has marginalized the value of sophisticated and edgy mid-budget projects. That has sent a whole middle

class of writers and actors flocking to cable as an alternative to high concept global-minded tent poles or no-budget genre fare. I recall being skeptical when Tony Gilroy told me a year ago

that mid-budget dramas like his gem _Michael Clayton_ will become extinct. He wouldn’t mourn it, he said, because the writers, directors and actors who make them will tell their stories on

cable and get the sense of authorship he did on his Oscar-nominated George Clooney film. Boy, was Gilroy on to something. Consumers clearly don’t want sameness. They crave different and

edgy, and cable seems to answer that call regularly enough, most recently with Showtime’s recent ratings sensation _Ray Donovan,_ anchored by its movie cast of Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight.

Noah Emmerich, who after a long feature career now stars in the superb FX series _The Americans_, told me recently that he is still shocked that after customarily spending half a year

immersing himself in characters for features that often disappear, he never got as much recognition for anything as for a two episode stint on _The Walking Dead,_ where he had hours to

prepare. The response from _The Americans_ has been even more profound and he has grown comfortable to the quicker pace. WATCH ON DEADLINE Another factor favoring cable is the pace of

development. Gil Netter, Oscar-nominated for_ Life Of Pi_, spent a decade getting that movie made. When he and Paul Giamatti optioned Nathaniel Philbrick’s book _Mayflower_, they saw how

long it took for that author’s book _In The Heart Of The Sea_ (also more than a decade), and instead set up a 10-episode run at FX for an edgy historical tale that Giamati will certainly

boost by playing a major role. They are looking to shoot later this year. Steven Soderbergh, a maverick whose _sex lies & videotape_ helped turn indie film into an industry, is always

looking for game changing ways to make projects. He has found cable to be a most satisfying way to tell stories. He told me that after the hardships of trying to raise money for _Behind the

Candelabra_ as an indie feature, it was clear to him that his film might well disappear if it went out through a specialty distributor that wouldn’t spend P&A money, or through the still

messy multi-platform distribution option. He turned to HBO and here’s what he got: a vastly wider viewership than if he’d gone theatrical, a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, and today,

a haul of Emmy nominations including one for directing, another for Best Miniseries, Movie Or Dramatic Special, and noms for Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, and writer Richard LaGravanese. It

can hardly be considered a surprise that Soderbergh decided to limit his “retirement” to movies, and that he is well along with plans to hatch and direct the series _The Knick_, getting a

10-episode commitment and feature star Clive Owen to play a doctor at a New York hospital in the early 1900s. “It’s just a doctor show, but the difference is its setting in New York in 1900,

when there was mayhem and complete chaos,” Soderbergh told me recently. “Nothing was regulated, and while these doctors knew some things, they didn’t know a lot of things and discovered

them by trial and error. This was a world I’d not seen before, with a great central character and a lot of visual opportunities. I thought I could get a star people would be surprised to see

in a series, and shoot a 10-episode season structured economically like a 70-day movie shoot.” Rather than take the easy route and set _The Knick_ for HBO, Soderbergh deliberately chose to

try and make the series a beachhead for HBO’s sister network, Cinemax, which has never been part of any Emmy conversations. “HBO has it all, and there is just more real estate over there at

Cinemax, where they don’t yet have their signature, their _Boardwalk Empire_,” Soderbergh said. One feature producer who currently presides over a cable hit told me this renaissance will

continue as movie business margins continue to tighten and formerly obscure outlets like History Channel, Cinemax and Netflix get further into the game. “There are just so many outlets to

choose from and huge potential economic value here for writers, directors and stars who normally do features,” the producer said. “Features have become so rare and are so expensive and hard

to get made. And if they sink, that defines who you are in the marketplace. If you are a feature director and do a pilot and it doesn’t get picked up, you had a great time for three months

and you move on. And if the series hits, you’re tied to it financially. And that director or star doesn’t have to panic about staking their career on a bad choice, as has increasingly become

the case with movies.”