08/25/2010 09:10:55 AM 
Vanity Fair spent some time with Michael Lombardi to understand the secrets of the network's success, based on the article, here are HBO's rules for success.
1. Work with the best:
“We really have the good fortune or the smarts to do business with the right people,” he says, “because, as much credit as we’d like to take for those nominations, they really reflect the talent we do business with.”
2. It’s all about the writing:
“We start with an unmitigated respect for writers and the written word. You can talk to any film or television writer and hear their experiences both in the big screen and smaller screen universe, and they’ll give repeated examples where they feel like their voice got muzzled, muffled, muddled by input, rather than supported. What we’re looking for is writers who have a distinctive voice, a unique perspective, a strong story-telling sense, to let them do their best work.”
3. HBO isn't like everyone else:
We’re not a place that develops by consensus or by committee… That’s why we don’t ‘focus group’ our shows. That’s just not the business we’re in.... We’re not looking to be shows that get the biggest number of eyeballs in the world, we’re not selling ad space.”
4. Stay ahead of your competition:
We’re not a place that develops by consensus or by committee… That’s why we don’t ‘focus group’ our shows. That’s just not the business we’re in.... We’re not looking to be shows that get the biggest number of eyeballs in the world, we’re not selling ad space.”
5. Quality is everything:
in essence, the HBO formula could probably be boiled down to, “It’s the Script, Stupid.” Or as Lombardo more eloquently put it: “The first mantra here has always been quality ... not number of eyeballs, not the flashiest show. Quality. And that’s held us in good stead.”
Posted by Ed Cotton
It appears you don't have Flash installed.