NBC "To Stop Producing Pilot Episodes"

[trissybabes]

This from the BBC This morning:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7205118.stm

NBC to stop producing pilot shows

US network NBC is to stop making pilot episodes of TV series - a move that could change how new US shows are made.
The networks spend millions of dollars each year turning scripts into single episodes to test audience reaction.

But NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker thinks he can save $50m (£25.6m) each year by scrapping them.

"We will still market those scripted series. We are just going to go straight to air with them and cut out the pilots," he said.

The move has partly been prompted by the writers' strike, which has led studios to scale back on new productions because of a lack of scripts.

Soaring costs

The cost of producing a pilot has soared over the last three years from $3m (£1.5m) to $7m (£3.6m).

Last year NBC commissioned eight new drama series after pilots were produced. The system is supposed to weed out failures.

"I think there were a tremendous number of inefficiencies in Hollywood and it often takes a seismic event to change them, and I think that's what's happened here," Mr Zucker told the Financial Times.

Among the shows dropped by NBC after one series is Journeyman, a time-travel series featuring Scottish star Kevin McKidd.

The future of Bionic Woman - starring former EastEnders actress Michelle Ryan - is uncertain after it suffered low ratings. Only eight episodes were aired before the writers' strike affected production.

NBC says it will still commission one or two pilots a year, but other series will go straight into production. It is not clear whether other studios will follow.

[Lost Knight]

It's a good thing this new tactic wasn't implemented before the Knight Rider Pilot was put together. If it was, there's no telling when they would be able to get a series off the ground. I'm predicting the writers strike will continue at least through the summer, so that it can then coincide with actors' contracts, which are up for renewal in June.

[Duster]

Nah, I hope it won't take them as long as summer to sort things out. The WGA has resumed negotions with the AMPTP based on the new contract the DGA could achieve. This contract seems to be the basis for them to finally come to an agreement.
And the sooner they come to an agreement, the faster they can begin work on the new KR series (and finally can complete the scripts for the final Battlestar Galactica episodes, btw. The waiting is killing me)

[Shapeshifter]

This new practice will really work in KR's favor, in that there will be very little competition in the final decision to turn the pilot into a series. I know that NBC is very high on the rough cut of the pilot they've seen, so if it does good numbers when it airs, there is almost no doubt that it will go to series.

[goldbug]

I agree that this works for the 2008 KR. Technically this is a "back door" pilot. I think what they want to do is stop producing pilots of shows that don't even get aired (which happened a lot once upon a time). If they stick to this model, they can do "events" like this KR movie and then judge audience reaction (not just small marketing groups) to determine whether they want to create a full blown series. It worked with nu-Battlestar Galactica and it might work with Knight Rider as well.

[PHOENIXZERO]

BAH! Journeyman was a damn good show NBC should have put more effort into promoting than they did. It also had a bad time slot, even if it did come on after Heroes. Don't get me started on the mess that is Bionic Woman......

[goldbug]

BAH! Journeyman was a damn good show NBC should have put more effort into promoting than they did. It also had a bad time slot, even if it did come on after Heroes. Don't get me started on the mess that is Bionic Woman......

I absolutely agree. However, those shows were made pre-strike. Going forward with this approach they would probably cultivate something like "Journeyman" more. Hell, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if they brought that back as some TV movies much the same way Fox brought back "Alien Nation" as a series of movies back in the day.