'Mad Men' creator Matt Weiner says he's no Don Draper
"I'm not Don Draper, I don't have the stomach for this," said Matt Weiner about the tough negotiations surrounding his just-completed new deal to stay on as executive producer of the cult cable drama "Mad Men" for at least two seasons.
In an interview, Weiner said his issues with AMC, the cable network that airs "Mad Men" and Lionsgate, the production company behind the show, was not about how much he was getting paid. "Mad Men" is AMC's signature show and follows the lives of ad men in 1960s New York who struggle to adjust to the social and political changes going on around them. It has won three Emmy Awards for best drama.
"It is beyond money for me, I didn't want to make something that wasn't the show," he said. Weiner's deal will pay him close to $10 million per season, according to people familiar with the terms.
Weiner, who was under pressure from AMC and Lionsgate to trim costs and be open to adding additional commercial breaks to "Mad Men" said his battle "was always about trying to keep doing the show the way we've done the show."
There was some compromise from the hands-on producer. While the first and last episodes of the next season of "Mad Men" will run 47 minutes, the rest of the episodes will run 45 minutes, giving AMC a chance to make more money from commercials. Weiner will be able to film 47 minute episodes though for DVDs, iTunes and video on demand.
Weiner was also resistant to having to trim production costs and potentially lose cast members. The deal for "Mad Men" with AMC runs for two seasons with the current cast.
"The cast will be intact and people's characters will only leave the story if it suits the story creatively," he said. If the bulk of the cast is on board for a third season, then Weiner will return as well.
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-- Joe Flint
Top photo: Actor Jon Hamm plays hard-drinking advertising executive Don Draper in AMC's "Mad Men." Credit: AMC
Bottom photo: "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner. Credit: Francois Durand / Getty Images
Ain't it always the way? Weiner's an artistic genius. All artistic types have problems being both the artist and the money person.
People who are "money people" have strengths in different parts of their brains, than artistic types. Artistic types do what they do for the sake of their art, and money people do things for--um-- money.
Artistic types have a heightened sensitivity, often, that makes contracts and money negotiations tough to do. It's just not their thing.
I think it's why money-people can so easily take advantage of artistic types.
Frequently, they do.
AMC is really wacked, here. Weiner put them on the map, fo' sure. For life. He M-A-D-E them. MAD MEN did that for AMC.
They should give Weiner total free reign, and everything he asks for; while kissing his butt. I mean, really.
Only in Hollywood, would a network negotiate... to change around a show... that without it's brilliance : they might not be in existence. If not for that show. Certainly they wouldn't have the stature they have now.
Most of the public didn't even know who they were. Weiner, and MAD MEN, turned that around for them, and more...branded them as a creative forerunner, and pulled them up in our cultural consciousness, as a network to respect.
Only in H'wood. (*She shakes head.*)
Posted by: Dana Kaminski | March 31, 2011 at 06:49 PM
He says the cast will be intact but Christina Hendricks opted to do a movie instead of return to Mad Men after the extra-long hiatus.
Posted by: Josh Watkins | April 01, 2011 at 08:09 AM