by Joanna Balin
Nancy Daniels is Chief Brand Officer, Discovery & Factual, where she oversees all creative and brand strategy, development, production, multiplatform, communications, marketing, and day-to-day operations for Discovery Channel and Science Channel in the United States.
Throughout her extensive television career, she’s served as President of TLC, Executive VP Production & Development at Discovery Channel, and General Manager of Discovery Fit & Health. Before joining Discovery in 2007, Daniels was VP of Alternative Series Development at CBS, where she was brought in after establishing herself as a producer in the independent television community. Daniels spoke with JHRTS member Joanna Balin about believing in risky projects, learning from failure and the phenomenon that is Shark Week.
Can you tell us about your background and what made you want to work in entertainment?
I majored in communications in college, I knew I was drawn to Los Angeles and knew I wanted to work in the TV industry. I visited here when I was in high school, I visited family that worked in the business and it just seemed really fun what they did — really fun and really exciting and just something that I wanted to be a part of. I didn’t know exactly what, but I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I came out to L.A. right after college, and just started working in freelance production, working my way up in the early days of cable, early days of reality and non-fiction and then somehow ended up here. It’s been a long and winding road.
How did you get involved with the HRTS?
It’s interesting, when I worked at CBS — which at this point was over a decade ago — HRTS was a big part of CBS. We would go to a lot of their events, and obviously to their big luncheons, and my assistant and some of the junior people that I worked with were involved in JHRTS. So it had always been there, and then to be honest with you, for the first few years I was on the cable side, it wasn’t as big a deal. And it didn’t feel as connected to cable as it did to broadcast. It definitely feels like in the last year or two, with the new leadership at HRTS, they’ve definitely become more present. For me, it’s funny because I’m excited and happy about it. I feel a little bit nostalgic about it, and it feels like something from an early part of my career.
I’ve only been involved with HRTS for a few years, so it’s interesting to know the background.
There’s so much history, which is kind of cool. You realize how long it’s been around, and all the different eras of television and entertainment HRTS has been a major part of, it’s kind of cool.
What is a favorite memory in your career so far?
When I was up for the job at CBS — this was in 2003 – I was a huge “Survivor” fan. A part of the interview was that I had to do notes on the premiere episode of the next season of “Survivor.” So I got sent to my home a VHS tape of the first rough cut of the new season and was asked to do notes, and I couldn’t even believe it. I couldn’t believe I got to see the show before it aired, I couldn’t believe somebody was asking my opinion on it and I just remember thinking this might just be the coolest thing that’s ever happened. And of course that’s just the beginning, but at that moment, I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is crazy!’
How did you make the transition from working in production to working at a network?
It was a little bit of kismet, right place, right time, and having incredible mentors around you. So, for me, I was working as a story producer on “Big Brother,” and it was my third season of working on it (I had done other stuff between seasons). We would do network screenings every week, because we were smashing right to air, and I would do the network screenings with the network executive. At one point, Allison Grodner, who runs “Big Brother,” pulled me aside and said, “Have you ever thought about working at a network?” Ghen Maynard (who was our executive at CBS), is looking for a number 2, and he’s looking for recommendations. He wants somebody from the production world, somebody who has experience in the edit bays, who understands story, who can talk to producers and editors and who he can train on all the other stuff. She was like would you be interested in that, and I said, “Sure!” You know? Why not? I’m freelance, I go from job to job, and if this doesn’t work out I’ll do something else!” But I knew it was a big opportunity. I knew it was a definite fork in the road. So I jumped at it and that was really my transition from production to network.
Do you think that the production background really helps you now in your position?
Definitely. And I miss it. I actually miss production. It’s really fun to be where it happens, and be on the ground, and actually making the show. I have a tremendous respect for producers and what they have to do to produce a great show. So I definitely will always carry that with me.
What makes you want to fight for a project, and what makes you know it’s going to be an immediate pass?
I think you have to feel really excited about something. When you hear the pitch, you get the excitement around it. By the way, a lot of pitches are great pitches. You have to learn to parse out what’s going to be great for you, for your network, your platform, for that moment. Here’s a great pitch, and it’s also coming from a producer you believe can execute. When that crosses the line of exactly the right moment of what you’re looking for — and sometimes you don’t know what you’re looking for until it hits you in the face — it just can be amazing. That’s when you want to fight for something.
Are there any projects that come to mind that you’ve had to go to bat for that other people didn’t believe in?
I’ll go back to when we were first developing “Naked and Afraid.” I was at Discovery overseeing Production and Development, and I was working with Simon Andreae. Simon was really trying to crack what’s the new way into survival. Simon and his crazy mind came up with a title, “Naked and Afraid” and he had this vision of Adam and Eve. We worked with Renegade, the production company, and came up with the format around it. But it was risky, right? And so we all had to work really hard to talk our boss at the time into taking a chance on it. But I’m really glad we did, it was crazy. And to think that it’s still on, it doesn’t even feel that crazy anymore.
What are you most excited about on Discovery’s horizon?
Well, we’re about a week and a half away from Shark Week. [Editor’s note: 2019 Shark Week begins July 28.]
In Cynopsis they said it should actually be a national holiday at this point. As somebody who’d been a fan of Shark Week long before I ever thought I’d work at Discovery, now to be here and be overseeing Discovery on Shark Week is kind of crazy and super fun. Everybody gets really into it here. So I’m excited about Shark Week. We have on our first night, our big premiere is going to be called “Shark Trip.” We’re doing it with Will Packer, who of course is the brilliant mind behind “Girls Trip.” It’s with Rob Riggle and a handful of comedians: Joel McHale, Anthony Anderson, Damon Wayans, Jr. and Adam Devine. Rob talks them all into going on a trip, but he doesn’t really tell them it’s to go shark diving until they get there, which is kind of hilarious. So that’s the big first night out, and then later in the week, we’re doing our very first scripted movie in Shark Week.
