On the Line with Sam Linsky: A "Slow and Smart" Path to the Top

“It’s hard to say it was expected but surprise makes it sound like all of a sudden it just landed here,” said TNT’s Sam Linsky of critically acclaimed police drama Southland.  After NBC dropped the show last month, leaving the six completed sophomore season episodes unaired, executives at TNT saw an opportunity, started negotiating, and won the bid.  “Once any show has passed on, it doesn’t mean it’s gone away for good.”

Linsky, President of Current Programming for TBS and TNT, is very pleased Southland will begin its run on the cable network in January, but is mum on any plans to continue production.  “Certainly anything is always a possibility,” he said.  “I am a big fan of the show and I’d love to make more, but that’s definitely a decision down the road.”

Nonetheless, it’s a solid add for the network that “knows drama” and right in line with what Linksy deems TNT’s greatest core asset:  their signature brand.

Crediting Turner Entertainment President Steve Koonin and Senior Vice President of Content Creation Michael Wright for the success of “We Know Drama,” Linsky explained that as TNT moved away from its early model – creating movies for television – and into one focused on one-hour dramas, “it’s that clarity of brand that really started to open the doors.”

From there, Koonin and Wright sought to make TNT “a home for people who really didn’t want a ton of interference,” said Linsky.  Citing a philosophy that the creative exec thinks is oft forgotten, he said, “A television executive’s job is not to make good television, but to hire the people that make good television.”

The summer of 2009 saw TNT go from one night of original programming to three, “a huge, huge endeavor,” said Linksy.  But the payoff’s been in the success of The Closer, Saving Grace, HawthoRNe, and Leverage, all of which will be returning for another season (the jury’s still out on Raising the Bar and Dark Blue).

Rolling out new episodes of original shows during the summer season, when other networks are in rerun mode, has proven a boon for TNT.  For July 13 to August 19, the cable network reported the Monday through Wednesday 9-11pm block consistently won out over other ad-supported cable offerings among 25-54 year-olds.  Viewership increased overall to 4.2 million, up 25% from the same period in 2008.

TNT looks forward to continue growing their original programming slate.  Development of new shows is ongoing, despite a down economy.  “You can’t close ranks when things get really bad or you won’t be ready when things get really good again,” said Linsky, describing the effort to create TNT-branded entertainment as a “long-term strategy on a slow and smart road.”

And “slow and smart” is a path Linsky is familiar with in his own career.  “It was the opposite of a rapid rocket to the top,” he said of his journey.  “I started in the business in the mailroom at Castle Rock.”  Linksy had no “in” to the entertainment industry – his family all worked in journalism, politics, and healthcare.  “We knew no one and nothing about this business,” he said.  “Dad’s barely interested in fiction.”

“You gotta chase the dreams,” said the mailroom clerk, now creative executive.  “If you think you can do something and you really want to do it, move to LA and knock on doors.  I started in the mailroom.  Anyone can start in the mailroom.”