Risky business: Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner reflects
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner took a trip down memory lane at the Toronto International Film Festival, reflecting on risks, rewards and studio politics over the period drama’s seven seasons. Adam Benzine reports. Not taking risks is what will sink a show in the long run. That was the key takeaway from Mad Men creator Matt Weiner (pictured above), reflecting on his AMC show’s seven-season arc during an intimate Q&A at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Mixing things up from the usual in-conversation format, Weiner was interviewed by TIFF programmer Mike Lerner as Mad Men’s season one finale, “The Wheel,” played behind them in the background, making for a session that was part live audio commentary, part masterclass. Looking back on the show’s success, relative to its challenging beginnings, “I feel frequent tings of vindication about huge risks we took that paid off,” Weiner said. “The vehemence with which people told me that this was a dumb idea, it’ll never work, or would say, ‘I love it, but no-one will ever watch this,’” he recalled, adding that studio execs have always underestimated the intelligence of their audience. “There’s always some fictitious viewer that they think that they’re smarter than. But I found through watching other people that I admire – David [Chase], Francis Ford Coppola – that not taking a risk is what sinks you.” Weiner described Mad Men’s first season finale – a highly acclaimed episode best remembered for lead character Don Draper’s pitch for the Kodak Carousel … Continue reading Risky business: Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner reflects
