Essie Chambers was recently named Vice-President of Development for The-N. The-N is a television network that airs programming for a teen audience. Their most popular shows include Degrassi The Next Generation, Instant Star and the latest hit series South of Nowhere. The-N also airs episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Moesha and Sabrina The Teenage Witch among other shows and original specials. If you are flipping through your Direct-TV station listing and don't see The-N don't worry. The-N refers to the after 6PM programming on the television station Noggin. Noggin is for preschoolers, The-N is for teens. For more about The-N visit www.the-n.com.

What are your job responsibilities at The-N?
Essie Chambers-I'm Vice-President of Development. I oversee the day to day running of the administrative stuff; the contracts my budget and our schedule and I work with our SVP to come up with goals with for every year and I take part in coming up with overall strategy for both the development group and the network. I have development execs that work for me. I help them with their projects. I have my own projects. I will usually take on a few specials every year. With my new responsibilities some of our bigger initiatives are our talent, celebrity initiatives and I've always been a diversity champion so continuing to work and make that official, our diversity agenda.

How is it different working on the N side than working on the Noggin side?
Essie Chambers-Noggin is for preschoolers. I developed one of our first original shows called Oobi. They are completely different audiences. I personally feel comfortable telling both those kinds of stories. I know this sounds crazy but a preschooler and a teenager are both going through so much change it will set them up for the rest of their life that the kinds of stories you tell have the same kind of dramatic epic quality. Obviously 5 year old stories are much simpler than 15-16 year old stories. We always spend a lot of time thinking about who the audience is and where they are at and what they are interested in. We always found it interesting that it felt like the moment in their lives were very similar. Five year olds were learning everything they need to set them up for life and teenagers are just exploding all over the place finding out who they are.

South of Nowhere Photo Credit:Carol Kaelson/The N Instant Star Photo Credit: Stephen Scott/Epitome Pictures, Inc

Why is original programming so important to The-N because you all could easily run shows like 90210 and old shows so why is new programming so important.
Essie Chambers-Oh it's critical. New programming is really what establishes a brand. We have been lucky to get really great acquisitions but you can't really control…you only have so much control of what you're buying when it's already in existence. When we are saying we are trying to be different, the things that help you feel different are the things that you make and you can control. So they are the really most important thing when it comes to building a brand.

South of Nowhere Photo credit:Chris Cuffaro/The N Degrassi The Next Generation Photo credit:Barbara Cole/Epitome Pictures, Inc

The programming on The-N is so diverse. How important is diversity to new programming.
Essie Chambers-Critical. I think as a company every body is just really starting to understand that diversity is not something that's good for people but good for business. People of color are being recognized as important and influential as far as the TV audience. They are huge generators of pop culture so it is part of this companies bigger goal, its part of our DNA. The great part of that is it doesn't feel like an afterthought. When its an after thought you start to paint people of color verses thinking about how their ethnicity influences who they are. We really try to make it a part of everything we do including making sure we get people behind the camera creating stories.

Listen to Essie

Miracle's Boys Airing on The-N this Month Order Now

You've been at the N and Noggin for a number of years. Are there any projects that are especially special to you?
Essie Chambers-Yes. I think the project that is most special to me is Miracles Boys. Miracle Boys was the first black drama for teenagers ever. It incredibly exciting but sad and a little scary when we realized that we could still be a first in that category in this day and age but no one is making black dramas. Nobody is telling stories about the emotional lives of black men. We see comedies. It just felt like no one is telling the stories. I think because of it's uniqueness we were able to attract talent that worked for nothing really because we don't have a ton of money. We were really taking a risk and they wanted to be a part of it. We got Spike Lee and we got Bill Duke and all these just amazing people to come direct. Amazing talent on camera and the writers. Everyone was united in feeling like this is important. Our audience, the people of color in our audience, it was like a ground swelling. They just said, "You're telling my life! I never see my life." If we got one of those emails, I know that sounds corny, that would have been enough for me but it was powerful.

Is a college education important when working in television?
Essie Chambers-I think a college education is important in life. I don't think you need a graduate degree. That's my personal opinion. I think experience is critical when working in television. I think the part of education that is important is not necessarily getting a TV degree, I got my degree in broadcast journalism and English so there was something that was TV related but I think the English portion of my degree was actually more important and I think the people that I hire that end up being the most exciting have degrees in political science or history or African American studies, its diversity of knowledge is as important and I would say actual experience in TV.

If someone has an idea for a show and they want to pitch it to The-N what are the proper ways to do it. Should they have their own development company and approach the station?
Essie Chambers-What should people do? I'm always scared to say this out loud but I think that we are one of the few places where we look for new ideas. New ideas can come from anyone anywhere. We look at all the ideas and if we love something we will get you in. We're actually not putting anything new into development right now but we really have a season we put aside weeks at a time when we are hearing pitches.

What's the coolest thing about your job?
Essie Chambers-There are so many cool things about my job.

I know one you get to know what happens on all our favorite shows?
Essie Chambers-I don't just get to know what happens I get to have a say in it. The talent. I am humbled and in awe of the talent I get to work with everyday. And the people that I get to work with. That's what it's all about.

For more about The-N visit www.the-n.com.

Related Links-Interview with Degrassi The Next Generation Cast Members (Summer 05)

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Essie Chambers interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2006
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Essie Chambers interview may not be reprinted, copied or distribute without permission. You may link to this interview.Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com February 2006.