'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):

The Best TV Dramas of the Past 25 Years

Vulture.com, one of the best culture blogs around, is doing a series to determine what the greatest TV drama of the past 25 years is, and it got me thinking about what I consider to be the best. HBO revolutionized the TV drama, making it more about the overall narrative of the series, and less about what happens in each individual episode, and it’s because of shows like The Sopranos and the emergence of TV DVDs and DVR, that the way we watch TV has changed. We're now more likely to sit and watch an entire season in a few sittings, as opposed to waiting a week for a new episode.

My picks:
The Sopranos
Six Feet Under
Breaking Bad
Friday Night Lights
Sons of Anarchy

Notable mention goes to Mad Men. And as for #1, it’s hard to choose. My gut tells me to go with The Sopranos because I love every minute of every episode of every season, including the phenomenal cast, the acting, and the narrative, but I think each show I’ve selected brings something very different to the table. It really is impossible to compare a show like Friday Night Lights to something like Sons of Anarchy.