To those of a certain generation, Cy Chermak might be a familiar name. He is the Emmy-nominated producer behind hit shows like “CHiPs,” “Ironside,” and “The Virginian,” and wrote for several episodics like “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” the popular Western starring Steve McQueen. Chermak has written a tell-all book about his experiences in the industry: “The Show Runner: An Insider’s Guide to Successful TV Production.”
What made you want to write the book? I got tired of answering the question I was most often asked: “What does a producer really do?” The second most often asked question was about Erik Estrada. What happened to me is that, in writing what a producer does, I guess I decided that what’s more important is what it’s like to do it, how he feels when he’s doing it. It isn’t all fun and games and starlets and champagne. Some of it’s really hurtful and destructive. There’s a chapter in the book that deals with the headaches and the heartaches. I think what a producer does may have been touched on by other people in other books before, so what I really concentrated on was the memoir aspects of what a producer
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