Roles To Play

[George WK Newman]

The following is a basic outline of the corporate structure, and general responsibilites and titles within the corporation. Things tend to be flexible though in changing portions of the roles, or combining or adding responsibilities.

Board of Directors;
The corporation (PLS Media) is overseen by a corporate board of directors. The composition of the board can vary over time but right now it looks like the initial makeup will be;
Chairman of the Board (likely from Platinum Equity)
other seats will be represented from the other big investors; Liberty Media Group, Sinclair Broadcasting, Activision Blizzard, and Hilton Hotels.
In addition, the television network operations will be represented by the CEO, the VP of Legal, and most likely the President of Entertainment.
The affiliates will also be represented by two seats, one from the "groups" and one "independent".
Finally two members will be appointed from outside the corporation, bringing the total to 12.
These roles, other then the ones from network operations, and possibly from the affiliates are not open for players.

Players are only allowed to have one of the following high level network positions at a time. However, they may need to step in to take over if someone leaves the game. There are 7 positions in addition to the CEO, and more can be added if required.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PLS Media
status; filled by admin; George WK Newman
Other then the board, this is the head honcho. When needed he/she will mediate between the board and the network executives, between the various network departments like entertainment & news, accounting & production etc. A major part of the CEO's job will be affiliate relations. The CEO intends to give the President of Entertainment as much leeway as possible to shape the direction of the network (i.e enough rope to hang oneself).

President of Entertainment
status; filled; Ms. Chris Reyes;
reports directly to the CEO, sits on the board of directors
This is the most important job at the network. Most directly this person is in charge of the prime time/latenight department and will have a couple of VP's underneath to help. The main roles will be to decide on renew/cancellation, pickups, scheduling, etc. The daytime, sports, etc, directors report directly to the president of entertainment. However, the news director reports directly to the CEO, but is still seen as a junior position compared to the President of Entertainment.
The job is being offered to someone specific with a great track record. If she does not accept then likely we will begin the network with the President position open, and have 2 or 3 VP's work together on the first months of the network. Using that as a guide the CEO will then decide on when and who to fill the President's position.

V.P. of Entertainment (2)
status; open; please pm me if interested
There is likely room for at least 2 VP's who will work with the President to develop a line-up of shows, and work with the studios and showrunners to make things go smoothly. How the work is divided is up to the President. Each person might get a certain amount of hours to babysit, or certain nights, or they may all take a team approach. This position is a proving ground to the President's position.

Note: It is very likely that a player will not only assume the role of President or Vice-President, but may also be the showrunner for one or two prime time or late night shows, using a different personea. This is allowed, in fact encouraged.

Executive V.P. News Division
status; open; please pm me if interested
Whether or not our fledging network even has a news division will depend on whether we have someone who wants to run it. This isn't a huge time committment. The news is divided into several sections. Working with the affiliates to provide pooled content for national and local news, providing coverage of key events and emergencies, possibly producing Sunday morning news programs, and possibly producing a prime time news magazine show. The news director is always seen as a very prestigious position and puts the person in contention for any opening at CEO level, perhaps on par with the President of Entertainment.

note: unlike prime time shows, evening news and Sunday morning programs would require limited committment and do not need daily/weekly recaps. The more effort put into the division the better the results, but minimal effort is required. The exception would be a news program put into the prime time schedule. It is likely that the VP of News might also have other personeas to run regular prime time programming etc.

Senior V.P. Sports Programming
status; open; pm me if interested
Reports to the President of Entertainment
Again, whether the network has a sports division will depend on whether we have someone who is interested in running it. The more effort put in, the better the division will do. The various aspects of the division include the covering of national events either for prime time programming or for weekend daytime offerings to the affiliates. It also includes working with the news director on the sports coverage aspect of news.
Since we operate in the real world, with other networks being the incumbents, our limited budgets, and the high cost of producing big league sports it is unlikely that we can make a big splash in national sports coverage (NFL, NBA, NASCAR, etc). Couple that with the fact that if we go to a second tier of sports such as soccer or lacrosse, our affiliates would be probably better off to run their own local broadcasts of sports. In other words, the person who runs this division is going to require patience, determination, and a lot of ingenuity.

note: again this can be more of a sideline position by someone who has another personea who is a prime time showrunner, media critic, etc.

