Showrunners - Training Gaps Analysis - Cultural Human Resources ...

Showrunners Training Gap Analysis
future competitors who could ultimately graduate to the producer role and gain access to funding
envelopes for their own projects, or elbow into certain key roles usually held by the director. This
type of thinking is added evidence of the very basic need for better team role models to be part of
the core training offering in Québec.
RECRUITMENT
As defined for the purposes of this analysis, a Showrunner is a writer. Therefore writers and story
editors with significant experience in the story department are the most significant source of
Showrunner talent. Directors and producers, with writing credentials, are also candidates. Many
of those interviewed emphasized that the bar needs to be set very high for Showrunner
candidates.
Training Showrunners is like training specialists in nuclear surgery or forensic medicine. There
are high entry qualifications: proven and demonstrated success at another level. Truly, the
training should be considered to be at a “post-doc” level. (a Showrunner)
The selection process is key to achieving a positive outcome for any Showrunner training
program. Experience is required. However, there are very few on-the-job training grounds for
potential Showrunners, therefore a very narrow window of opportunity for them to move ahead in
their careers, and hence a limited pool of recruits.
At the same time, the unusual combination of competencies and aptitude required of a
Showrunner makes it difficult to identify the talent most likely to succeed. Very few creators or
writers are suitable candidates with the interest or aptitude for the job. Potential Showrunner
trainees are in a similar category to high performance athletes. It has been suggested that applying
recruitment and coaching methods adapted from competitive sports could make sense. Rather
than waiting for potential Showrunners to self-identify, we could take a proactive approach and
“scout” them.
One category of recruits that has been discussed is the inexperienced creators who are being
teamed up with experienced Showrunners. If the expectation is that these “green” creators are to
move into Showrunning, their training is inordinately expensive, based as it is on an intense and
long-term one-on-one mentoring relationship. With additional training programs in place, this
talented group may be able to follow a more effective path to Showrunner.
In Québec, if Showrunners are to be integrated into the industry at all, the process will be a long
one. An immediate step could be to develop industry-educational partnership initiatives that
introduce the concept of Showrunning at the entry and emerging levels.
FINANCING TRAINING PROGRAMS
Although, as noted, the current pool of Showrunners needs to double, the total numbers are not
large. Sustainability is the key requirement in funding.
Current training offerings at a professional development level are frequently funded through
benefits packages provided as a result of broadcast licence transactions. (e.g. Banff CanWest
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Deborah Carver and Benoit Dubois, January 2009