Paul Lee, CEO of ‘Mare of Easttown’ Producer Wiip: ‘Our Special Sauce Is That We Can Break the Rules’

During his tenure as ABC’s head of entertainment, Paul Lee helped shepherd hits for the network including “Black-ish,” “Scandal,” and “How to Get Away With Murder,” but he missed having a free hand in content creation. He has that now, he told TheWrap’s Office With a View.

At Wiip, the production company behind HBO murder mystery “Mare of Easttown,” “our special sauce is that we can break the rules,” Lee said. “We can bring in voices that are more distinctive and different from those within their own studios.”

Lee co-founded the independent studio in 2018 with Matteo Perale, the former head of strategy and corporate development at CAA. Besides the Emmy-winning “Mare,” Wiip has also produced Amazon Prime Video’s hit YA series adaptation “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and HBO’s upcoming comedy series “White House Plumbers” with Woody Harrelson.

“We had a fantastic time at ABC. It was a really great period and we made some hits that I think we’re all still extremely proud of,” Lee told TheWrap. “But I won’t lie, It was hugely satisfying to get my life back and to have the freedom. I relish the idea of going back to doing something where there really are no rules.”

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Lee also spoke about how his days at ABC helped give him the “superpower” to be able to know what buyers want and how to make that fit into their overall strategy. “We help define the platforms we’re on,” he said.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

TheWrap: What is the philosophy behind Wiip?
We wanted to make a place that supported the passions of our writers and our producers and our talent. In the old world, the talent always wanted to be free to sell anywhere they wanted and pursue whatever passions they wanted. I spent 20, maybe 25 years in corporate life. And the idea of being in a place that had no rules and that supported its talent was extremely attractive.

You’ve gone from getting pitches for shows to pitching the shows. What did you take from your time at ABC that helps you as an independent producer?
It is a superpower to be able to sit inside the head of the buyer and figure out exactly what they’re trying to do. It allows you to pitch it in a way they will be attracted to and to figure out the wider strategy and how we can fit into that.

That being said, it’s extremely useful to know what buyers want, but it’s better still to bring in an incredibly distinctive voice that’s going to change the rules, because usually, the hits come from shows that are deeply unexpected and that nobody asked for.

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Do you see programming in terms of genre, like, “Let’s get another murder mystery on the slate” after “Mare of Easttown”?
Mostly that does not come from mandates like “we want genre” or “we want thriller.” It usually comes, honestly, from the authenticity and strength of the voice. I have had many hits and many failures in similar genres. And most of it is not down to the currents of the audience, it’s down to the power of the writers.

We try to be incredibly distinctive in the voices that we do. We like to think that our shows, at their best, help define the platforms that they’re on. We definitely felt that about “Dickinson,” which Josh Stern did for us [for Apple TV+]. It was just a superb piece. We did the same with less success because the platform didn’t survive on Quibi with “Dummy,” which starred Anna Kendrick and was written by Cody Heller. Terrific show, that again, helped define that platform.

That’s why we started a company that was built around talent. Because if you can empower those voices to pursue their own passions, you’re far more likely to get a hit. You’re also more likely to get a failure. That’s the fun of it. But you’re far more likely to get a hit.

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What strikes you most about how the TV landscape changed over the last few years?
In the old world, those players were all in the U.S. In the new world, those independent studios are going to be global. And that plays into Wiip’s strengths, because not only do we have owners in Korea, and a great flow of IP in shows and talent from [JTBC Studios in] Korea, but many of us, not just me, are immigrants.

We’re able to go back to Europe and Latin America and India and other countries and connect with the storytellers there. I remember at ABC, we were trying to do the follow-up to “Downton Abbey.” And it was not possible. One of the greatest, most soapy shows, you couldn’t put on a big broadcast network. “The Crown” or K-drama or Colombian drama, these are the most interesting, distinctive stories that stand alongside the greatest North American storytellers in the world.

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We are seeing a lot of layoffs across the industry. It seems like the funnel for content is getting a little narrower. Or do you see it picking up again?
I certainly sense a momentum coming back into the market. We’ve sensed in the last couple of months a real hunger again from the streamers to buy great shows, and a real momentum in our pick-ups because we are all at the beginning of a revolution in the entertainment business.

I was there at the launch of digital cable with BBC America. This is a dramatically larger scale, and much more global. This is as big as the revolutions of the ’50s and ’60s. And it will go through all sorts of rollercoasters. There’ll be consolidations, there’ll be new launches, there’ll be changes of directions.

What do you see as Wiip’s advantage?
For us, the way to build a boat that can not just survive but flourish in those waters is to be driven by the quality of the storyteller. We have some terrific development ready to go out now that we think is brilliant, but not all of is going to land. The streamers will be competing aggressively for the next five to 10 years and they will need terrific U.S. and global stories to beat their competitors. I think we’re extremely well positioned to provide those best stories and then we will do extremely well, however stormy those waters are.

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