The Production of Culture

The Documentary “ShowRunners- The Art of Running a TV Show”, focuses on the Pop Cultural phenomenon created within the TV Series/ Web Series Industry which, in recent years, has brought more fame and recognition to the writers, producers, and developers of TV Shows, also as opposed to Network television. With the success and availability of subscription streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and even Red Box, these television shows have a larger at-home “Theater” market and fan base. These shows are so cinematic, that each episode serves as a scene to a great season-long movie. Some sources say because of the demand of these shows, Some can cost up to $4 million dollars an episode. Series such as “House of cards”, Orange is The New Black” (just under $4 mil.), and “Hemlock Grove”($3.5 million). These TV show creators have become the new Spielbergs and Scoreses only, through weekly episodes. Marketing tools and networks such as Comic-con, and social media create platforms where these Creators can sell themselves as well as their productions to their following audiences. As ratings increase so does the popularity of the ShowRunner. This then poses the question we’ve discussed throughout the course, as to what is considered by society as “high art”. Are Network TV shows and Webisodes high art? Are their “ShowRunners” High Artists? Nowadays, the creators, writers and directors of these TV shows receive just as much of a fan base as the actors within these shows themselves.