There are two driving forces behind Sarah Weidman’s career in television.
“The bottom line is that I find real people very interesting,” said the three-time Emmy Award nominee, who joined AXS TV as head of programming, development and multiplatform content in January 2020, where she’s responsible for original productions, acquisitions, on-camera talent development and content strategy.
That explains her initial interest in becoming a psychiatrist, although after taking organic chemistry and other premed courses at the University of Michigan, she switched to broadcast journalism and communications. You can see it in a career that in her early days took her from television news to The Jerry Springer Show to The Dating Game before she was brought to MTV by then-programming chief Brian Graden to work in series development. “To be honest, I didn’t know development was a job,” she said, adding that she loved “coming up with ideas then flipping on a producer hat and saying, ‘How do I make it happen?’”
Also: Wonder Women of Los Angeles 2022: Hollywood Heroes
(Years earlier, she’d made an audition tape to be a VJ that included her “talking to a statue of a lion,” a tape she swears “will never see the light of day.”)
If there’s no room to continue developing, I’m going to get really bored.”
Sarah Weidman
Another thing she discovered in those early days in television was that “if there’s no room to continue developing, I’m going to get really bored,” Weidman said. “Shows like The Dating Game rely on formula and there’s no room for reinvention.”
She loved MTV until she found herself listening to NPR instead of a rock station in the car and knew she was done with thinking of ideas for a teen audience. “I’m always looking to grow,” she said, adding that after a stint at Sony Pictures Television doing development and seven years at the Style Network, her career shifted again. The network closed down right when she had a baby, and she used that time to reflect on her strengths and her interests.
“As a producer, I can see the micro needs and can go through the checklist and make sure all the details happen,” she said. “But I’m able to step back and also look at the big picture. How does what I’m working on plug into the larger universe and brand?”
Making the Digital Move
Blending that mindset with her desire to try something new, Weidman shifted her focus to the digital universe, working at such outlets as AwesomenessTV, Joyous and Clevver Media before settling in at AXS.
She looks at all those previous jobs as ideal building blocks. “Every step of my career has been about taking what I did previously and adding to it,” she said. “I know linear and I know digital.”
She now brings that expertise to building up the digital side of AXS, which she said had a website that previously looked like “a blog from 1995.” Heading a tiny team means she gets to be involved in almost every aspect of the job.
“Sarah is one of the most collaborative people in content and production I’ve ever met,” said Frank Tanki, president, Sports & Music Group, Anthem Sports & Entertainment, which owns AXS. “She’s dogged and prepared and her energy and resourcefulness is contagious.”
Tanki also praised Weidman for remaining dedicated to the audience, talent and production team without ever losing sight of the bigger picture for the business and brand.
“As a content person, I’m looking at the universe where the content can live and finding the best dispersion of all content for the network while also keeping in mind our carrier agreements and their restrictions,” she said. “I get to take a very macro view of content but also tunnel in as well.”
For example, Weidman pointed to an ambush game show she’s launching called Parking Lot Payday. She came up with the idea but she also makes sure that each location agreement gets signed.
She has sought to attract younger and more female viewers without losing the core adult male audience by highlighting a wider and younger slate of musicians. She also developed programming strategy for AXS TV’s new direct-to-consumer platforms as well as video content for the network’s social platforms, and helped launch programming for AXS TV’s first-ever FAST channel, AXS TV NOW, and content for a YouTube channel (including the At Home and Social music performance series).
“This job is always an interesting challenge,” Weidman said. It ranges from being involved in FAST (free, ad-supported TV) channel deals to overseeing acquisitions, which helps Weidman find the right programming to match with AXS TV’s originals as she builds a schedule. “This adds whole new layers to my job, so I’m not getting bored.” ▪️
