Tony Tellado
“You learned how to produce because you knew you’d have less money to do things and that creates inventiveness,“And I learned the skill set to manage a creative team and interface with studios and networks.”
FROM THE ANKLER:
In 1998, a then-unknown writer by the name of Greg Berlanti got his first job in television when a friend from college, Julie Plec, hired him to be a staff writer on The WB Network’s Dawson’s Creek. Berlanti, who at the time was struggling to break into the creative community, would famously go on to rise through the ranks and become the teen drama’s showrunner a mere two years later.
Berlanti’s experience would ultimately stand as a model for the network that became The CW in 2006, when corporate parents CBS Studios and Warner Bros. TV formed a joint venture (C plus W, combining CBS’ limping UPN network with The WB) in hopes of creating a fifth major broadcast destination targeting younger audiences. By 2019, Berlanti was the executive producer on more than half of The CW’s primetime slate and had a record 18 shows on various networks and streaming platforms.
“There was nothing I didn’t learn” at The WB and The CW, says Berlanti, who currently has four shows on the air and more on the way. “I learned every skill, really. Story breaking, storytelling and managing multiple episodes at the same time . . . and resourcefulness.”
