FX’s John Landgraf, Disney’s Eric Schrier on Surviving Business Turmoil

The mayor of television has advice on how to survive these choppy industry waters: Never stop learning. Speaking at a Hollywood Radio and Television Society panel Thursday on the Walt Disney Co. studio lot in Burbank, FX boss John Landgraf was circumspect about where the entertainment industry is going.

Director Paris Barclay, who was moderating the chat with Landgraf and Disney TV Studios chief Eric Schrier, asked Landgraf to give the audience some reason to be optimistic. Landgraf was a measured: “It’ll still be here,” he said. Barclay then asked, does that mean there will be a place for all of us in the new world order?

“I don’t know about all of us,” Landgraf said. “I can’t speak for everyone personally. I can tell you that my singular strategy for my own, was just keep getting better. Most days early in my career was the bug, not the windshield. I went home feeling terrible about what had happened that day, or like a failure… But every day I said, ‘OK, well, what can you get better at? What can you learn? What can you learn more about? Can you learn more about technique of acting? Can you learn more about dramaturgy? Can you learn more about post production, technical aspects? Can you learn more about distribution? Can you learn more? Just learn. Keep getting better.”

Landgraf said it took him a long time — and that he considers himself a “late bloomer” to the business, only feeling pretty confident about his stature once he hit his late 40s and early 50s. “I know that’s not gonna make you guys feel hopeful, except maybe the point of all this is that we live in a world that’s so obsessed with short term success and short term gains,” he added. “Honestly, there’s 5,000 years of human wisdom and human scholarship that says, ‘Don’t focus on what’s right in front of you, right here at the moment.’ I mean, be in the now, but focus on the things that take time, that you have to nurture, that take a little faith, that take character, courage, dedication. We live in a world that’s scoffs at those characteristics, and yet, I don’t think they’re going to ever go out of style forever. They may be us a little bit out of style now, but they just work if you’re willing to really devote yourself to them.”

He also noted that it’s sometimes hard to deal with the fact that some people become successful overnight because of luck, while others take years to find their big break. “The world is not designed to be fair,” he said. “You have to say, ‘do I want to live in a fair world?’ Which is to say, be bitter and sit in my living room and bitch about what didn’t happen? Or do I want to live in the world as it is, which is, it just takes what it takes. Some people have unfair advantages. Some people have unfair disadvantages… the difference between the people that are still here and that have been successful and the ones that aren’t is that the ones that are still here didn’t give up. I’m sure we’ve all wanted to give up a lot, and you just don’t.”

As for the business itself, Schrier sounded a bit more optimism — pointing to recent successes like ABC’s “High Potential,” and the evolution in TV storytelling with shows like “The Bear” and even the success of the kids show “Bluey.” “How do you tell stories in different and unique ways?” he said. “That’s actually more obtainable now than it’s ever been in the history of the medium. And so in being able to deliver those in an economic way. So I’m really excited. There’s just great creativity and storytelling is really important.”

Barclay pointed to the fact that he’s currently working on a project about the Vietnam war that he first started creating in 1986: “I believe that you just keep going, and you keep doing it until you get it right,” he saud. “And it’s the same thing with this industry. It is going to be different in a few years, and I think it’s actually going to be for the better, because weird times in the world create great art. So, I think you are coming in at a time that feels terrible, but probably you should really be optimistic about the possibilities for art. Because artists will rise up and they’ll have things to say, and that’s just starting to grow now.”

Throughout the conversation, Barclay asked Landgraf and Schrier to discuss what they’re looking for in a good pitch and TV show. The execs recounted the early days of the FX brand, and how their team at that cabler built it into a force with hits like “The Shield,” “Nip/Tuck,” “The Americans,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and more — up to now and “Shogun,” “The Bear” and more.

As for what’s next, Schrier is bullish on comedy: “I think comedy is going to come back in a big way right now, because we need a laugh,” he said. “The world’s a bit heavier. But you look over the history of film and television, the things that were the biggest hits were the things that you least expected…. we’re always looking for innovative stories to tell, and what’s a new way to tell that story.”

Landgraf is eager to find a procedural that might work for FX: “I would love to have a procedural that’s deep enough and humanistic enough that it fit into the FX brand,” he said. “I’m envious of ‘The Pitt.’ I loved ‘ER,’ I was a current executive on ‘ER,’ and I think it’s a masterpiece of storytelling and humanism. But I would say that most procedurals sort of don’t ever get there because they’re self contained, and they’re trying to be in a limited number of locations, and they’re very story driven. Great procedurals are an art form in and of themselves, so I think the industry really has immiserated itself by losing the capacity to make great procedurals. I just don’t hear them very often, and so that’s what I would say. People always ask, ‘Well, what are you looking for?’ And my answer is, a great television show. I’ll follow you down any rabbit hole, if I really feel that there might be a truly great television show working in there.”