CJZ co-founder slams ‘arsehole’ business affairs departments at TV networks
Business affairs departments at TV networks seem to believe it is their job to stop shows from getting made and are ruining the production sector, according to Nick Murray.
“We have a chart of arsehole business affairs departments in my office, and we rank them, and the ranking – there’s a lot of competition to get to the top of that chart,” the co-founder and managing director of CJZ – which is behind the likes of Gruen, Bondi Rescue and Street Smart – said.
Murray: It’s ‘insane’ we’re encouraging more people to join the industry
It is these ‘arseholes’ who are holding back the production sector, delaying deals between producers and networks, and stopping shows from getting made.
These comments are fairly unprofessional from CJZ and quite disparaging. A commercial networks role is not just to commission a show, they are commercial networks that are required to generate revenue for their shareholders. Biting the hand that feeds in such a crass way is not the best way to air individual grievances.
Completely agree – it sounds like the only thing he didn’t do was give the details of the internal rankings of how much CJZ hates its commercial partners…
The sad thing is, ‘too big to fail’ really applies here. CJZ, Matchbox and The Chaser team could take a collective dump in the ABC foyer and their programs would still get made by the ABC.
Good luck when you need to pitch a show, if marginal TV executives are famous for having long memories.
Classic gutless. If I can avoid making a show I can avoid any chance of making a flop. This business is for risk takers only. Piss off the rest
In their annual report, BFI reports that in 2017 they counted 7400 production companies in the UK (not including post-production companies). It would have been useful to refute what Nick was saying, instead of just repeating it.
It could have saved me from a 30 second Google search.