KEY POINTS:
At Sterling Cooper, the New York advertising agency at the centre of the compelling TV show Mad Men, life revolves around cocktail hours, marital infidelity, and a man's ability to cope with the everyday power struggles of white-collar life.
Yet behind the scenes, the show has spawned its
own power struggle, involving some of Hollywood's biggest hitters. This one has grown as tense as the critically acclaimed drama series it relates to, and now threatens the show's future.
At its centre is Matthew Weiner, the creator, executive producer and guiding force behind the 1960s costume drama, who on Sunday added to the contents of his bulging awards cabinet when Mad Men again won top honours at the Golden Globes.
Weiner, a former writer on The Sopranos, has now made two seasons of the programme for its production company Lionsgate. They have been a glittering success. But, to the consternation of colleagues, he has yet to sign up for a third. Negotiations have been stalled for almost three months around a single issue: pay. Weiner would like his salary increased from its present £2m to four times that, roughly what he has been offered to defect to rival studios.
Lionsgate is unwilling to finance that kind of rise, pointing out that for all Mad Men's plaudits, the adventures of hard-drinking advertising executives it portrays remain a relatively minor taste, pulling in three million viewers on the cable network AMC.
This week, their divergent views were thrown blisteringly into the spotlight when Weiner was cornered at a post-Golden Globes party by an interviewer from the TV show E!, who asked about his plans for Mad Men's third series. "I don't know anything about next season," he said. "I don't even know if it's happening. You know me, I'm very forthcoming. And I don't even know what to tell you. I don't know what to say. I've done everything I can. That's all I can tell you."
Asked when the pay dispute might be sorted out, Weiner replied: "I have no idea. I'm surprised we don't know already." Later, he described Mad Men's fate is "unknowable".
To Lionsgate, who has spent months hunting potential replacements for Weiner (and in November was rumoured to have contacted West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin) the robust comments could barely have come at a worse time. The same goes for Charlie Collier, the avuncular head of AMC, who was only last week telling journalists that things were "fine," adding: "We remain very optimistic Matt will be part of the show."
AMC has yet to publish transmission dates, but writers need to begin work on it, under the direction of either Weiner or his replacement, within the next couple of months if a third series is to hit a summer launch. But without Weiner, Mad Men would be the same show in name only. A self-confessed obsessive, who devotes himself to ensuring every small detail, from its award-winning costumes to the office waste-paper baskets, is historically accurate, he is at the centre of the programme's cult appeal, propelling the cast from obscurity to stardom.
Lionsgate, who has multi-season contracts with all the actors, may disagree. But a source at the studio said: "Yes, there have been things said. But look: we still want to lock him in for two more years, which gives us a fourth series as well and will avoid this horse-trading this time next year. You don't try to do that unless you really like someone, and despite everything we really like Matt."
- INDEPENDENT
