• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 1, 2008

What's the main threat to TV producers these days?

 

Apparently, it isn't product placement, per se. It's the burgeoning number of network advertising and marketing executives looking to make product placement and branded entertainment deals.

"Heroes" executive producer Tim Kring said as much during a panel at NATPE's LATV Festival in Hollywood on Wednesday. He noted, for example, that while there were once a handful of people at NBC's digital division, now there are around 70.

It seems as if that army of executives is bothering Kring more and more,  doing advertising/brand entertainment deals -- no doubt because of Nissan's successful Versa deal, which got some major attention over the last year or so.

Kring said: "You throw a little bit of sponsorship and product placement into the show and you have a recipe for all kinds of serious problems."

Kring fears what other producers dread as well - that those who produce scripted television will be overwhelmed by commerce demands, making their creative jobs harder.

Network executives might respond: "Too bad. That's they way of the world these days." Advertising executives will try to placate creatives by saying they understand about a delicate balance, that a deal has to be "organic."

But I want to know about deals that are inorganic -- so much so that preservatives leaked out from under the doors of the set. With the scores of branded deals that occur in cable, especially in reality shows, you would think someone would have copped to this?

Now, it seems those untold horror stories are the tip of the iceberg. It is about the pressure on TV producers by executives looking to gain fame and fortune for their TV marketing clients.