Sci Fi Channel President Dave Howe: Lunch at Michael's (But at A Voce)

It is a measure of the success of Sci Fi Channel that the season premiere of its signature series Battlestar Galactica on April 4 is stirring the kind of media interest and Internet buzz generally reserved for the biggest broadcast shows or blockbuster motion picturesWhat39s behind the burgeoning enthusiasm for this show by viewers and critics alike especially given the unusual history of the Galactica franchise which began 30 years ago this September as a prime time series on ABC that was too cheesy to be believed even amid the disco music and leisure suits of the Seventies The new and vastly improved Galactica amp8220is about characters and issues we can all relate to whether it39s religious fundamentalism or genocide or internal conflict within the confines of a communityamp8221 Sci Fi Channel president Dave Howe told Jack Myers and myself last week over lunch at midtown Manhattan restaurant A VoceThe cast of the original quotBattlestar Galacticaquotamp8220There are a lot of things in it that have nothing to do with science fiction and everything to do with human nature and human relationships and the struggle for survivalamp8221 Howe explained amp8220What39s great about Galactica is it transcends the genre irrespective of whether you really enjoy science fiction fantasy It functions at a level that makes the trappings of science fiction irrelevant It39s a very intense emotional character drama The show tackles those everyday themes that we39re all living through nowamp8221The first ten episodes of Galactica39s fourth and final season will play out in April May and June SciFicom will stream the season premiere at 12 pm ET on April 4 nine hours before its television debut amp8220We haven39t decided yet where we39ll schedule the final tenamp8221 Howe said amp8220It could be later this year or very early in 2009amp8221Most television network presidents would be satisfied with the level of success enjoyed by the Sci Fi Channel overall and Battlestar Galactica in particular not to mention the status of scificom as amp8220the world39s biggest genre Web siteamp8221 But Howe and his team have set their sights on something much bigger amp8220We have to broaden our brand and bring more people into the tentamp8221 he commented amp8220I spend a lot of time talking with advertisers about how mainstream sci fi is because everybody assumes it39s a narrowly targeted genre It39s not Seventeen of the top 20 all time worldwide box office hits are Sci Fi fantasy Spiderman Lord of the Rings Harry Potter Star Wars There39s something for everyoneamp8220The words Sci Fi bring with them a narrow misperceptionamp8221 he continued amp8220We just have to keep breaking that down and making the brand accessible At the moment we39re a cable TV brand The challenge for us is how do we own the category How do we grow a cable brand into affinity lifestyle areas How do we build businesses alongside Sci Fi video gaming businesses mobile businesses MTV owns music ESPN owns sports We can own the whole sci fi fantasy category across everything not just TVamp8221Toward that end Sci Fi last December launched the technologyoriented dvicecom the first of three new sites focused on the interests and lifestyles of the Sci Fi audience amp8220We39ve taken the audience that comes to scificom young males and looked at what their affinity areas areamp8221 Howe said amp8220The three things that interest them are technology sci fi fantasy entertainment and video gaming What we39re creating is a portfolio of youngmale skewing web sites that will all be powered by Sci Fi We39re going to launch a video gaming site in April By the end of the year we39ll have an entertainment site We can cross promote between these sites and aggregate the advertising salesamp8221Expanding the reach of Sci Fi Channel39s content on mobile platforms is also a priority as is the development of new business opportunities Sci Fi recently entered into a relationship with Virgin Comics to jointly create comic book properties that may become ongoing series on the network A television adaptation of the first such book the recently published The Stranded is already in developmentAlso on Howe39s agenda is the longawaited return of onetime Sci Fi Channel hit Farscape as a Web program and the development of a new series to take the place of Galactica when it concludes He has high hopes that one of two upcoming pilots Warehouse 13 and Revolution will become amp8220that next great Battlestar showamp8221 He is also excited about Caprica a twohour backdoor pilot for a series that is actually a prequel to the current GalacticaAt first blush it may seem that American television would have been the least likely career path for Howe who grew up in England and is the youngest son of highly respected soccer coach and manager Don Howe His three brothers he recalls were amp8220obsessedamp8221 