...to read this New York Magazine article.
Although I usually hesitate to editorialize on BPR, this article has prompted me to say a couple of things.
First of all, did you note that in four short years Lauren Zalaznick has really put Bravo on the map?
"As recently as five years ago, the station was still part of the flyover country of the cable dial, a backwater that mainly featured cheesy knife commercials and Inside the Actors Studio and bad ballet. But last month, Bravo was nominated for nine Emmys—Top Chef and Project Runway among them—and these last two quarters were the network’s best ever. This transformation happened mostly under the reign of Lauren Zalaznick, now beginning her fourth year at Bravo."
Give the woman a raise, please!
Secondly, the network is now providing career management opportunities - it is in everyone's best interest for these reality-show contestants to succeed!
"In addition to looking for new programming ideas, Zalaznick is trying to make the most of her existing franchises. Back in June, the network announced it’d be teaming up with Pangea Management, a sixteen-month-old company based in Santa Monica, to help manage the careers of future contestants (with the notable exception of those from Project Runway, still owned by the Weinstein Company). The arrangement may raise the specter of the old studio days, when movie stars didn’t own their careers, but Zalaznick makes no apologies for it. “Everything associated with Bravo isn’t just driving a rating,” she says. “It’s driving a business.”"
Now please explain to me why Weinstein can't provide the same benefit to Project Runway contestants.
Finally, here is something that I didn't know: The contractual clause that Jay McCarroll objected to in Season One has been removed.
"After he won the first season of Project Runway, he discovered that the Weinstein Company would forever own a 10 percent stake in his brand—and he didn’t yet even have a brand—if he chose to take their $100,000 prize. He turned it down. The company has since dropped the clause."
That is the same as admitting it was unfair! Errr... in my humble opinion of course...
Have a great day, BPRs!
