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TV Pilots |OT| The Season's Dead, But Development Hell is Forever

- Deadline: Robert Kirkman Exorcism Drama ‘Outcast’ Gets Series Order At Cinemax
Outcast, Cinemax‘s exorcism drama pilot from The Walking Dead executive producer Robert Kirkman and Chris Black, has been picked up to series with a 10-episode order.
Outcast, based on the Skybound/Image comic title by creator Kirkman and artist Paul Azaceta, follows Kyle Barnes (Patrick Fugit), a young man who has been plagued by demonic possession all his life. Now, with the help of the Reverend Anderson (Philip Glenister), a preacher with personal demons of his own, Kyle embarks on a journey to find answers and regain the normal life he lost. But what Kyle discovers could change his fate — and the fate of the world — forever. Gabriel Bateman co-stars. The pilot was directed by Adam Wingard.
 

TheOddOne

Member
- THR: Jenji Kohan's Salem Drama 'New World' Nabs HBO Pilot Order, Gus Van Sant to Direct
The "Orange Is the New Black" creator returns to premium cable two years after "Weeds" ended its eight-season run on Showtime.

More than a year after HBO picked up the script from the Orange Is the New Black and Weeds creator, her Salem drama — now titled New World — has been picked up to pilot, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Oscar nominee Gus Van Sant (Milk, Good Will Hunting) has also boarded the drama as an exec producer and will direct the pilot.

The provocative period drama explores the circumstances surrounding one of the most compelling chapters in American history — when intolerance and repression set neighbor against neighbor and led a town to mass hysteria. Production on the pilot will begin in the spring in Massachusetts.
- THR: Fox's 'Lucifer' Gets Pilot Pickup; Jerry Bruckheimer, Len Wiseman Board DC Comics Take.
The pickup marks DC's second pilot order of the season, joining CBS' 'Supergirl.'

Fox is looking for its second DC Comics series.

Following a prolonged deal-making process, the network on Thursday handed out a pilot pickup for Lucifer, based on the character from The Sandman comics and its subsequent spinoff, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Additionally, Jerry Bruckheimer and Sleepy Hollow EP Len Wiseman have boarded the drama.
 

Busty

Banned
I'm sure that this is old hat to everyone seeing as it broke yesterday I thought I'd stick it here anyway.

Yoswer, once again Greg Berlanti is crushing it this pilot season. It seems that his NBC pilot Blindspot has nabbed not one but two of the most desireable leads this pilot season.

Considering that NBC were thought to have bought Blindspot from WBtv in an effort to stop any other network getting a Black List esque action drama it seems this has suddenly come from nowhere to be 'the' broadcast pilot of the season thus far.

One of pilot season's most sought-after names has landed a leading role in NBC's Greg Berlanti drama pilot Blindspot. Following multiple offers, Strike Back star Sullivan Stapleton has nabbed the male lead in the NBC drama pilot.

The drama centers on Jane Doe (Thor's Jaimie Alexander), a beautiful woman with no memories of her past who finds herself at the center of an investigation after climbing out of a duffel bag in the middle of New York City's Times Square with her memory wiped and no clue as to what the extensive tattoos on her body mean.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/strike-backs-sullivan-stapleton-star-775002
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus

Kool.

Considering that NBC were thought to have bought Blindspot from WBtv in an effort to stop any other network getting a Black List esque action drama it seems this has suddenly come from nowhere to be 'the' broadcast pilot of the season thus far.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/strike-backs-sullivan-stapleton-star-775002

Sounds like this season's 'Believe'. :/
 

Wiktor

Member
I will propably do Quarry thread (since it's the upcoming series I'm most excited about) once the show is close to airing, but that's propably year from now and I doubt the show has enough fanbase to warrant production OT. So I thought this thread would be good place to throw in some info about the first season that Max Allan Collins (the novels' author) threw on his site:

Fans of the novels need to understand, however, that the concept of this eight-episode run (this may change if another season comes along) is to look at the start of Quarry’s hitman career. Aspects of Quarry that have been chiefly back story in the novels are the focus of the eight episodes, which start with Quarry’s return home from Vietnam and includes the Broker recruiting him into crime.

Also, the Southern setting – the show takes place in Memphis and will shoot in Louisiana and Tennessee – gives it a flavor of its own. Initially, that setting had more to do with finding an economically feasible location, but that region’s richness (particularly in the world of music) has found its way into the series.

(...)

