{"id":3641,"date":"2026-07-06T13:09:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3641"},"modified":"2026-07-06T13:09:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:09:55","slug":"tvs-fall-of-rome-broken-down-by-scott-frees-david-w-zucker-talking-with-wednesday-exec-producer-steve-stark-at-italian-global-series-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3641","title":{"rendered":"TV\u2019s \u2018Fall of Rome\u2019 Broken Down by Scott Free\u2019s David W. Zucker, Talking With \u2018Wednesday\u2019 Exec Producer Steve Stark at Italian Global Series Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tThe global immediacy of TV and some not so welcome knock-on effects proved the focus of one of the biggest panels at this year\u2019s Italian Global Series, featuring David W. Zucker, chief creative officer at Scott Free, and Steve Stark, chairman and executive producer at Toluca Pictures (\u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale,\u201d \u201cFargo,\u201d \u201cVikings,\u201d \u201cWednesday\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3639\">Lauryn Ajufo to Lead Revival of Michaela Coel\u2019s Landmark Debut Play \u2018Chewing Gum Dreams\u2019 (EXCLUSIVE)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tZucker, who at Scott Free has produced projects such as CBS series \u201cThe Good Wife,\u201d HBO\u2019s \u201cRaised by Wolves\u201d and Amazon\u2019s \u201cThe Man in the High Castle,\u201d observed the positive and the negative of the new status quo.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe industry is in an undeniable state of crisis and that\u2019s certainly been echoed by other producers we\u2019ve met around the world,\u201d Zucker said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s born of a couple of particular factors, at least in terms of the U.S. industry,\u201d he added. \u201cObviously, there\u2019s been the substantial effect of Netflix and the rise of the streamers, not so much in the fact that there were these new broadcast opportunities, but insofar as that they fundamentally changed the way content was produced and the way content related to the viewer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tZucker went on to explain that television was about people developing long-term relationships with characters, and that the goal, both financially and creatively, was to exist in these viewer\u2019s homes for as much time as possible. Netflix\u2019s arrival in TV distribution and production (and later Amazon, and others) changed this attitude and approach, due to \u201cshorter attention spans\u201d and the incentive to ask audiences to pay a \u201ca steep regular monthly price,\u201d meaning there always had to be something new. \u201cThey weren\u2019t interested in a long-term relationship, they were interested in giving you something that will make you pay again next month,\u201d he explained, saying that this changes both the nature of how the audience views television as well as the very nature of the television which they\u2019ll be viewing. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThere\u2019s also some reflection on how the arc of this transformation of television has gradually bent back towards the old ways. \u201cThe irony is, and this is honestly something that\u2019s quite sickening for those of us who existed before that period, they are now getting back into the advertising business, they\u2019re getting into the distribution business,\u201d Zucker said. \u201cThey\u2019re basically trying to resurrect a version of the industry that existed before they came in and fundamentally changed it and blew it up. The difference is what used to be free in America for television, we now have to pay and pay and pay and pay.\u201d Zucker sees this as a reflection of the socio-political climate, as well as \u201cwhat\u2019s going on in an industry that has been abducted by Wall Street,\u201d that such changes have put the industry in the hands of people who care more about selling a product than the art itself. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3637\">Ali Fazal on Guddu Pandit\u2019s Return in \u2018Mirzapur: The Movie\u2019, the Haunting World of \u2018Raakh\u2019 and Refusing to Be Typecast<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tZucker also pointed to the multiple recent mergers of studios as an ill omen. \u201cSince we\u2019re in Italy: this is the fall of Rome, and it\u2019s hard not to feel that,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s tragic in many ways, because what\u2019s been a century of studios that will disappear likely in the next few years: we\u2019ve already seen Fox and Disney merge, we are seeing Paramount consume Warner Bros., that was unfathomable even two years ago, and that is that\u2019s what\u2019s being done for the oligarchy of the business, and so we are definitely seeing a fundamental change.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\tStark later added that he misses there being more producers and commissioners who would make decisions based on a gut feeling, attributing this to companies leaning harder on data \u2013 saying that it\u2019s worth using, but there are drawbacks. \u201cYou listen to it, but the problem is sometimes the information freezes everybody,\u201d Stark explains. \u201cI don\u2019t think [the data] lies, but I think it\u2019s misused sometimes, and the thing about this at all is that every show that really makes a mark in our business is unique, it\u2019s original, it\u2019s fresh, it\u2019s not what you program, and data doesn\u2019t show you that those are successful, because there\u2019s no data to show from that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBeyond the trials of dealing with contemporary information overload, the panel turned to production in the U.K. and Europe. Stark opened with mention of working with the BBC. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to buy from American producers, they want to buy from the local U.K. producers. So, I have to partner with someone there if I want to sell something to BBC,\u201d Stark says, then saying that for his upcoming Netflix show \u201cThe Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103,\u201d (the story of the bombing of a commercial flight over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1981), they had to partner with a U.K. production company.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe conversation turned back to what has changed in how distribution has evolved internationally, due to streaming. Zucker weighed up the positives and negatives of the transformation, noting that \u201cthe Netflix era has vastly improved the viewing opportunities.\u201dHe continued: \u201d[Now] we\u2019re importing the best of international content, and there\u2019s a dialog, and that\u2019s thrilling to be able to tell stories coming out of Asia, out of South America, out of Africa, and [find] where there are intersections in a global marketplace.\u201d There was a bit of temperance to follow. \u201cThere\u2019s an other cynical side. These companies are trying to exploit, exploit local content and local artists to get a cheaper product than they could in America, and that is its own conversation. But the upside is for audiences, we are experiencing much more in common than we ever have before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3635\">Itv Boss \u2018Hopeful\u2019 Sky Acquisition Will Clear Regulators: \u2018The Market Has Changed So Fundamentally\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zucker and Stark\u2019s panel also took in upsides: \u2018The Netflix era has vastly improved viewing opportunities,\u2019 said Zucker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[2994,1445,2995,2996],"class_list":["post-3641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","tag-david-w-zucker","tag-italian-global-series-festival","tag-scott-free","tag-steve-stark"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>TV\u2019s \u2018Fall of Rome\u2019 Broken Down by Scott Free\u2019s David W. Zucker, Talking With \u2018Wednesday\u2019 Exec Producer Steve Stark at Italian Global Series Fest - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3641\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TV\u2019s \u2018Fall of Rome\u2019 Broken Down by Scott Free\u2019s David W. 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