TV Exec, Feminist, Author Nina Tassler to Speak at Commencement

In a profile last June about television executive Nina Tassler, then chair of CBS Entertainment, the Hollywood Reporter cited her work nurturing female talent at the network.

“At a time when much of the town is wringing its hands over gender parity—as Oscar-winning actresses make political speeches from the podium (“It’s our time to have wage equality!”), as hacked Sony emails reveal huge pay differences between male and female execs and stars…as the ACLU asks federal agencies to open a gender discrimination investigation on the whole entertainment industry—there actually is a straightforward example of a woman on top who is changing the status quo and letting her network’s success speak for itself (most of the time),” the article stated.

Tassler (CFA’79), now an advisor to the network, will deliver BU’s 143rd Commencement address on Sunday, May 15, at Nickerson Field.

A BU trustee and a member of the College of Fine Arts Dean’s Advisory Board, she joined the network in 1997 as vice president, drama, at CBS Productions, and became chair in 2014. Last September, Tassler announced that she would be stepping down as chair of CBS Entertainment. For 18 years, she had a hand in megahits like The Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife, Criminal Minds, and CSI and its various spin-offs. Under her leadership, CBS was the country’s number one network for 12 of the last 13 years. The Hollywood Reporter article pointed out that for more than a decade, Tassler managed to make “CBS a more female-friendly place, on and off camera”: half of her 12 top executives were women, she nurtured scores of female showrunners, and about a quarter of the network’s current and upcoming prime-time series are run by women.

BU Today asked Tassler to reflect on her career, her experience as a BU undergrad, and her new book, What I Told My Daughter: Lessons from Leaders on Raising the Next Generation of Empowered Women (Atria Books, 2016).

BU Today: What was your time at BU like?

Tassler: My time at BU was mind-expanding, it was energizing, creative, inspiring. I loved my four years immensely. I was in the College of Fine Arts, so I was with a core group of students for all four years. It was exciting, and a very deeply personal experience. It was a time of creative freedom; it was obviously a process, a maturation process.

What I find most rewarding are the friendships that I made at BU. These are some of my closest friends today. Geena Davis (CFA’79, Hon.’99) was my roommate for my last year of school and is still my dearest friend in the world. One of my other roommates, Cindy Gold (CFA’80), is a professor at Northwestern. My sophomore year roommates are also some of my closest friends today. And the cherry on top is that I met my husband, Jerry Levine (CFA’79), at BU. We were freshmen together, started dating as sophomores, and were married in 1984, so we have been married for 32 years and have two amazing kids.

What was your plan after graduating with a degree in theater?

Well, what I thought I wanted to do was work in the theater. I was a theater major and I loved the BU program because it prepared you for a career in the theater. On one hand, it did prepare you, but on the other hand, it is a very challenging profession. I stayed in Boston right after school and did a play at what was the Boston Arts Group, and then moved to New York with my husband and wanted to work in the theater. I worked behind the scenes for a number of years at the Roundabout Theatre Company. I was auditioning, and I was trying to get roles as an actor, but I always had an interest in the world behind the scenes.

When I was working at the Roundabout, I had the extraordinary opportunity of seeing the way a regional theater operated, and the managing director and producing director gave me a unique vantage point. I was working on set construction, striking sets, literally running tech on certain shows, working on wardrobe. It opened the door to looking at a career in the theater beyond the performance aspect. And that’s what BU prepared me for as well, because its theater studies involved not only performance, but also academics, the history of the theater, and the technical components.

How did you segue into television development?

Kind of by a fluke. When I first moved to California in 1985, another friend of mine, Sarah Zinsser (CFA’79), and her husband were involved in starting a theater company in Venice called the Pacific Resident Theatre, which is still around today. I was performing at night, but got a job during the day as a receptionist at a talent agency. I got a chance to see how the television business operated. A lot of the questions being asked, a lot of the mechanics of what actors needed to do in preparing for an audition, I knew how to do because they were the questions I would ask of myself.

I was reading pilots for series, movie scripts, because when an actor would go for an audition, I would read the material beforehand. I realized the structure and storytelling and the analysis of material for film and television were very much in sync with what I learned in the theater. So I was very interested in this and went from a small to a bigger agency. I worked for John Kimble, who was one of the partners at Triad Artists, and that was in the early age of television packaging. What I began to see was that you had materials and stars, actors that had a great deal of power in the television field. My job was to work with other talent agents in television, so I got a chance to see at a much bigger level all of the aspects that went into television packaging. Being that I was really interested and curious in how all of these elements came together, that opened my eyes in terms of understanding the television business. The next thing that interested me was the development of those scripts and watching something come to fruition.

