Talks with a producer “Chez nous” landing the stones, uniting the networks – Variety

You can sometimes get what you want – even a catchy appearance by the separate but united Rolling Stones – when you are Global Citizen and there is apparently no global superstar too big to refuse “One World: Together at Home” . “Saturday’s prime-time show also included tricks from a Beatle, Paul McCartney, as well as artists currently inspired by mania like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Lizzo and Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.

Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans has already completed major all-star charity projects, including annual concerts in Central Park, but nothing like bringing together eight hours of programming (the two-hour television show at the prime time was preceded by a live web) in a matter of… let’s say how many days. Variety spoke to him Sunday afternoon about a friend’s expectation in the form of the Stones’ last-minute contribution, as well as the difficulty of setting the right tone in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, how it worked for CBS, ABC and NBC to hold hands, and his feelings about the recent politicization of the World Health Organization.

Anyone who has interviewed him knows he’s more likely to pass for health care fans than the pop stars he rubs his elbows with in the ordinary course of his work, but even a dedicated philanthropist to keep an eye on the philanthropic award as Evans couldn’t contain his enthusiasm for the Stones.

VARIETY: Did you lock the program enough in advance to be sure that the navigation would go smoothly?

EVANS: To be truly honest, it was extremely difficult to set up such a program in two and a half weeks. We literally started producing it two and a half weeks ago. And so the editing, all the sound mixing, the graphics, everything was in the thread. But we did not leave ourselves a choice. It was sink or swim. And I was so delighted with the result. I couldn’t even watch a lot of it last night, because we worked all night around it. But just the pieces that I saw, I was so moved by the powerful stories of community health workers and how their lives were affected by the pandemic and how they served the community so diligently … and by the songs and the artistic talent and the messages of hope from the world leaders who were also part of it. It was consistent, which delighted me when you are trying to gather more than seven hours of programming in two and a half weeks from a standing start.

The Rolling Stones were announced for the last time on Friday. Would they be considered the artist you retained the most to see if he would stand out?

These are definitely the Rolling Stones for which I was holding my breath, because as you saw, their performance was about five minutes and 12 seconds or so, so it’s a pretty decent piece of the show. And we only got final confirmation on Wednesday in advance. Every day was like a week for us last week. [Laughs.] It was definitely the one I was the most … I wouldn’t say anxious, but just the most aware. And when David Joseph of UMG and Joyce (Smyth), who is their longtime manager, called and said they were fully confirmed and fully integrated, our entire team was so delighted. There is really only one group in the world called the Rolling Stones, which has increased the power of what was achieved on an already magnificent night.

Did you wait until they actually had the piece on hand to announce it, or did their piece arrive even after that?

We waited until we had the part in hand before announcing it. Because we didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves.

Have you talked to people in the Stones camp about how they got there?

Well, they told me a funny story about it, but I probably shouldn’t be giving it away, because I don’t know if I have the right. I wish I could tell you, but this is their news to tell. But logistically, I don’t even know how they did it over time, with extraordinarily mixed voices, and yet they did it from four entirely different regions of the country with very, very, very limited technology .

Were you worried about having an inconsistency in tone with so many artists involved, each making their own choices?

We wanted to give them hints on the tone, but you know, artists have this incredible ability to get the pulse of the feeling of society, and so we didn’t want to overshadow what people were doing. We just wanted to give a first orientation. We have encouraged certain artists in terms of directionality. But I think they all had a perfect moment, whether it was the performance of Eddie Vedder in his bedroom, which was entirely spectacular and so moving, or whether it was the performance of Lizzo, that I was thinking of cutting the breath, or when Sam Smith and John Legend performed together… I also think of the performance of Christine and the Queens who was in the stream, too, during the six hours (before the broadcast during prime time)… We have received as much positive feedback on the stream, globally, as we did on the show.

The addition of six hours of live streaming before the two hours of television bit a lot.

It seems that different demographic data have been used. I think we had a younger demographic in the world listening to the broadcast, also because it was a little earlier in the day. We heard stories from families around the world who logged in for the full eight hours, or some who logged in for the digital six hours, and then the kids went to bed…. The reason we wanted to do the full six (extra) hours was because we thought it was really important that people from all over the world could be part of it. If we did it from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the eastern United States, then it was obviously already too late for people in Europe and across Africa, and also potentially extremely early for Asian time. And so I think the power of this interesting mix between digital and linear worked, because even though they felt like slightly different shows, they felt like brother and sister to each other. They came from the same sensitivity and the same outcome set to try to make sure we told stories about the powerful work of community health workers, while educating and informing the public about what can be done to stop COVID-19 . and what can be done to fight and stop the coronavirus.

We also wanted to make sure the feed was available to everyone around the world for the next 72 hours. And that’s why the BBC highlights this evening were so important. That’s why it’s also aired in Germany tonight and all over Europe.

