Lifetime's Susanne Daniels on Making Movies, Surviving the Strike and Writing Her Hot Industry Tell-All, "Season Finale"

Now in her third year as president of entertainment for Lifetime Networks former WB entertainment president Susanne Daniels is also the coauthor with Variety39s Cynthia Littleton of the recently published book Season Finale about the rise and fall of The WB and UPN It39s a mustread for anyone who worked in with or around the television business from 19952006 when the two mininetworks struggled to build their brands find their audiences and survive against mounting pressures from inside and outside their respective corporations TV fans who fondly recall the series that propelled The WB into the heart of popular culture including Buffy the Vampire Slayer Dawson39s Creek 7th Heaven Gilmore Girls Felicity Everwood and Angel might also enjoy reading about the behind the scenes struggles to bring those shows to televisionDaniels recently talked with me about the challenges she faced at The WB her concerns about The CW her reasons for writing Season Finale and her current work for Lifetime Networks which includes overseeing the development and production of approximately 30 movies per year getting last year39s summer hit Army Wives back on track after the WGA strike strengthening the network39s daytime schedule and much much more An edited transcript of our conversation followsEd Martin I was struck while reading Season Finale by the deep emotional connection you and your colleagues at The WB had to the network and its shows I think advertisers and television journalists felt the same way and that a lot of them still miss The WBSusanne Daniels That39s what really motivated me to write this book It was an emotional journey It was such a meaningful and intense nine years that I was a part of The WB Writing the book literally gave me the closure that I think I was seekingEM I sensed reading the book that during the life of the network there was always some lingering doubt or question in the air about whether or not SD We would survive Yeah That was really hard to deal with I couldn39t attract major show runners who feared that the network wouldn39t be around for enough time to get their shows to syndicationEM Was that the case all of the time you were there including during what I would call the glory years of Buffy and DawsonSD Yes It was constant The rumors from reporters and internally and externally I remember having to fight hard for Sony to get behind Dawson39s Creek with us really having to fight to convince them the network would be around I39m a little murky on it but I think the rumor at that particular time was that Warner Bros wanted to buy NBC and they were going to shut us downEM Where were you on January 24 2006 when you first heard the news about The WB UPN and The CWSD I can39t remember why but I do remember for some reason I had gotten to the office unusually early that morning I was the first person here around 7 am The phone rang and it was WB chairman Garth Ancier He was calling to tell me the announcement was about to happenEM What was your reactionSD I had two reactions My initial reaction was wasn39t there something they could have done other than having to do this Why lose everything The WB had built up as a brand Couldn39t it become a cable channel It seemed such a shame to me that they had to blow up the brand to become The CW in this partnership My second reaction was I called Cynthia Littleton and said amp8220We have the ending to our bookamp8221 I wanted to know the story of how they covertly put The CW together and kept the secret until they made the announcementEM When had you begun working with Cynthia on the bookSD It was at least a year prior to thatEM In the book you point out that losing Buffy the Vampire Slayer to UPN was very painful for youSD It was one of the nails in the coffin in terms of my leaving I fought against it For me letting Buffy go meant diluting our brand Once UPN could attach itself to that show which was everything The WB stood for it was over I couldn39t live with my amp8220enemyamp8221 which is how I saw them having that show It was early 2001 that we let the show go I left in June 2001 I resigned as president of entertainment I officially became a consultant I still had an office at The WB I had a twoyear consulting dealEM What goes through your mind today when you watch or read about The CWSD I39m worried about The CW I would like it to last because I like competition It39s healthy for the industry There are more outlets for writers and producers and directors and more creativity Also I contributed toward the building of that network and I would like it to continue otherwise somewhere on my resume it will read like the Dumont networkEM Was there anything about writing Season Finale that surprised youSD Yes I did not ever expect in my lifetime to empathize and feel for the people who worked at UPN I didn39t realize the extent of the conflict and hardship and trouble that they went through on their side Working on Season Finale I learned how difficult it was for them It always looked easier for them somehow from where I was sitting They had Star Trek My perception was that Paramount was behind them in the beginning while we struggled a lot with Warner Bros I talk a lot about that in the book the conflict with Les Moonves not having control Warner Bros wasn39t really very supportive as a television studio at first From my vantage