In 1990, I went to work in development at Lorimar Television, working in movies and miniseries. The development involved was very similar to what went into developing a play, bringing all of the creative elements together, working with the writers and producers. Essentially my education at BU, my experience at an agency, and packaging and producing all came together.

What was the most memorable pitch you ever received?

CSI. That was an extraordinary pitch, very unique, very specific. The project came to us from Jerry Bruckheimer Television. Anthony Zuiker, who created CSI, came into my office and was one of the most animated, passionate, unique personalities I’ve ever encountered. All of the other networks had passed on it, and when Anthony brought it in, it was like nothing I had ever heard before. I was captivated. Knock on wood­—it became an enormous success for the network and the studio.

What are you most proud of about your tenure at CBS?

I would really have to say it is my relationship with my former boss. I worked with Leslie Moonves (Hon.’06) for 25 years, and in our industry that just doesn’t happen. Leslie hired me in 1990. It was truly one of the greatest opportunities I’ve ever had when he brought me to work with him at Lorimar Television. It changed my life. I’m very loyal to him, and he’s very loyal to me.

What is the biggest issue facing women seeking a leadership role at a major network?

It’s interesting. I think there are fewer barriers in the executive ranks in television. In my world, you have Bonnie Hammer (CGS’69, COM’71, SED’75), myself, Nancy Dubec (COM’91), for example. There are fewer obstacles than ever before for women in the senior ranks of television. I think the challenges are in the actual creative space—women directors, showrunners.

Recently, for example, there was an article about how 20th Century Fox and Paramount have no female directors through 2018. That’s really where we all have to pay a lot of attention. Create more opportunities for women behind the cameras. It’s certainly a top-line issue. I think people are really aware of it now, and there is a sense of urgency behind it. I feel, ironically, that we are at a stage right now where women executives are saying, “We have to put our money where our mouth is and it’s important that we encourage, mentor, and support women who work their way up the ranks in network television and the feature business as well.” I was very lucky that I had a boss who thought it was very important to support women throughout the company.

Why did you write What I Told My Daughter?

I have a daughter who is 17. When she was 13, she was competing in a volleyball tournament, and had a very rough four days. At the end of the tournament, her team had lost most, if not all, of their games. In her last game she played exceedingly well. At the end of the game she turned and looked at me, and in that split second I could tell our relationship was about to change. She had gone from being a little girl, where I had to make sure she was wearing her helmet and had snacks, into someone who was having her own feelings about herself, and I needed to validate how she felt about herself. I had a moment of panic, because I didn’t know what to say, and I looked at her and I told her she was really consistent and that her teammates could depend on her.

I could see at that moment that that was exactly how she felt about herself, and I had validated those feelings. I realized I had to find a book that would advise me how to support and engage this change in our relationship. I wasn’t looking for a how-to or a preachy book. What I needed didn’t exist, so I decided I would reach out to successful women and ask them to share their intimate, honest stories about how they raised and talked to their daughters. It was very important for me to have a diverse representation of voices and that each essay reflect each mother’s own voice—from former first ladies to Supreme Court justices to the president of Planned Parenthood and Karen Antman, BU School of Medicine dean and Medical Campus provost.

What are your favorite TV shows?

The Good Wife, I love that show. I love Girls, Veep, Homeland, and Broad City.

Any hints on what you plan to speak about at Commencement?

There are two ideas that I’m thinking about. My BU experience is now embedded into my DNA as a human being. I’m a big feminist and being at BU was a factor to my feminism. Those are some of themes that I am playing with—my BU experience and how I have a sense of loyalty and connection with the school and how that has played into who I am today, and how we are politically and historically at a point in time in terms of women’s issues. And I think that my experience at BU really helped me galvanize my worldview.

Also receiving honorary degrees at BU’s 143rd Commencement May 15 are Peace Corps director Carrie Hessler-Radelet (CAS’79), who will be the Baccalaureate speaker, Doctor of Laws; US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, who will address the College of Engineering Undergraduate Convocation, Doctor of Laws; and Travis Roy (COM’00), motivational speaker and founder of the Travis Roy Foundation, Doctor of Humane Letters.

More information about Commencement can be found here.