JOAN WILSON BIDS FOR MASTERPIECES Go to Joan Wilson main page >> It's
been said she has the best job in television. She jets to Europe
several times a year -- to London, Cannes and occasionally Italy. She
hobnobs in New York with powerful oil magnates. She makes critical
programming decisions which determine what millions of Americans watch
each year. She is respected for her good taste, her commitment to
excellence and unwavering belief in television's leadership role. She
has no less than a dozen Emmys to her credit. In her
small, cramped office atWGBH in Boston, Wilson chatted at length
about "Masterpiece Theatre," pausing for occasional references to other
British series she has produced - notably "Classic Theatre,"
"Piccadilly Circus" and "Mystery!" (now in its second season). Seated
in a handsome chair from the "Pride and Prejudice" set, sipping tea
with milk, she was alternately candid and coy, engaging and elusive,
with a touch of the flake about her.
Boston Globe, Dec. 13, 1980
She
is Joan Sullivan Wilson, the executive producer of public
television's "Masterpiece Theatre" which celebrates its 10th
anniversary this season, having become something of an American
institution with a British accent.
"I really believe in
public television. I love what I do. There is a family feeling here
at WGBH. I rarely take vacations because Masterpiece Theatre' is
an ongoing thing. I suppose I'm a workaholic by conscious choice. We
are all lonely. But work is the most constructive escape for our
universal loneliness," she said.
Wilson is not easily given
to panic. She appeared calm, for example, in the face of this week's
announcement that her special arrangement with the British Broadcasting
Corp. is now threatened by a well-heeled American competitor.
A
new cable network called Bluebird had entered into a 10-year,
multimillion dollar agreement with British Broadcasting Corp.,
heretofore a key supplier of shows for "Masterpiece Theatre." Wilson
seemed philosophical, even magnanimous, about this potentially serious
threat to her baby.
"I'm not surprised, threatened or
worried," she said. "I am confident Masterpiece Theatre' will be
around, if I can survive all the phone calls. The fact there are four
new cultural cable networks (ABC, CBS, Bravo, and now Bluebird) means
that others are recognizing the original mandate of public television.
If there is more quality television then I can only feel stimulated."
Actually,
Wilson did not originate "Masterpiece Theatre" which was an outgrowth
of "The Forsyte Saga," the popular British serial that aired on public
television in 1969. Nor was she the show's first producer - that honor
was Christopher Sarson's, the creator of "Zoom." But since becoming the
series' producer in 1973, Wilson has been the guiding light of
"Masterpiece Theatre." She's led the show through financial crises,
production problems, union hassles and occasional public controversies,
while establishing it as a fixture on the television scene.
Wilson
screens more than 600 hours of potential programming a year from the
British Broadcasting Co., Thames Productions and other British
producers. Perhaps her most impressive triumph was spotting and
acquiring "I, Claudius."
She also enjoys producing the
"wraparounds" for "Masterpiece Theatre" - the opening and closing
essays written and delivered each week by the series' aristocratic host
Alistair Cooke. Wilson had nothing but praise for the man who writes
those exquisitely honed pieces which frame each show. "Alistair is one
of a kind - a first-rate performer as well as a seasoned, experienced
and wise gentleman.
"I fly down to New York and discuss the
upcoming scripts with him," she said. "We sit in his living room, laugh
a lot and have a good time. I give him my woman's point of view and may
make a few minor changes in his final copy." For his part, Cooke makes
regular trips to Boston for his tapings at the WGBH studios.
Perhaps
stung by persistent criticism that "Masterpiece Theatre" is, well, too
British, Wilson enjoys pointing out that Cooke - the quintessential
English gentleman - is now an American citizen. "He is very
Americanized - his wonderful manners are British, but he is American in
his wit and perspective. Did you know that he is one of only three
Americans ever knighted by the queen?," she asked.
Still,
Wilson is not unmindful of the cultural differences between England and
America. Not every British production "travels well," as she puts it.