point I was angry jealous and competitive and then working on this book I saw UPN in a very different way I appreciated their struggle and their work on a different levelEM You went from The WB where you were part of a team that literally grew a network to Lifetime which was a very well established network that had been around more than 20 years when you arrived What was that transition likeSD When we started The WB we had to build a brand Ultimately we found our way and were able to define and go after young adults and young women at a time when Fox had abandoned them If you look back at the history of Lifetime this is a brand that has evolved too It started as a medical channel One of the reasons they hired me was they knew the brand had to evolve further They knew it had gotten a little stale and I think they were hoping that I would come in and develop programming that would freshen the brand and make it feel relevant again I think Army Wives did that Hopefully Your Mama Don39t Dance which debuts tomorrow night at 9 pm will continue that trendEM How were you impacted by the WGA strikeSD We were fortunate as a business to not get badly hurt by it Our head of production flagged a potential strike over a year ago We developed a lot of scripts locked them and as a result we have our entire movie slate in place for 3908 We were working on those movies during the strike We also have a number of reality series in development and production so it was fine One thing the strike did effect was Army Wives We wanted to bring it back in March but instead we are going to have it back in June We have 19 episodes in season two Most will play in June July and August and then we are going to do some holiday episodesEM Will you introduce any new scripted series this summerSD Possibly a comedy We39re in preproduction and casting on two halfhour comedy pilots Libertyville with Christine Ebersole and Rita RocksEM How many movies will you have this yearSD Over 30 original movies for Lifetime and Lifetime Movie NetworkEM It39s as if you are running a movie studioSD I don39t know why we39re under the radar but it is that way I love it because I get to work on so many different kinds of things In April we have The Memory Keeper39s Daughter based on Kim Edwards39 novel that was on the bestseller lists for over 80 weeks starring Dermot Mulroney Emily Watson and Gretchen Mol Heather Locklear is doing Flirting with 40 a Christmas holiday movie for us Kelly Preston is in The Tenth Circle in June Alyssa Milano is in Wisegal in March Tom Cavanagh is in The Capture of the Green River Killer a miniseries on Lifetime Movie Network also in March I have pop star JoJo in a movie with Valerie Bertinelli which you39ll be interested to hear is actually her first Lifetime movieEM That39s shocking to meSD That39s shocking to everyone When you think Lifetime movies you think Valerie Bertinelli All those movies she made were for CBSEM What else are you working onSD A daytime reality strip I can39t say what it is yet And a halfhour observational reality series We just got a primetime game show pilot last weekend Plus the two comedy pilots and Army Wives We would like to develop a companion drama to Army Wives and get it on our schedule probably for 2009 at this pointEM Getting back to Season Finale have you heard from any UPN veteransSD Yes I had some nice calls An enormous number of people have called or written or emailed and said I got it right That was one of the nicest thingsEM Were your former WB colleagues pleased with itSD Pretty much unanimously I haven39t gotten one negative call I don39t think Cynthia Littleton has either One of the many reasons I brought Cynthia in was I knew she had covered both sides and I really wanted an objective partner I knew going into it how I felt about UPN and I really felt the story was much bigger than the WB The story to tell was the story of the two networks39 struggle over ten years I don39t know that I would have gotten all of the interviews and all the participation that I did if I didn39t have Cynthia She very much helped our access certainly on the UPN side I always think if I had suddenly gotten a call from Lucie Salhany and she said amp8220I39m writing a book and I would like your participationamp8221 I39m not sure how fast I would have wanted to help her because we were so intensely competitive with her for so long She wore a pin with a dagger in the heart of a frogEM Speaking of the frog were you horrified when The WB killed off Michigan JSD I was out of the network completely then I read it in the paper I called Garth Ancier and said amp8220You39re nuts I love you but you are crazy to lose the frogamp8221 I actually really believed in the power of the frog and the identification and the branding I liked the limited use of the frog There was a time and a place for himThis Year39s Upfront Events When Are They Find Out at JackMyerscomOnly at JackMyerscom TV Maven RED HOT UPDATE quotBig Brother 9quot Going Too FarJack Myers Live From TED Day One Queen Noor Robin Williams Sergey and Larry

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Lifetime's Susanne Daniels on Making Movies, Surviving the Strike and Writing Her Hot Industry Tell-All, "Season Finale"

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Lifetime's Susanne Daniels on Making Movies, Surviving the Strike and Writing Her Hot Industry Tell-All, "Season Finale"

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