Photograph by Candace Dicarlo
60 MAY | JUNE 2013 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPH BY CANDACE DICARLO Showtime CEO Matt Blank has used boundary-pushing programming, cutting-edge marketing, and smart management to build his cable network into a national powerhouse. By Susan Karlin SUBVERSIVE PRACTICALLY PRACTICALLY THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE MAY | JUNE 2013 61 seems too … normal. “Matt runs the company in a very col- Showtime, Blank is involved with numer- This slim, understated, affa- legial way—he sets a tone among top man- ous media and non-profit organizations, Heble man speaking in tight, agers of cooperation, congeniality, and serving on the directing boards of the corporate phrases—monetizing the brand, loose boundaries that really works in a National Cable Television Association high-impact environments—this can’t be creative business,” says David Nevins, and The Cable Center, an industry edu- the guy whose whimsical vision has Showtime’s president of entertainment. cational arm. Then there are the frequent turned Weeds’ pot-dealing suburban “It helps create a sense of, ‘That’s a club trips to Los Angeles. mom, Dexter’s vigilante serial killer, and that I want to belong to.’ He stays focused “I’m an active person,” he adds. “I like Homeland’s bipolar CIA agent into TV on the big picture, maintaining the integ- a long day with a lot of different things heroes. Can it? rity of the brand and growing its exposure. going on. I think if I sat in a room and did Yet Matt Blank W’72, the CEO of Showtime, Matt is very savvy at this combination of one thing all day, I’d get frustrated.” has more in common with his network than programming and marketing that keeps his conventional appearance suggests.
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