If you really think about it, Shark Week was created from the phenomenon of Jaws. We decided to do our own movie that’s actually based on true, real-life events. We worked with a survivor of a boating accident, where there were 5 people who had to survive in a raft — and, by the way, not all of them survived, because they were hounded by sharks for days and days as they were adrift in the sea. That is a crazy, crazy movie, which was a huge risk to do a movie — and then we got in the first cut of the movie and it’s so good, I’m so excited. So that I’m excited about, and then coming off of Shark Week, we’re actually doing a big huge nature documentary show, the likes of which Discovery hasn’t really done in a few years. Of course, we have the legacy of “Planet Earth” and “Frozen Planet” and doing these big natural history shows, and we’re doing one now called “Serengeti.” It’s actually created and produced by Simon Fuller, who created “American Idol,” and he has brought a whole different way of looking at storytelling and entertaining us through these natural history shows. It’s just beautiful and amazing and something I’m really proud of and we’re premiering that the Sunday after Shark Week, so I’m super excited about that too.
I think one of my favorite lines from TV is in 30 Rock when Tracy Morgan says, “Live every week like it’s Shark Week.”
My other favorite is in “Step-Brothers,” when the parents come in and turn off the TV when they’re watching it and they’re like, “COME ON! IT’S SHARK WEEK!”
It’s such a colossal legacy in the zeitgeist.
It is! It’s so good, it’s so fun to be a part of. Just even the swag associated with it is epic. People go crazy around here for the swag.
I’m always really interested in how really successful people handled failure. Is there any failure that comes to mind for you, and how it helped you grow?
Before this current role, I was at TLC for four-and-a-half years as head of TLC. That was the first time I’d ever really run a network. For the first two, two and a half years of running that network, it was just dud after dud after dud. We were having a really hard time connecting with our audience. It was just rough. I look back on it now, and I think, I don’t know how we got through it. Ignorance is bliss, in a way. You just keep going. This is what I love about the cable business, by the way – when one thing fails, it’s on to the next. On to the next. On to the next. What can you learn? What can you find out from that? What can you not do again? We ended up finding our footing in a huge way on TLC. The lesson I got out of that is never give up, and don’t let it get you down. This is a tough business, it’s a cyclical business, and you have to just keep going, keep going, keep going. TLC right now is having a renaissance like it’s never seen before. Which is awesome. It’s so exciting to see what we started at TLC, it’s on fire. It’s amazing.
You helmed “90 Day Fiancé” when it first started.
Yes – “90 Day” and all its spinoffs. Juggernaut.
How does that feel to have something that started under your reign turn into an enormous franchise?
It feels amazing. My prize, for all of that, was to move off of TLC and move onto Discovery, but I will say there’s nothing more fulfilling than going through a really rough time with a group of people and then succeeding together. It bonds you as a team forever. That was the most amazing part. In those dark days, saying to that team, “We can do this, we got this, we can do this, we got this.” And have it be like, “You guys! We can do it, we did get it.” It’s fuel for me now, as we’re trying to figure out what’s next for Discovery. We will figure it out. You have a great team around you, everybody is rowing in the same direction, you’re going to get there. I believe it.
Is there a piece of advice that was really terrible that you’re glad you didn’t take?
I don’t know! That’s an interesting question, I’ve never had that before! Really bad advice. I don’t know if it’s advice or not, but I think it’s really hard not to let your ego get in the way of things. There’ve been times where I’ve had to step back in my career, where I could have just stormed off and said, “Forget it, I’m done.” But I put my ego to the side and put my head down and did the job in front of me, and it worked out. I think that can be really hard when you’re human. But to me, it’s just don’t worry about all the stuff around you, just do the job you were asked to do, and do it well, and that will always pay off. Or at least it always has for me.
Anything you’d like to add?
The only other thing that I didn’t get to is one other show that we have after we get through Shark Week and we get through “Serengeti,” we’re actually launching a new show that I’m really excited about called “Undercover Billionaire.” It’s this guy, this real-life billionaire, who came to us and said, “I want to prove that I can do it all over again.” He basically said, “I’m going to start like I did.” He’s in his 50s now, but when he started when was in his 20s with something like 100 bucks in his pockets. An old pickup truck drops him anywhere in the country. Give him 90 days and he will create a business that can be valued at a million dollars. We followed him and watched what he did with it and it’s fascinating. I really like this guy, he’s a great guy. I was thinking yesterday, “What’s this guy’s motivation?” I honestly think he really questioned if he deserved it or not. Did he just get lucky? Or is he the real deal? And he was willing to put it all on the line to see. It’s a show that I’m really excited about.
That feels different for Discovery.
I know. I think there are certain things in there that I can point to that are very Discovery. A lot of the things that connect with our audience are people that pick themselves up by their own bootstraps. They’re responsible for themselves, whether they’re going out and digging for gold, or they’re running their own fishing boats in “Deadliest Catch,” these are the guys who are willing to do the real work, and don’t want to work for the man. So here’s a guy that did that, who came from nothing, and became wildly successful, but is willing to do the hard work all over again, and the physical work of it. That’s where I think it connects with the ethos of some of our Discovery shows. It’s the American Dream.
Joanna Balin is a member of JHRTS. She’s currently the Manager of Development at Magilla Entertainment, by way of ABC News Nightline. Apart from watching and creating television, she enjoys dancing, skiing and discovering new breakfast joints. You can reach her at jbalin@magilla.tv.