As Talent Flees to Cable, Networks Fight Back

It was once the ultimate prize for a creator of drama series on television: a call from one of the broadcast networks during upfront week to say that his or her new project had been selected to fill an hour on the prime-time schedule. For some, at least, that thrill is gone.

“Yes, we do have A-level producers who say, ‘I don’t want to be on the network; I only want to be on cable,’ “ said Zack Van Amburg, the president of programming and production for Sony Pictures Television, a studio that generates shows for both network and cable channels. In growing sections of the television drama business, a condition known as “cable envy” has been setting in — and spreading. Cable, the land of small budgets and even smaller audiences, has become the place creators of drama go if they want to take big creative risks — and win golden trophies. But increasingly, networks are trying to lure talent that otherwise might succumb to the allure of cable.