Yesterday there were a bunch of rumors that either ‘Mad Men’ was going to be canceled – or that it was going to come back (much later), but possibly without creator Matthew Weiner. According to several sources, Matthew was getting a huge pay raise ($30 million for 3 years) but didn’t want AMC messing with his show. The network had asked to cut 2 minutes per episode to make more room for commercials, cutting a few characters and more product placement.
Today, creator Matthew Weiner is getting his side of the story out, claiming he’s thinking of the cast, not just himself. Here’s more from Pop Eater
When news hit that ‘Mad Men’ wouldn’t return until 2012, fans of AMC’s juggernaut sighed. When that news spiraled into the notion that creator Matthew Weiner may leave the series, fans wept.
Now Weiner is clearing a few things up. “There’s been a lot of speculation and misinformation in the press about what is going on,” he tells ‘Mad Men’ blog Basket of Kisses. “I want the fans to know directly from me that I had nothing to do with this delay and it is not about money. I am fighting for the cast and for the show. And I appreciate the kindness and concern of the fans.”
The AMC/Weiner negotiations have been rumored to be in progress for months. “We didn’t have an actual conversation until three weeks ago,” Weiner clarifies.
AMC’s three reported conditions for ‘Mad Men’ are trimming the show’s length to accommodate more commercials, incorporating more product placement and ditching two cast members. Weiner says that while characters have departed the series before, it’s never been about money.
“I’ve brought the show in on budget,” Weiner says. “I’ve been a good producer.”
HitFix’s Alan Sepinwall, one of the web’s foremost ‘Mad Men’ gurus, has a thought-out take on the situation. “AMC compromised on the commercial time once, and though they suggest to [The New York Times] that they won’t this time, you never know,” Sepinwall writes. “Maybe in the end AMC blinks, deciding that the prestige of the show — which is largely dependent on having Matt Weiner present and happy — and what it means to their own brand is worth more than squeezing some extra bucks out of the margins.”
Weiner clarifies that the massive salary being floated in the press — $30 million for three more seasons — is inaccurate. “I offered to have less money, to save the cast, and to leave the show in the running time that it’s supposed to be,” Weiner says. “The harder that I’ve fought for the show, the more money that they’ve offered me.”
Weiner’s final words for troubled ‘Mad Men’ fans? “Everyone can hold on, and we’ll see if it’s necessary, but of course I would want them to express their feelings. I can’t even tell you what it’s meant to me to have intelligent people who care about the show, who reflect about it, who obsess about it, it’s been a total surprise to me. It’s surpassed everything I would ever have expected.”
Read the rest at Pop Eater
It looks to me like AMC realizes they’re sitting on a cash-cow, and they’re trying to make the absolute most money they can. I think Matthew is just trying to keep making the show he wants to – without being fussed with. I’m on Team Matthew!
Posted Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 1:13pm
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Mad Men |
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