The Defender: Russell Rothberg

You wouldn’t expect to find a dramaturge at a TV studio — more likely at a theater or opera company.

But at Universal Television, Russell Rothberg is a resident champion of writers, working to bring the best out of storytellers in a fast-paced medium.

“It’s about helping them get to the center of their vision,” says the executive vice president of drama development.

A former New York City theater actor-director, he’s written two two television pilots himself. “Now that I’m on the other side of the desk giving notes, I never want them to think I’m trying to write the script.”

Rothberg started in scripted programming at Lifetime, then moved to Fox, where he oversaw hits including House and Bones and provided show coverage for 24.

After serving as vice president of current programming for Fox, he joined NBC and Universal Media Studios (now Universal Television) as senior vice president of drama programming.

In September 2011, he was named to his current position, where he has developed Bates Motel for A&E as well as Chicago Fire, Dracula, Crossbones, The Slap and Emerald City for NBC.

“Networks want to be inspired by great things that come in the door,” he says. “We look first at the truest center of what an idea could be, then we look at who might want to buy it.”

In today’s great TV dramas, Rothberg notes, heroes are in the eye of the beholder.

“The number of people who root for Norman Bates to get away with things is incredible,” he says, referring to A&E’s Psycho-inspired series, which stars Freddie Highmore as a teenage Norman.

And with digital distribution dramatically changing the business of television, creating characters — and content — that viewers will care about matters more than ever.

“You can embrace it all and go with it, or get left behind," he says. "We’re embracing it.”