with soccer while Howe was more interested in music especially the piano But the specifics of his father39s fame led Howe to an early awakening about his career goalsamp8220The downside of having a famous soccer coach for a father was I got sick of being mobbed every time we went to a restaurant by people who wanted his autographamp8221 Howe recalled amp8220The upside was he was very involved in the media He did a lot of commentaries for soccer games on broadcast TV He was constantly in TV studios and he used to take me with him So from a very early age I got completely hooked on the whole TV side of it Literally from age six I said I wanted to work in TVamp8221His father was very supportive of his early career interest amp8220He got me more involved introduced me to peopleamp8221 Howe said amp8220Very quickly I figured out the path to getting into TV In school I made sure I was involved in all the theater stuff and the media stuff In high school I made sure I appeared in musical productions One of my big claims to fame was I was in The King and I I played LunTha the male romantic lead I was in the chorus in Oklahoma Every year we did a big Rogers and Hammerstein musical I was always in it Then I got much more involved in the backstage stuff When I had to figure out what to do at university that was a tougher decision In those days in the UK no one did media studies or anything but traditional subjects like English or geography or physics I decided I was going to do languagesamp8221Howe39s passion for music and dispassion for soccer were shocking to his parents he recalled with a laugh amp8220They didn39t know where it all came from They were a working class family from the industrial north of England and it was a surprise to them But because I had three brothers who were all completely obsessed with soccer they let me get away with it It39s like there was a novelty attached to the fact that I was differentamp8221His parents amp8220were incredibly tolerant incredibly open incredibly fair in terms of how they treated usamp8221 Howe says amp8220They said 39We39ll still love you whatever you decide to do39 It was a really great environment to grow up inamp8221Howe and his partner with whom he shares a passion for travel have been together about 20 years amp8220That39s another thing my parents were very tolerant ofamp8221 he laughs amp8220I did not like soccer I was into TV and music and then I turned out to be gay For them it was God what more is there to comeamp8221The one thing his folks still cannot get a handle on is their son39s current position as president of an American television network amp8220They39re sort of shockedamp8221 Howe said with a smile amp8220Even if I spent two days explaining to them what I do and how I do it and why I do it they wouldn39t retain it They don39t have any sense of what it really means They39re both smart people but they have no benchmarkamp8221 The careers of Howe39s brothers are easier to process His oldest brother is a truck driver the next oldest is a software developer and his youngest brother runs a car repair shopHowe who joined Sci Fi Channel in 2001 after spending 15 years in a variety of capacities at the BBC in London looks back on the Emmy winning 2002 miniseries Steven Spielberg39s Taken as the production that put the network amp8220on the map in the Hollywood community in terms of writers and talent People started pitching shows because they saw us as a platform for storytelling that they couldn39t do on any other network Suddenly we were a player in Hollywood which we had never been before It39s the halo effect which you can never put a number onamp8221He is especially proud of Sci Fi Channel39s public affairs initiative Visions for Tomorrow amp8220The thing about science fiction in literature is its been quite nihilistic it39s been doom and gloom it39s been about nuclear winters the end of the world etcamp8221 Howe observed amp8220What we want to do with Visions is to own an optimistic view and enable people to take a more proactive role in making sure the world doesn39t end in 50 or 100 years because of global warming and other problems We launched it last year We39ll take it to the next phase this year with ten things to read watch and do to save the world We39ll use science fiction as an education platform We have put together an advisory board of great thinkers covering science literature architecture and governmentamp8221Those advisors include Virgin Group founder and chairman Richard Branson Wired editor in chief Chris Anderson inventor Dean Kamen president and CEO of the Center for American Progress John Podesta and former NASA astronaut and the first woman of color in space Dr Mae JemisonTo contact Dave Howe email contactjackmyerscom

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Sci Fi Channel President Dave Howe: Lunch at Michael's (But at A Voce)

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