V.P. of Daytime Programming
status; open; pm me if interested
Reports to the President of Entertainment
Oversee's the weekday daytime offerings to affiliates. Whether or not we have daytime offerings will depend on whether we have anyone interested in running it. Programs could include soap operas, game shows, talk shows, etc. The VP does not have to be the showrunner for all these shows, and the level of detail on these shows will be less then prime time shows. If we have daytime TV it will be a group effort from all the players of the game, just like the network itself. This position is seen as junior to getting one of the VP of Entertainment jobs, but allows for greater autonomy.

V.P. of Children's Programming & E/I Requirements
status; open; pm me if interested
Reports directly to the President of Entertainment
Once again whether we have a Saturday morning block of kids shows to offer the affiliates is predicated on whether we have an executive to run the division. This person will oversee a 2-4 hour block of programs, live action and animated, and also have the responsibility with dealing with the FCC, Corporate, and affiliate stations on fulfilling the E/I requirements of the affiliate stations. Basically its determining whether the affiliates want the network to step up with qualifying programs and then working with the showrunners, network, and FCC to make sure we fulfill the statutory requirements for Educational and Informational (E/I) programming hours.

note; like other divisions this will be a team effort. For instance the player who is the President of the network may have another personea that is the showrunner for a half hour saturday morning cartoon. This division like daytime is seen as a stepping stone to a VP of Entertainment position, or alternatively provides its own mini-universe of autonomy in the selection and guidance of shows.

[George WK Newman]

The following are the senior corporate positions, in addition to the board of directors. They are not currently open to be filled. I will be filling them as the administrator. In general they are boring roles and roles that can create conflict. In the future some of them may be opened up for discussion, but for now you should be aware of them only because they will have an impact on your own positions.

Executive V.P. & General Counsel
status; filled by admin; Bernard (Bernie) Cheatum
Oversees in-house as well as outsourced legal matters for the corporation. Areas that mostly pertain to the network itself are two fold. Firstly, is contracts. The entertainment world is filled with contracts and unions, whether it be a license and costing contract with a studio to produce a show, or a contract to tie a support cast member down to a show for 5 years. The second big area is copyright and content. Lawyers review all scripts while being shot or beforehand if possible, and watch the finished product. They do background searches and interviews to make sure no copyright problems occur after the airing of a show. Many of the departments have in-house lawyers. That is strictly for convienience sake, as all legal staff report directly to Cheatum.
If you are unlucky or unprepared you may get an e-mail from Cheatum or one of his associates, out of the blue, suggesting that your show is illegal in content or copyright.

Executive V.P. Sales & Advertising
status; filled by admin; Skip Canada
Skip has been around the TV industry since he was born, the son of actors. However, he has worked behind the camera as both a station owner and with the William Morris Agency. He most recently ran his own ad agency which he sold in order to take this position.
Skip is in charge of selling advertising for all the network's shows. He will give his advice on issues such as how much can be sold at upfronts and for how much, based on what he thinks and the street thinks the ratings and demos will be for a show. It is then up to network executives or even the showrunners to override him if they wish. For instance a showrunner may put his career on the line and bet that ratings will be much better for his show then what the street expects, and urge Canada not to sell as many spots at the upfront at discounted prices. Most showrunners however do not care about this, they know that ratings means future ad dollars and don't care to interfere with the process.
Skip has a real good ability in determining what range of ratings a show will get before it airs, and generally has the ears of the executive suite on these matters.

Executive V.P. Finance & Accounting
status; filled by admin; Jim Bean
Jim's department is responsible for crunching the complex numbers of the entertainment business. The job is made simpler by the fact the network does not currently run a studio, but its still a complex mess. To make matters worse accounting is often under the gun, as all the shows have a similar production run, and depend also on their own singular production accountant to be on time. Mr. Bean knows better then to ever actually step foot on a sound stage, as he would probably have to leave via ambulance, so he prefers to hide behind e-mail for bad news.
This department also runs entertainment audits of the studios, executive perks, runs payroll and human resources, and has tax specialists. You do not want this job ~ ever.

[George WK Newman]

The following are executive roles that are more broad based then the programming positions listed above. Because of this they can be held by the same player, using a different personea, as one of the programming executive roles.

V.P. of Marketing
status; open; pm me if interested
Reports to the President of Entertainment
This is where the real world skills meet the fantasy network skills. We need someone to be the graphics and branding guru for the network. One responsibility would be to provide options and suggestions for network visuals, such as the call sign, logo, watermark, etc, as well as any national "general" advertising campaigns that the network may launch.
In addition, time permitting, this position may help out the showrunners of individual shows in producing visual promos. This person is also in charge of maintaining brand architecture and integrity, such as making sure that all promos produced by the shows themselves are using the correct current network logo. If you are looking for a job with a lot of impact, that will also get a ton of praise and thanks, this is the position for you!

note: This position can also take on responsibilites in regards to the board itself such as skins and logos, if desired.