The most ironic thing about the TV series is also one of the most gratifying: it’s a period piece, concentrating on the Vietnam aspect of Quarry’s background (that Quarry was a PTSD Vietnam vet and a sniper has taken on new resonance, thanks to Clint Eastwood). I say “ironic” because when the series began, it was decidedly contemporary and the Vietnam theme could not have been more current.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
I will propably do Quarry thread (since it's the upcoming series I'm most excited about) once the show is close to airing, but that's propably year from now and I doubt the show has enough fanbase to warrant production OT. So I thought this thread would be good place to throw in some info about the first season that Max Allan Collins (the novels' author) threw on his site:

Oh, Quarry is based on a book series? Are the books any good?
 

TheOddOne

Member
- Variety: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and ‘Birdman’ Collaborators Tackle TV with Starz’s ‘One Percent’.
With three Oscars under his belt, “Birdman” boss Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is sure to have no shortage of options for new projects.

But in a sign of the times for A-list feature talent, the Mexican hyphenate already has a commitment to write and direct several episodes of a new TV series for Starz, which promises to have the magical realist touches that have made Inarritu’s features so distinctive.

“The One Percent” is set to star Ed Harris, Hilary Swank and Ed Helms in the story of a struggling farmer, played by Helms, who encounters a bizarre twist of fate that might save or ruin his family business.

Starz and producer Media Rights Capital unveiled the series deal with Inarritu and his “Birdman” writer-collaborators Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris and Nicolas Giacobone last August, as buzz on the movie destined to be crowned 2014’s best picture began to build. MRC previously worked with Inarritu on his 2006 film “Babel.”

“One Percent” received a 10-episode straight-to-series order, as is Starz’s custom. Inarritu and the trio have been working on scripts for the entire first season in a writers room that opened several months ago in New York City. At present, Inarritu is also juggling directing duties on a high-profile Western for New Regency, “The Revenant,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.

The plan is to start production on “One Percent” early next year in a location TBD. Inarritu will direct at least the first two episodes to set the visual style of the series. The foursome are committed to driving the creative vision of the series, but they are likely to recruit some seasoned TV producers to help steer the ship once lensing begins.

The plan is to begin shooting “One Percent” by the first half of 2016, which should fit nicely with Inarritu’s schedule if “Revenant” winds up sending him on the awards-season circuit again. Pic is set for a Christmas Day debut.
 

oatmeal

Banned
Kind of related to this thread, but I am in post on a pilot for a web series that I've been working on for a long time...

When it's done I'll post in here to see what yawl think.
 

beat

Member
[a struggling farmer who] encounters a bizarre twist of fate that might save or ruin his family business.
Can't be a lottery ticket, too hacky. Can't be oil, that'd be The Beverly Hillbillies. So what else?
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Can't be a lottery ticket, too hacky. Can't be oil, that'd be The Beverly Hillbillies. So what else?

Super awesome rare earth minerals necessary to make the next generation of smart phones.
 

Pachimari

Member
How is the process of a TV show? Do they make a pilot and if it does well, it gets "picked up"?

Or have the channel seen an internal proposition as to how the show is gonna pan out and then they either pick it up or cancel it?
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Marisa Tomei To Play Gloria Steinem In HBO Miniseries Produced By George Clooney

On the heels of the 2011 documentary Gloria – In Her Own Words, HBO is revisiting the life and career of feminist icon Gloria Steinem with Ms., a miniseries that would star Oscar winner Marisa Tomei as the journalist and social activist.

The mini takes a look at the creation of Ms. Magazine in 1971 through the eyes of the two women who founded and ran it — Steinem (Tomei) and Bella Abzug (Kathy Najimy) — and those whose lives it changed during the world-altering early days of the Women’s Movement.
 

blackflag

Member
How is the process of a TV show? Do they make a pilot and if it does well, it gets "picked up"?

Or have the channel seen an internal proposition as to how the show is gonna pan out and then they either pick it up or cancel it?

Usually I think production companies shop around pilots to various networks for one of them to buy. Sometimes they'll pay someone money to come up with ideals for them.
 

beat

Member
How is the process of a TV show? Do they make a pilot and if it does well, it gets "picked up"?

Or have the channel seen an internal proposition as to how the show is gonna pan out and then they either pick it up or cancel it?

The standard process is that studios get piles of scripts and even more pitches and sometimes they pay for the pitches to be written scripts, and then they or networks pick some small fraction of those scripts to be pilots. For network shows, all these mostly happen around the same time. I'm pretty sure by the time they're filming pilots that it's the networks paying for almost all of these, not studios, but I could easily be wrong.

The pilot projectss then scramble to assemble directors, cast, crew and film a pilot. Typically a pilot costs 2x the usual episode budget, though some of this (like set construction) can be amortized if a show gets picked up... I think. Anyways, this is called "pilot season" because that's when actors and crew get hired.

