Five Questions With Bruce Gillmer
Music-television vet Bruce Gillmer holds the unwieldy title of president, music, music talent, programming and events at Paramount [deep breath] and chief content officer, music at Paramount+. Among his many duties: overseeing MTV's annual Video Music Awards, being held on Sept. 7 at New York's UBS Arena and broadcast for the first time on CBS (as well as on MTV and streamed on Paramount+).
Gillmer has earned all that verbiage; he started in the talent department at MTV back in 1987, and his fingerprints are on countless awards shows, special events and, more recently, music documentaries.
Despite his myriad accomplishments, he still managed to confuse HITS with a legitimate publication and thus spoke to us about the upcoming show.
The VMAs are airing on CBS for the first time. What opportunities does that present for you, either in marketing the show or in the show itself?
The CBS broadcast provides an opportunity for a massive increase in reach/audience year over year, including a significantly wider demo and a shot to substantially grow the fan base of the VMAs. We’ll play to this opportunity by showcasing a mix of talent ranging from the buzziest current stars all the way through the legendary superstars who remain relevant and connected to their dedicated fans and beyond.
What’s the biggest misperception these days about the VMAs, either within the TV or music industry or with the public at large?
One of the common misperceptions is that the awards are rigged. Quite the opposite: The VMAs are fan-voted and we are very proud of the fact that we do not mess with the fans' choices. We do have a few awards/honors such as Video Vanguard, where our internal team makes the ultimate decision [Mariah Carey is this year's recipient], but the core categories are decided by the fans.
Longtime MTV exec Van Toffler is a VMA producer this year. When was the first time you two worked on a project together?
Van and I go all the way back to the black-and-white-TV era. As far as I remember, it could have been The Flintstones or maybe I Dream of Jeannie.
Actually, after all this time, save for a few really cool recent docs for Paramount+ [Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boy Bands; Sometimes When We Touch; I Wanna Rock], this is a first for us. We worked together during the late '80s but always on day-to-day biz stuff, nothing approaching this beast of a show.
LL COOL J will be hosting. Do you consider yourself more of an “I Need Love” or “Mama Said Knock You Out” kind of guy?
"Mama Said Knock You Out," but this is based on the energy of the track only. I can’t comment from a lyrical POV. That wouldn’t be right.
Tell us what’s been keeping you busy between VMAs.
We've been working on an amazing slate of music projects. The Lady and the Legend is an intimate look into the friendship and musical partnership between Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett. Stans journeys into the obsessive super-fandom surrounding Eminem. No Escape From Now follows Ozzy Osbourne during his final years as he fights for his life and battles to get up onstage one last time. And Hip Hop Was Born Here is a doc series hosted by LL about the creation, evolution and ongoing legacy of hip-hop.
That, plus some drumming, driving at high speeds and a bit of needlepoint.