Gail Berman Remembers Getting “No After No” For ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ Before She Got A Yes; Producer Talks “Resilience” In Accepting PGA’s Norman Lear Award
deadline.comSome producers will say it’s hard to be a producer in today’s world of streaming vs. theatrical — heck, even post-pandemic, but Gail Berman provided a lot of inspiration while accepting the Norman Lear Award at tonight’s PGA Awards.
At the aorta of her acceptance speech was how she got Buffy the Vampire Slayer off the ground, born out of a 1992 summer B-movie. “Not a single person was interested in buying that television show,” she said onstage. “I mean not a single person on this Earth was interested in buying that television show.
I couldn’t ignore my gut. An empowerment story with a young woman at the center. We got ‘no’ after ‘no’ after ‘no.’ Then one day, we finally got a ‘yes.’ And I gotta say, it all comes down to resilience.” RELATED: Victoria Alonso Among Producers Featured In PGA’s “Pay It Forward” PSA About The Producing Grind – PGA Awards How does Berman do it?
A Broadway producer in her early 20s, she blossomed into a TV studio head at Fox Entertainment and then eventually development boss at Paramount. “Very early in my career — I was 24 years old — I was running around looking for financing for my show, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Berman said. “After a time, I didn’t accept the reality of a ‘no,’ and that was a really good thing.
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