A small fraction of completed pilots get picked up to series by the networks, based on how the execs feel about the pilots, how they did in testing, maybe other factors like Synergy (TM). Pilots that don't get picked up are usually never aired anywhere, though sometimes they're turned into one-off TV movies. Pilots that do now have to assemble a team of writers, which is "staffing season".

Also, at any point in the process, a network can just pick up the series right away, usually based on the prestige and power of the developing team. IMO this is not a guarantee of quality in any way, because I think shows like the Michael J Fox show and Studio 60 were ordered direct to series, after all.

(this is mostly half-remembered stuff from "Small Screen, Big Picture" by Chad Gervich and I would highly recommend reading his book.)
 

berzeli

Banned
I'm not really sure if this is the most correct place to post this (especially since this thread focuses mainly on U.S TV) but I find this bit of news rather thrilling.

The public TV broadcaster in Sweden (SVT) is working with French premium cable television channel Canal+ to produce a series called Midnight Sun (working title). The series is written by Ulf Ryberg who I guess is most known for writing Headhunters or The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest but really should be known for writing the incredible miniseries The Laser Man (which unfortunately hasn't really been released outside of the Nordic countries). It is an "international thriller" that starts with a plane crashing in Lapland, some of the victims of the crash were French citizens so the French police sends an officer to assist with the investigation. Although it isn't the most original of premises, the series still could turn out rather well since it is being written by a more than just competent writer. I don't have a source in English, but here is a pretty mangled google translate of the original source (in Swedish).
It isn't green-lit as of now and there aren't any guarantees that it will happen, but it is still a exciting project.
 

TheOddOne

Member
- TVLine: Margo Martindale Joins CBS' Sneaky Pete, From David Shore and Bryan Cranston.
Margo Martindale is returning to her dramatic roots, with a starring role in CBS’ drama pilot Sneaky Pete, TVLine has learned.

From exec producers David Shore and Bryan Cranston, the potential series centers on an incarcerated thirtysomething con man takes cover from his past by assuming the identity of a cellmate. “Sneaky Pete” then hides out from his debtors while working for his new “family’s” bail bond business. There he uses his considerable charm and criminal prowess to take down bad guys far worse than himself, partnering with a very attractive female “cousin” who has her suspicions about his real motives.
- Variety: ‘Parenthood’ Alum Erika Christensen Cast in ABC Drama Pilot ‘L.A. Crime’
The period drama from ABC Studios explores sex, politics and pop culture across different eras in Los Angeles history with the first season set in the “rock ‘n’ roll, coke-infused revelry of the 1980s,” following a pair of Bonnie and Clyde-esque LAPD cops searching for serial killers on the Sunset Strip.
Subsequent seasons of “L.A. Crime” will cover a different era and storyline. Variety has learned Christensen has signed on as a one-year regular.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Extemely so. Especially the later ones. Quarry is the most interesting and fun hitman to ever grace the pages of novel.

Alongside with Dresden this is my favorite book series atm.

Sounds awesome! I might read one then :3

I'm not really sure if this is the most correct place to post this (especially since this thread focuses mainly on U.S TV) but I find this bit of news rather thrilling.

Sounds cool. I hope it eventually makes its way to Hulu or Netflix! (should it get picked up to series)
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
‘Bastard Executioner’ FX Pilot Cast Set

In his follow-up to Sons Of Anarchy, Sutter is breaking in new talent, casting unknown Australian theater actor Lee Jones as the lead.

True Blood star Stephen Moyer and Sam Spruell are set for major roles in the period drama, as is SOA’s Katey Sagal.

Matthew Rhys will also guest star.

Nice cast.

This time around, Sagal will be joined in front of the camera by her husband, Kurt Sutter, who also will be a regular on the show, playing Sagal’s character’s “mute” mate and guardian who rarely speaks and does not show his face.

lol
 
- Deadline: DirecTV Eyes Diamond Trade Series From Alcon TV With Antoine Fuqua Directing
DirecTV has teamed with Alcon Television Group, the TV division of Alcon Entertainment, for a drama series project that has been fast-tracked for a straight-to-series order. Titled Ice, the project was co-written by Oscar winner Ron Bass (Rain Man, My Best Friend’s Wedding) and Game Of Thrones co-executive producer Vince Gerardis (Jumper), with Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer, Training Day) set to direct the premiere episode.
Ice, named after the slaalconng word for diamonds, is a large-canvas character drama set in the treacherous and colorful world of diamond traders in downtown Los Angeles. Within the twisted labyrinth of memorable characters walks Alvy Simon, the diamond whisperer, whose genius for seeing the charisma in a stone will make him both a god and a target in this unique milieu.
I can't believe i missed it. It's an old article from October. Sounds amazing, LA, diamonds.
 

beat

Member
Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick are going into TV!
Under the pact, the married duo will adapt some of their comic books as well as original TV series concepts. They also plan to use their Milkfed Criminal Masterminds production company as a TV launchpad for other comic creators’ IP. [...]