Going back to the general tone: a few weeks ago, when Fox did a musical special, some criticized the fact that some performances were too frivolous at the moment. And we have seen opposite answers about your show. Looking at the comments from readers, there were a few people who said it was depressing for them when they fixed it just to hear something that would cheer them up. In the end, it seems like most of the people who have watched it have loved it, but in a moment like this, you will get at least a little review, whatever approach you take. You had to consciously seek a delicate balance.

Well, I firmly believe that you cannot tell people how to feel. And so all I think we can do in our job is to provide a platform for people to creatively express the various emotions that everyone is going through. Some people are devastated [and want music that takes that into account]. And as you say, some people want comfort, and that’s fine too. And so when Jimmy Fallon created his beautiful song with the Roots [a spoof version of Men Without Hats’ “Safety Dance” featuring choreography from medical workers], I think it certainly comforted a lot of people. While I think that Taylor Swift’s song (“Soon you will be better”), which referred to the battle (against cancer) that her mother was going through at the time, was undoubtedly going to be extremely difficult, because it was so deeply personal. Indirectly, we knew that this period was going to be a period when there would be a spike in death in the United States and peak layoffs. So you’re going to have people who are facing the total devastation of this, and others who want to be comforted. I think we have given people a bit of both.

As you said, you weren’t even able to watch the entire show continuously while it aired. But were there any highlights for you?

I found two songs that were extremely moving for me. I loved the Burna Boy song because it reminded me of why Nigeria’s response to COVID-19 will be so important for the next wave. I thought his voice was essential. And I also loved the Rolling Stones because for me what COVID-19 taught me is that you can have all the best plans in the world, but unless we have strong health systems, all of these plans collapse overnight. And so I think what they sang, “you can’t always get what you want” – that’s it, for me.

Let’s talk about the World Health Organization. What a time to brag about their work and raise money for them. (Lady Gaga and Global Citizen have helped raise more than $ 125 million from corporate and philanthropic sponsors, never asking viewers for money.) It was only last week that WHO became a Front page political football in the United States, with the president continuing the attack and threatening to withdraw funding. You were never going to do a politically targeted or divisive show. So how did you feel watching WHO become a controversial and polarizing thing, when normally it would have been something that almost everyone could agree on?

I think Lady Gaga said it very well when she and I, with Dr. Tedros, gave the last press conference the day before the event. She said that the whole point was for it to be a love letter to the world and a love letter to community health workers. And it was great because we had a team meeting earlier today with all of our Global Citizen staff on this, and we just asked everyone to come around and share the comments that ‘they had. And so many staff members had received overnight calls from nurses and doctors and midwives and lab practitioners from all over America and around the world saying they felt this love; they felt this attention on them. And if anything, that’s what the WHO is designed to do. It is designed to strengthen health systems so that health professionals can do their jobs more efficiently. And so I’m just glad that this result was felt. I had this beautiful and beautiful tweet from a health care worker in Seattle who said how moved she was by the show, and for me, she is the real hero. So I answered her immediately and I just told her that I’m so thankful that she did exactly what we wanted her to do.

As for the politicization of WHO, when you are the key player in a major global crisis, it is not uncommon for world leaders of all sizes to try to point the finger, because politics is in some cases a question of survival. And so I think it’s not so surprising that it became political football. But I think what we have to remember is that there is no second World Health Organization. There is only one. It is encouraged by the United Nations to be the multilateral institution to help respond. And it has the full support of the General Assembly of the United Nations. And in 2019, its year of fundraising was record, so there is clearly a lot of support as an institution. So I think with this support, they must continue their efforts to provide personal protective equipment, invest in vaccines and immunizations, and the best research in their class so that we can fight COVID-19 immediately.

Finally, what importance was given to the same weight for the three major broadcasting networks – CBS, NBC and ABC? They were each represented with their news anchors as well as co-organizers Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. Did they think the balance worked, so they didn’t have to worry about being competitive that night?

Oh, absolutely. I spoke last night – and I’m going to talk to them in three minutes, actually – to Doug Vaughan, Jack Sussman and Scott Iger from the three networks; we’re going to skip a call together and do a debriefing. We formed a real link between the group. It’s incredible. There is a real feeling that we are all fighting a common enemy. You have certainly felt this thanks to the unity of the three hosts, but the networks equally – in all their daytime programming, their evening programs, their morning programs – have constantly come forward to support the campaign. I don’t know if you saw the rankings, but I think that among them, they exceeded (15 million) viewers last night, and it’s just linear, the first count, not counting the cable, not the digital. So it’s a testament to their hard work.

It’s very difficult to get numbers from cable and streaming, but would you guess how many people could have connected in total?

The challenge we have is that it was in 120 strange countries in a linear fashion, and then you had all the digital players. For example, if you take Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu only in China, that number would be crazy only in this country, because there are a billion people there. And then it was in Indonesia, and on all the major stations in India, which has a billion people. So if I gave you a number now, it would be just hyperbole. … In addition, Facebook alone had over 20 million unique content, as did YouTube, 20 million unique content. These are just two platforms. … You cannot be on all the media in the world at a time when the whole planet is inside and people are consuming media at record rates and don’t have extraordinary numbers.