This past year, television’s top producers found new ways to create content away from the energy and intimacy of their teammates. Now, even as the landscape continues to change and nothing is back to normal, they persevere. From broadcast networks to streaming services, hundreds of shows have been produced during this challenging time — some that shine a light on what the world has been going through, others that offer a welcome escape.

Variety will honor the most impactful scripted producers over the past year with a dinner on Sept. 8, and we asked them about their earliest inspirations, their biggest accomplishments, their sense of where the business is today, and what they’re looking forward to in the months ahead.

67 – Ben Stiller and Dan Erickson

“Severance”

Content volume?

Stiller: I think the amount of content is so daunting that it makes you think about your choice of what to work on, where to put your creative energy. You really want to feel that what you are committing so much of your time to will have a chance to be seen.

Inspirational TV?

Erickson: “ Get Smart.” I was a big Nick at Nite kid, and I’d often stay up late enough to watch “Get Smart” twice. It was so funny and deadpan and had the best opening credits sequence ever. I grew up thinking I’d be a comedy writer, because I wanted to make something like “Get Smart.”