Tobias Menzies and Maggie Gyllenhaal – in the SundanceTV original series “The Honorable Woman”

We spoke with SundanceTV president and gm Sarah Barnett about the network’s scripted programming slate and its propensity for auteur television in Cablefax Daily this week. Here are some more thoughts on its new scripted show “The Honorable Woman,” the network rebrand and working with OTT.

Any thoughts on the timing of “The Honorable Woman,” given what’s currently happening in the Middle East? This is a work of fiction. And as such, it’s really about a family and a woman. I don’t think anybody involved in the production would claim to be able to do anything beyond aiming to televise a very compelling drama. I know that [creator] Hugo [Blick] has expressed a desire to both have a theme of reconciliation be something that’s at the forefront of the personal drama of this character’s family and mirror the issues in the region that it’s set.

What does the SundanceTV rebrand accomplish? One of the objectives was incredibly practical, which was truly just to have fewer letters in the network name. We have to increasingly live on so many different platforms, many of them very small. And many networks have the advantage of being an acronym—being 3 letters long and being able to create a real stamp for their logo. And then the other thing we though was simple and right about changing our name was, TV is such an exciting medium, and there are many other Sundance entities out there. To just be straightforward and clear about who we are seemed desirable.

How does the network work with OTT platforms? Our shows are on Netflix—“Rectify” appeared on Netflix after a certain window. “The Red Road” season 1 will do so. We hope to see some of complementary viewing on linear … “Breaking Bad” was the poster child between season 3 and 4 for how people catching up on Netflix can lead to increased linear viewing. And that’s obviously the symbiosis everybody craves, at least on the network side…. I think it’s an interesting conversation. We’re very happy to be in partnership with Netflix and other partners; we worked with Netflix to tell people about Rectify on their platform prior to season 2 launching on our air.

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