Designing a Telegenic National Convention

When the Democratic National Convention unfolds in New York from July 13-16, the handiwork and advice of three well-known Hollywood television figures will play a prominent part.

They are Harry Thomason, co-executive producer of CBS’ “Designing Women” and “Evening Shade” and TV adviser to probable Democratic nominee Bill Clinton; Gary Smith, a veteran of special programming who will produce the convention; and Garth Ancier, a young executive with a background at NBC, Fox and Walt Disney Co., who is TV consultant to the Democratic National Committee.

Thomason and his wife, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, creator, co-executive producer and principal creative force behind “Designing Women” and “Evening Shade,” are longtime friends of Clinton’s. Smith produced the 1988 convention.

Ancier, a boy-wonder protege of Brandon Tartikoff’s at NBC and then Barry Diller’s at Fox, is just 34 and is expected to bring a more youthful TV approach to the Democrats, whose flag-bearer, Clinton, 45, is the youngest of the competing candidates.

“Garth and I and Harry are really the three people who understand what we need to do in TV terms,” Smith said in a phone interview from his office near Madison Square Garden, where the convention will be held.

But he also gave credit to Diller, who resigned in February as chairman of Fox Inc.: “He hasn’t been hands-on the way we have, but a lot of what we’re doing was inspired by the meetings he attended. It got us going. He was brilliant in his assessment of what we need to do.”

According to Smith and Ancier, a planned innovation at the convention will be a “video wall”--a bank of TV monitors that will serve as a giant backdrop to the speakers’ podium and provide an opportunity for the use of graphics, videotape and live footage.

“It’s a visual concept. It’s a design tool. It’s electronic scenery,” said Smith.

“Some of the things that were examined,” Ancier said from his New York apartment, “are just exactly what the look of the center podium is for the convention. Is there some necessity to put 27 hours of a convention in front of a piece of plywood that’s very nicely lit? You will see something that is a bit more telegenic at the center of the convention.

“It’s already constructed. At the usual political convention, you’d see something like a giant flag behind the speaker. Previously, conventions were basically talking heads.”

Asked whether the planned video wall would be a kind of MTV device for Clinton, who recently made an impressive 90-minute appearance answering questions on the rock music cable channel, Ancier said:

“It’s not an MTV kind of thing because MTV, to me, is not a particularly intellectual medium. This is really a service to the speakers and to the content of the convention. It’s a base that gives us a framework in which to make the presentation visually more interesting.”

For viewers who might otherwise be bored?

“Yes.”

Besides, said Ancier, “For those of us who grew up with television as children, it is harder to keep our attention purely with a series of speeches.”

Both Ancier and Smith said, however, that the speeches are still the backbone of a convention and said that no video gimmickry will upstage them.

“In the end,” said Ancier, a convention is “a reflection of the candidate’s personality and highlights his ability. It isn’t supposed to be just a telegenic event. It’s supposed to be something that shows passion and character for the candidate.

“The fact is that a great speech is unbelievably compelling. You know, Mario Cuomo, Ann Richards or Jesse Jackson giving a speech that you will remember for a decade--there’s nothing graphically that will make that any better.

“The intent here is not to use the video screen as something that would distract from the speakers. In fact, the thought is that while speakers are actually giving their presentations, by and large this would be a static element. What I don’t want to do in any way is imply that (technology) overshadows content.”

Added Smith: “Clearly, if somebody is speaking from the podium, if the keynoter is speaking, I don’t want busy images being changed behind the speaker’s head. But the introduction of a particular speaker or the opportunity (to use the video wall) on demonstrations or other elements will add a tremendous amount of visual energy and excitement to the convention proceedings, not only in person but on television.”

According to Smith, the video wall “consists of 56 (monitor-like) picture cubes,” which add up to “a television screen or system that is 23 feet wide by 17 feet high. The cubes can be computer-generated to either show one enormous image or multiple images or even 56 separate images. The wall is our hardware. Now we need our creativity.”

Smith said that Diller’s assessments “in terms of the video wall” were significant.

Although on the youngish side, Ancier said that the target of the convention must be “the total electorate. They’ve become fairly routine events for everyone, and if there’s anything we can do to spruce things up, then it’s worthwhile.”

A former head of programming for Fox TV and onetime president of network production for Disney, Ancier said that while the three Hollywood executives are active in the campaign, “I can’t say any of us sets the tone. In the end, the tone is set by the candidate himself or his staff or the Democratic National Committee.

“To be honest, all of us Hollywood types are really just advisers at the table. Other than Ron Brown himself (chairman of the Democratic National Committee) and Bill Clinton himself, all of us are supporting actors. (The convention) has to be a reflection of the candidate’s judgment of how to present himself.”

And in that regard, Thomason’s role is clearly critical. Said Smith: “Harry has been very involved in ideas that have to do with videos that are being shot to be used for certain issue pieces. We’re also going to use some live satellite things brought right into the hall, and Harry’s been very involved in what particular people we’d be using.”

Despite the TV plans, Ancier likens the convention experimenting to “putting your toe in the water and seeing how the public responds. This is not like going to Pittsburgh to do a town meeting. It is the single defining moment for a candidate. There is every reason to handle the situation with tremendous caution.”

It’s a lot easier to wing it in fiction like “Designing Women,” which did a daring episode about the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings and clearly came down on Hill’s side.

Reel life. And now real life.