One of the first projects the company is developing under the Uni TV deal is an adaptation of the Eisner Award- and Harvey Award-winning comic Sex Criminals, created by Fraction with partner Chip Zdarsky. Image Comics’ Sex Criminals, named the best comic of the year in 2013 by Time magazine, centers on a female librarian and male actor who discover they can freeze time when they orgasm.
 
I'll watch it, but yeah, Kurt Sutter. And Katey Sagal again lol. And i bet his character has a fucked up face and he''ll definetely bite off some part of someone. And yeah MEDIEVAL MUSIC MONTAGES. GALAVANT WITH MORE BLOOD.

I'm already expecting a rape scene and multiple beheadings scored to Greensleeves.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
There's not a chance in hell I'm watching another Kurt Sutter show especially with Katey Sagal prominently featured. By the end of SOA I hated the show and her performance so much it was making it hard to enjoy her on Futurama.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Nick Nolte Comedy Nears Series Order At Epix, Ushering In Scripted Originals

Epix is about to become an original series player. I have learned that the premium TV network/VOD service, backed by Viacom, Lionsgate, and MGM, is in negotiations for a 10-episode straight-to-series order for Graves, a half-hour comedy starring Nick Nolte as a former President of the United States.

It centers on former U.S. president Graves (Nolte) who has an epiphany, realizing that some of his policies have brought damage to the country. He embarks on a quest to right the wrongs while his wife is pursuing a career in politics.

Whee, another channel getting into the original scripted series game! And a premium cable one to boot!
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Starz Casts Riley Keough in 'The Girlfriend Experience'

Keough will star as Christine Reade, a law student at the University of Chicago and an intern at a prestigious law firm, who is intrigued when a friend introduces her to the world of transactional relationships. Attracted to the rush of control and easy money, Christine has to confront her own conflicting identities. She learns to navigate and manipulate the big personalities in both worlds to get what she wants, in the process becoming a quasi-lover and confidant to men who are willing to pay richly for her time, offering a service known as a GFE (Girlfriend Experience).
 

TheOddOne

Member
- TVLine: Community's Danny Pudi to Headline NBC Comedy Strange Calls.
Community sidekick Danny Pudi is graduating to leading man as the star of NBC’s comedy pilot Strange Calls.

The single-camera project centers on Pudi’s Toby, an eager young cop who fears he’s landed the world’s lamest post when he’s transferred to a sleepy coastal town straight out of Northern Exposure. Those fears are short lived when he realizes the idyllic little town is secretly home to the most bizarre paranormal activity on the planet. And the one thing stranger than his cases is the eccentric local groundskeeper (Patrick Brammall) who is determined to be his partner.
Curiously, Pudi’s Strange Calls gig is in first position to Community, which means if the former is ordered to series and the latter gets renewed for a seventh season, Pudi will be doing Strange Calls.
 

beat

Member
^ what's up with that? Is it cause shows on the web are second-class citizens? Or did Pudi & co sign six year contracts at the start, so a renewal for a seventh wouldn't necessarily put Community first?
 

TheOddOne

Member
^ what's up with that? Is it cause shows on the web are second-class citizens? Or did Pudi & co sign six year contracts at the start, so a renewal for a seventh wouldn't necessarily put Community first?
Sorry for the late reply. I have no idea to be honest, my guess is that it was something that was setup way before they got picked up by Yahoo.

- THR: Christopher Meloni to Star WGN America's Straight-to-Series Slave Drama 'Underground'.
WGN America is going straight-to-series with Underground, tapping Christopher Meloni to star in the slave drama.

Additionally Friday Night Lights alum Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Aldis Hodge (Rectify) and Jessica De Gouw (Arrow, Dracula) will join the cast of the 10-episode drama. Anthony Hemingway (The Wire, Treme) will direct the first two episodes.

The Chicago-based network first announced it was developing Underground in August, when it went straight to series with Outsiders, its Appalachia-set 13-episode series.
From creator Misha Green (Sons of Anarchy) and Joe Pokaski (Heroes), the Sony Pictures Television and Tribune Studios entry follows the slaves who set foot on the fabled Underground Railroad, the secret network of men and women who risked their lives aiding them and the mercenaries tasked with hunting them down at any cost. Executive producers include Green, Pokaski, Weed Road Pictures' Akiva Goldsman, Tory Tunnell and Joby Harold of Safehouse Pictures.
 