V.P. of New Media
status; open; pm me if interested
This is where the future meets the present for a young, energetic network executive. This position initially will not have a lot to do, as we do not own our own shows, nor have a catalogue of shows. However there may be opportunities to work with studios on DVD releases, website and sattelite services, etc.

V.P. of Casting
status; open; pm me if interested
At its core this position is maintaining a list on the site of what actors we have under contract, with links to imdb.com. Any contract specifics can be added. Technically speaking most of the talent will actually be under contract to the production studios, not us, but having a list will be useful none the less.
Behind the scenes the V.P. of casting will also have the job of approving or rejecting casting for television shows. Primary reasons for rejection will be they are already on other jobs, the role or pay we can offer is beneath them, or the casting is simply unrealistic.
Beyond all of that, where the V.P. can bring real value to the table beyond the above, is to help shows cast when they need help finding suitable talent, and keeping lists of talent the network considers "hot" and would like to see the shows do business with.


Other Distribution
Other areas of distribution, specifically foreign markets is currently going to be under the direction of the advertising and sales department. However, this is the kind of responsibility which can change portfolios if requested.

[George WK Newman]

Showrunners;

Showrunner is an informal title that best sums up the person responsible for "running a show". It could be the executive producer, producer, or writer/director, etc. It can change over time but in general there is only one showrunner at any given time. This person is responsible for everything from scheduling to approving sets to working with budgets and unions. They are in essence the general manager. Sometimes a showrunner will actually have someone above them, between them and the network, such as an Executive Producer. For instance Aaron Spelling may be an executive producer of a show he creates, but he certainly doesn't run the show on a day to day basis.
All of our shows need to have a showrunner. This is a full time job so a showrunner can only do one show at a time.
I suggest creating a new personea for a showrunner, and that way if they are successful they can be reused for other shows and have a track record of success which should help ratings of a new show.
The showrunner will be responsible for dealing with the studio and network on any problems, delays, budget issues. They will also need to post episode summaries and production schedules.
One player in this game may hold an executive position, and then still create seperate personeas to run say two different prime time shows, a saturday morning cartoon, and a weekday game show. The prime time shows will be approximately a half hour to hour per week committment, plus any time spent on visual promos.

[George WK Newman]

Media

Feel free to post your opinions and articles about our programming in the media section. Perhaps the best is to use the same one or two journalist names for your bylines to stay consistent. Please do not use this avenue as a way to air public beefs that should be dealt with in private, but feel free to be critical when required.

[George WK Newman]

Station Managers

This is an area of potential future growth. Not currently available.

The idea would be for players to run one of the affiliates. It wouldn't be a ratings thing, it would only really have two purposes.

One would be to add more depth to the game, so the station general managers could speak up about the network offerings.

The other purpose is for those who would like to take a shot at scheduling a local station. Again you wouldn't get ratings but you could fill in the gaps where the network does not provide content. Ideally you would run a show in a market that you know, for local content reasons. In other words, just for fun.

You could run one of the stations from the big groups like Sinclair, or an independent, or we could use it as an avenue for PLS to get into owning stations of their own.

[George WK Newman]

Cable Stations

This is an area for potential future growth. Not available at this time.

The idea here would be for PLS to get into owning cable stations. We could then divide up the programming of the stations to those interested. It wouldn't really be about ratings, just for fun and to add depth to the game. However, I probably would do some sort of profit/loss statement for the station on a quarterly basis and get into some of the real world problems encountered by cable stations. It could also potentially be a source of secondary revenue for our own television shows in licensing fees.
Finally, some original content could be made, and it could prove a career stepping stone for those looking to move into the Network's programming departments.

[bluelick]

Can I get multiple roles!

[George WK Newman]

Yes you can. You can serve as one VP, so pick an area that interests you. Programming (prime time & late night), or daytime, childrens, sports, or news. With the exception of news I will confer with President Reyes on any appointments. News is my decision.

Beyond that there are some secondary roles, such as casting you can add.

If you want to be involved in programming in more then one area you can be a showrunner. For instance you could be VP of Daytime programming, but be a showrunner for multiple shows. To get your show on the network though you will have to post the pitch in the prime time area and have it considered by the group.

Best place to start is "what do you want to do". Maybe send me another pm.

Thanks