Drain oversees ’GBH shows, Samels succeeds her at AmEx

Originally published in Current, May 12, 2003
By Karen Everhart

WGBH chose a public TV veteran as its v.p. of national productions. Margaret Drain, executive producer of American Experience since 1997, will take the job June 1. She succeeds John Willis, a British production exec who moved to a top BBC position after a year in Boston (earlier article).

Mark Samels, former senior producer of American Experience, was promoted to e.p., succeeding Drain.
"I've been at American Experience for 15 years and--while I really love working on films--I felt it was time in my personal life for growth," said Drain. "It seemed foolish not to go for it--like a missed opportunity."

As head of national productions, Drain will oversee WGBH programs including Frontline, Nova, Antiques Roadshow, Mystery!, Masterpiece Theatre and AmEx. She'll also lead development of new programs and negotiate co-production deals.

Drain was senior producer on the team that launched PBS's signature history series in 1988. Nine years later, she succeeded founding executive producer Judy Crichton. Drain previously produced at CBS News, working with Charles Kuralt and Bill Moyers. She also worked with Fred Friendly at the Ford Foundation, which, through its substantial early funding of national programs, helped establish public TV's reputation for innovation.

"I'm excited about the many strengths she brings to this position from her outstanding record in both network and public television," said WGBH President Henry Becton.

In her new job, Drain sees familiar challenges: continuing the flow of money for WGBH's ongoing series while developing new story ideas that can attract co-producing partners and funders. How-to lifestyle projects in development at WGBH are among those she aims to push forward. "You have to be patient about it in this economic climate," Drain said.

News of the financial challenges at WGBH--which include recruiting new Masterpiece Theatre corporate patrons to replace ExxonMobil--is not all "doom and gloom," she noted. Two new Tony Hillerman dramas are in production for Mystery!, and Frontline/World secured backing from the Hewlett Foundation, she said.

American Experience boosted its ratings this season with several high-profile offerings--"Seabiscuit," "The Murder of Emmett Till," the presidential bio "Jimmy Carter," a multi-part history of Chicago -and the Oscar-nominated "Daughter from Danang." The series recently secured multi-year renewals from sponsors Liberty Mutual and the Sloan Foundation, according to Drain and Samels.

Ratings for the series plummeted last year when PBS moved it to Sundays, but when it returned to Mondays it recovered part of the audience it had lost. "The move back to Mondays has been terrific, we've had some hits in the past season, and feel good about where we are," said Drain. "With the renewed underwriting, American Experience is in really good shape." Although national producers are struggling to fund programs in a very difficult economy, Samels said he is "incredibly optimistic" about the near-term prospects for AmEx. The series has a strong slate of upcoming films, including a David Grubin film on Robert Kennedy, a documentary on Martin Luther King's last years by Orlando Bagwell and what Samels calls an "unexpectedly strong" show about Reconstruction. Projects on the American Revolution and the history of American innovation are also in the works.

Samels joined AmEx as senior producer in 1997. He directed and co-wrote "A Brilliant Madness" about schizophrenic mathematician John Nash and was instrumental in developing films including "John Brown's Holy War" and "Stephen Foster." Before coming to the series he was v.p. of production at WITF in Harrisburg, Pa., executive producer at WNPB in Morgantown, W.Va., and an independent producer, who made West Virginia, States of Mind and Revelations. He worked two years as senior producer of Japan Today in Tokyo.