'Sons of Anarchy's Kurt Sutter Talks Social Media at Paley Fest

Kurt Sutter is hands down one of the best show runners in the business. He doesn’t just write and produce one of today’s best television shows, but he actually gets what makes a show successful today – and that’s social media. He gets that it’s not just about putting together 12 solid episodes for fans to watch each week, it’s about making connections with fans, connections strong enough so that if your show is ever in danger of cancellation, like Community was earlier this year, fans can actually make a difference. At this week’s Paley Fest panel for Sons of Anarchy, Kurt explained his use of Social Media so eloquently that I just have to share it. I’m paraphrasing of course, but this is pretty much what he said...

“For me it’s just about staying connected to the fan base. I don’t underestimate the power of social media and when you have a show that has this strong a fan base and when you’re only on for three months out of the year, I feel it’s my responsibility as a producer and a show runner to continue to engage people and keep them interested and keep them excited about what’s coming up. And I do that as much as I possibly can. Sometimes for my own survival because I want the show to be successful but also because I know how difficult that is and I appreciate that. We really struggled with that on The Shield, we would lose fans with each season because of the break. And I didn’t want our show to suffer that same fate. So I stay engaged, I try to stay active and really sometimes it backfires on me but for the most part it’s been great.”

Kurt Sutter manages his Twitter feed, a blog, and puts out weekly production videos on his YouTube channel.

Part 1: Sound's a bit off in the beginning.

Part 2 (with the bit on Social Media):