If it ends of getting picked up to series, be kind of insane to see if Harmon would still want to do another season without Pudi. They'd be down to 3 of the original 7 members of the study group.
 

beat

Member
If it ends of getting picked up to series, be kind of insane to see if Harmon would still want to do another season without Pudi. They'd be down to 3 of the original 7 members of the study group.

"I can't count the reasons I should stay / One by one they all just fade away"

=(
 

Pachimari

Member
The standard process is that studios get piles of scripts and even more pitches and sometimes they pay for the pitches to be written scripts, and then they or networks pick some small fraction of those scripts to be pilots. For network shows, all these mostly happen around the same time. I'm pretty sure by the time they're filming pilots that it's the networks paying for almost all of these, not studios, but I could easily be wrong.

The pilot projectss then scramble to assemble directors, cast, crew and film a pilot. Typically a pilot costs 2x the usual episode budget, though some of this (like set construction) can be amortized if a show gets picked up... I think. Anyways, this is called "pilot season" because that's when actors and crew get hired.

A small fraction of completed pilots get picked up to series by the networks, based on how the execs feel about the pilots, how they did in testing, maybe other factors like Synergy (TM). Pilots that don't get picked up are usually never aired anywhere, though sometimes they're turned into one-off TV movies. Pilots that do now have to assemble a team of writers, which is "staffing season".

Also, at any point in the process, a network can just pick up the series right away, usually based on the prestige and power of the developing team. IMO this is not a guarantee of quality in any way, because I think shows like the Michael J Fox show and Studio 60 were ordered direct to series, after all.

(this is mostly half-remembered stuff from "Small Screen, Big Picture" by Chad Gervich and I would highly recommend reading his book.)
Thanks for this explanation. It took me some repeat readings but I think I have grasped most of it.

But I thought a TV series only had a network and not a studio. What does the studio do? Pay for the season if the network is happy with the pilot?

Let's say we got The Flash. The network is The CW but who is the studio?
 

beat

Member
But I thought a TV series only had a network and not a studio. What does the studio do? Pay for the season if the network is happy with the pilot?

Let's say we got The Flash. The network is The CW but who is the studio?
Well... (this is all just about the US TV biz) TV shows always have both a studio and a network. The studio owns the IP and licenses the show to the network. The network pays for around 60% of what an episode costs to make, I think. It's definitely well under 100%. So every season, the studio just loses more and more money making a show. Why?

Because if a show gets to syndication numbers (say, 88 episodes), then it can be sold to the syndication market for a ton of money, easily making up everything they lost up to that point, and more. It's so much money it makes up for the shows they made that never got to 88 episodes, and then some.

(When a show gets close and only needs one more season to get over the hump, but it doesn't do well for the network, sometimes the studio will cut the license fee for the final season just to get enough episodes.

Conversely, in Friends' 10th season, the studio didn't need to make any more episodes to make tons of money, but NBC was so desperate for reliable performers they ended up paying 100% of the show's cost for the final season.)


Now, that said, there used to be a rule that networks couldn't also own studios, but that rule was done away with and now corporate behemoths like Comcast (NBC-Universal) are both networks and studios. Fox has a network (and cable channels) and a studio.

The CW is a special case because it's actually owned as a partnership between CBS (which has its own network and cable channels separately) and Warner Brothers, which doesn't have a broadcast network any more, not after the WB and UPN had to merge. WB has cable channels of its own, and also like Comcast, has a parent company in the cable TV business too (Time-Warner Cable.)

Anyways, to answer your last question, The Flash is aired on the CW and owned by WB. So if the Flash gets to syndication, then those profits will go solely to WB. I think.

(also, not all shows even have networks. Some shows are "first-run syndication". The most successful recent one I can remember is Star Trek: TNG.)
 

Penguin

Member
Jon Foo has been cast as a co-lead in the Rush Hour series

http://www.movieweb.com/rush-hour-tv-show-cast-jon-foo

CBS has found one of their two lead actors for the Rush Hour pilot, bringing on Jon Foo to play Detective Lee, the same character played by Jackie Chan in the hit Rush Hour movie trilogy. The show has yet to cast the cocky LAPD detective Carter, originally played by Chris Tucker. Much like the film franchise, the show will follow these two cops, forced to pair up when Lee gets assigned to a case in Los Angeles.
 
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