Living the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy - Hillary Atkin

The legendary television executive Brandon Tartikoff set a high bar in the industry one that still sets a standard in the nearly 15 years since he passed away far too young Yes he is always remembered fondlyamp8212but nowhere does his inspirational legacy come into clearer focus than at the annual Tartikoff Legacy Award ceremonyThe 9th annual edition was held at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach during the 2012 NATPE Market ampamp Conference in a lively ceremony hosted by quotAccess Hollywood39squot Billy Bush a selfdescribed aspirant to one day achieving the awardThe four honorees represent a diverse slate of television talent Matthew Weiner creator and executive producer of AMC39s awardwinning drama quotMad Menquot Cecile FrotCoutaz CEO of FremantleMedia North America FMNA and executive producer of quotAmerican Idolquot Fernando Gaitamp225n vice president of production and content for Colombia39s RCN TV and creator of quotUgly Bettyquot quotYo Soy Betty la feaquot and Dennis Swanson President of Station Operations for FOX Television Stations IncLily Tartikoff always speaks eloquently and recalled how Brandon knew Swanson who was an early champion of her Revlon RunWalk benefiting women39s cancer researchIt was Dick Ebersol a recipient of the Tartikoff award last year who introduced Swanson noting that in his storied 40year career Swanson has worked at all four broadcast networks discovered Oprah when he was a GM in Chicago put Regis and Kathie Lee together at ABC and was instrumental in the resurgence of Monday Night FootballSwanson thanked his wife of 50 years and reminisced about some of his fondest television moments aside from telling Oprah to quotjust be herselfquot One of those was making the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center which had previously been a tape delayed segment into a live showFrotCoutaz may not be a household name but she is the center of the quotAmerican Idolquot universe FreemantleMedia CEO Tony Cohen recalled meeting the executive early on and knowing she had what it took to run the North American division of the company amp8211 and handle the likes of Simon Cowell and Simon Fuller He also joked that she39s been called a kitten and a shark kind of cute but then she bitesGaitamp225n also came in for some goodnatured ribbing by Guillermo Arriago a director producer and screenwriter Picking up the animal theme he compared the Colombian television titan to a tigerGaitamp225n stepped up to the stage with a woman creating some momentary confusion Was she the star of one of his new shows She certainly wasn39t an Ugly Betty quite the contrary No it turns out she was his translator as he said he did not know how or like to speak English The language barrier certainly did not prevent him from making a wellreceived speech citing the major influence American television had and continues to have on him as the VP of production and content for RCN TVWhen it came time for Matthew Weiner to be introduced Lionsgate television president Kevin Beggs did the honors quotHe has indelibly changed the TV world He39s a consummate showman a master craftsman a visionary who inspires peoplequot Beggs said quot39Mad Men39 will make its mark for generations to comequotAnd with that pronouncement a comical taped message of congratulations from his coworkers on the awardwinning drama was rolled many of them alluding to his notorious demand for secrecy about the scripts quotI have to sign a nondisclosure for my own showquot remarked Lionsgate39s Jon Feltheimer in one of the bitsSaving the best for last Jon Hamm acknowledged Weiner39s plethora of awards saying he could put all of them on his head but it still wouldn39t be quotthisquot the actor pointing to his own handsome visageWeiner immediately commented that he couldn39t believe he was unaware that all of this was shot on his own set without his knowledge He relayed his youthful experience with television from when he was a bad student whose parents forbade him to watch it except on Friday and Saturday nights but that he made up for it during his college years Weiner said he idolized Tartikoff especially his respect for the audienceWeiner acknowledged the risk that Lionsgate and AMC took with quotMenquot which has been a critical darling and a pop cultural force since it premiered five years agoquot I got to turn a hidden vice into a way of lifequot he said quotI wanted people to be entertainedquotHillary Atkin is an awardwinning journalist who began her career as a television news writer reporter and producer at KOBTV As a broadcast producer at KCBS in Los Angeles she won numerous Emmy Associated Press and Golden Mike Awards for live coverage and entertainment special events programming and then produced and directed biographies on Robert Duvall Elizabeth Montgomery Linda Darnell and Nicolas Cage for AampampE and E She can be reached at hillaryatkinyahoocom Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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