Ben Silverman

Silverman: I want to be aspirational. I want to be positive. I think people are so busy and overwhelmed in their lives and have so much choice, but also a cacophony exploding in their brain, and they look to television to disengage from that. I want to create environments that are warm and places they want to be-whether funny places or happy places or aspirational places. I want to lighten up the air. I also want to be pro-social and conscious and deliver through humor, character and narrative strong emotional connection. I want to find quality that has inherent touchpoints that could make it mass. I wouldn't make shows about Hollywood. There's just certain things I wouldn't do based on my knowledge of them being too coastal.

Silverman: All my life I've wanted to be running a studio, but in an independent, out-of-the-box way. I've built up enough of a track record with broadcasters that they're willing to take a gamble.

Silverman: I wanted to run NBC. I didn't want to run CBS or ABC -- I wanted something specific. And if you have that goal from age ten, you probably have a good chance to get there if you're continuously thinking about it.