Starz has increased its subscriber base by enticing viewers of all stripes, representing a range of races, genders and orientations. Overseeing this effort to connect with a vast array of tastes is Karen Bailey. A year ago, she was promoted to executive VP, giving Bailey a stronger voice in Starz’s inclusion initiatives.
“I focus on what we want as a company, what we look for and what everybody else is seeing,” she said. “I get that vision out so we can be the best executives we can.”
Originals include those within the so-called Power-verse, including Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan and Power Book IV: Force; time-travel drama Outlander; P-Valley; and High Town.
Seeking Underserved Audiences
Efforts to expand the Starz aperture have been in the works for years. Bailey came on board in 2006 as an executive producer, and mentioned the network seeing space in premium cable for more women’s voices. “Women want more stories about women, and told through the female lens,” she said.
Also: Starz Shows the ‘Power’ of Diversity
Period drama The White Queen, a coproduction with the BBC that launched in 2013, portrayed England in the war-torn 1400s through the eyes of three different women scheming for power. Female viewership tripled from the first episode to the last.
“It just resonated with the audience,” Bailey said. “They were like, more, more, more!”
Starz next focused on bringing in Black and Latinx voices. Power, a Courtney A. Kemp/Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson collaboration that Bailey described as “soapy, sexy and urban,” premiered in 2014. That found an underserved audience as well. “It was very obvious that Black and Latino audiences were also saying, ‘Hey, I want programming — something that resonates with me,’ ” Bailey said.
Women want more stories about women, and told through the female lens."
— Karen Bailey
Power lasted for six seasons. Power Book II: Ghost premiered in 2020, Power Book III: Raising Kanan in 2021, and Power Book IV: Force debuted February 6.
There is also 50 Cent drama BMF, short for Black Mafia Family. Bailey described 50 (who portrayed Kanan in Power) as a hands-on producer: “It’s not a vanity credit at all — he’s not someone who takes a producer credit and says, ‘Let me know when it’s finished.’ He’s very involved.”
Also: 50 Cent: TV‘s ’Power‘ Forward
P-Valley, about women working in a Mississippi Delta strip club, won over critics and viewers alike. The New York Times described the series as “a noir melodrama about struggle and secrets, family strife and business machinations. But above all, it’s a confident and lyrical story with an intimate understanding of the sort of characters who are too often used as decoration in the Bada Bings of antihero drama. Here these women, most of them Black, get to be subjects, not objects.”
Playwright Katori Hall created the show. “It turned a lot of standard tropes about women working in the sex industry on its ear,” Bailey said.
Outlander debuts season six March 6. Bailey summed up the new season thusly: “What is heart, what is home, what is family? Is home a place or the people you’re around? Is America their new home now?”
Starz’s efforts to reach a broader audience have been profound. A 2021 report from UCLA’s Center for Scholars & Storytellers showed that 63% of series leads on Starz’s original series are people of color, way above the industry’s average, and 58% of its leads are women, with the industry at 45%. Starz showrunners, meanwhile, are 55% women and 46% people of color.
Starz is happy to share best practices with other networks. The network’s #TakeTheLead campaign creates a template for representation, while Starz’s “Transparency Talks” feature thought leaders sharing on diversity.
An Eye for Authenticity
Alison Hoffman, Starz president, domestic networks, gives Bailey high marks for sussing out unique series. “She continues to bring a sharp creative lens that has delivered some of our best programming in the network’s history,” Hoffman said. “Her passion for authentic and relatable
yet impactful and bold storytelling has brought to life shows like Outlander and
the highly anticipated upcoming series Gaslit, a new season of cult hit Party Down and the second season of the critically acclaimed P-Valley.”
Bailey said it’s a great time to produce edgy programming. “It’s an exciting time
to be in this industry and have more access than ever to present audiences with content that is provocative, thoughtful, relevant and, most of all, entertaining,”
she said. “We feel like we can do all of those things.” ■