Accents may pose a problem, with thick Scottish rhythms and rapid
speech particularly nettlesome. Different attitudes toward sexual
taboos can also influence a series choice.
Wilson passed up
a popular British series which examined the personal life of James
Barrie who happened to be attracted to young boys. "My English friends
loved it. I told them I didn't think Americans would be as captivated
by the passionate, darker side of James Barrie. I told them our Mickey
Mouse is your Peter Pan. I prefer my Peter Pan as Mary Martin flying
through the air."
Wilson also steers clear of British
material which she finds sexually exploitive of women. Finding many
modern British plays "so sexist," she said: "I went to one musical
called Privates on Parade' thinking it was about soldiers. There is
also a voyeuristic streak in British drama. I rejected one series about
a boys' school which had whole scenes about sexual escapades to the
point of utter boredom."
One of her most sensitive
responsibilities involves her role as a censor - trying to balance
England's greater tolerance for explicit sex and violence against this
country's more ingrained conservatism. To date, the record shows she
has exercised this power with admirable restraint, even managing to
break new ground in terms of what American traffic patterns will bear.
The
numerous orgy scenes in "I, Claudius," for example, were among the most
graphic shown on American television. On the other hand, Wilson cut 5
minutes out of the 13-part series because they were either too gruesome
or violent.
More often than not, she functions as a tough
but discerning editor - occasionally pruning to sharpen a storyline or
heighten dramatic impact. The largest incision she ever made was to
throw out 13 of the first 26 original episodes of "Upstairs,
Downstairs," reasoning the plots were repetitious and the performances
not strong enough.
Explaining her success, she said: "I'm
good at administrative work. It may have something to do with my being
a woman. Young girls of my generation learned to do the nitty gritty
work, to follow through, to be thorough."
Wilson's personal
life is anything but conventional. Her official "bio" lists her as "a
Scorpio born in Wisconsin." A believer in the occult, her black Mustang
parked on the grounds of the WGBHparking lot bears a plate that
reads "WITCH."
She has been married three times ("four, if
you count another relationship that was never formalized") and has two
children - Caleb who was graduated from Grinnell College this year and
Rebekah who attends Marblehead High School.
Since 1977, she
has been married to Jeremy Brett, a handsome English actor who has
appeared on "Classic Theatre," "Masterpiece Theatre" and was the host
of "Piccadilly Circus." The two actually met in London during some
on-location shooting for "Classic Theatre." According to Wilson, it was
love at first take. "My audio man put together a video cassette and you
could see the chemistry." In this country, he has appeared on shows
such as "The Incredible Hulk" and "Hart to Hart."
If, as
Wilson believes, most good marriages include healthy separations,
theirs is in extremely good shape. "Let's see," she said, "I spent a
week with Jeremy in January. In February, we got together when Mobil
threw a party for Masterpiece Theatre.' In April, I saw him in London.
Mostly, he stays in Los Angeles and I'm here in Boston. We see each
other in different places - wherever we happen to be."
While
candid about her personal life, Wilson was more circumspect about her
professional life. Sensitive to the buzzword of "elitism," along with a
view in some quarters that British imports are somehow "un-American,"
she was reluctant to compare British with American television.
Admitting that British dramas were "more my cup of tea," she preferred
to list those American programs she likes.
"American
television doesn't have to be boring, stifling or a turnoff. I love
Rhoda' reruns. I cried during the last episode of Mary Tyler Moore.' I
adore John Chancellor who is one of the sexiest men on television. I
thought that King' was the best thing in years. And I like movies that
are either so old or so bad you watch out of sheer perversity." Indeed,
Bob Hope specials were the only instance of commercial programming she
willingly cited as distasteful, calling them "sexist and filled with
cheap shots."
Asked how it was that a woman who takes her
tea with milk, is married to an Englishman and makes her living by
importing British programs happens to drive a 1978 Mustang, Wilson
said: "I believe in supporting the American economy.