If you're planning a TV pilot...

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
Something to be aware of...

According to the Nielsen ratings for last week, of the top 20 shows on TV, less than HALF were shows using actors and scripts. The majority were either reality shows or sport programs.

Of those that were actually scripted shows, most were either crime or medical dramas. (Surprised that House wasn't in the top 20.) Only one was a 30-minute sitcom.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/03/3...with-the-starslead-weekly-18-49-viewing/15585
 
Even if I didn't hate reality shows as a rule, the ones that get put out there and listed so highly tend to suck even for reality shows. I wouldn't even mind American Idol if the television personalities could shut up about it for a few minutes.

The real question is how long that'll last. Crime and medical at least, I'm sure reality shows will just keep growing as the market gets more spread out and producers see they don't need writers as bad as everyone thought.
 
Mine had a Neilson prediction rating of 1.6 from every trailer park in the USA. That's a pretty good rating, we are getting the midget Evils rounded up right now.
 
Anyone trying to pitch scripted content today has a hard sell indeed.
This is not a new trand. We created it when we swapped reality shows for writers.
Now actors feel the need to be unemployed as well.
So be it.
I've been pitching unscripted shows for decades and to date, I have only pitched one scripted show in my career.
A tidbit you guys otta look at when thinking neilson ratings is prime time television is not friday night at 8 anymore. It's every weekday at noon on youtube.
food for thought.
 
You really think a 'cable' can be made that carries that delivers that much information to every household that might want it? Ridiculous.
 
Frankly I don't undersatnd why anyone ever needs more than one channel - after all, you can only watch one (at a time) can't you? I think TVs should be like the radios in The Village - all you really need is a volume control switch marked "normal" and "louder".
 
This years pilot season is doing okay. But the problem with the networks is online content. Demo ratings are dropping. More people are watching online. Bad for the networks, to an extent, good for you.

I don't know why anyone would be trying to write a TV pilot right now. Considering that's really not how TV is sold...but that aside - if you have a concept, go online with it. Push costs as low as possible.

The networks are scrambling for some decent programming, but they aren't going to change their ways anytime soon. Write and produce for web.
 
Reality TV shows are SO bad, I will not watch any of that crap. I only like scripted shows. So if networks want me to spend my money -- and I do spend it, I buy every show I like on DVD -- then they need scripted shows.
 
Reality TV is so popular because they're vastly cheaper than scripted shows. Expect A LOT more Reality TV in the future. >:-(
 
So if networks want me to spend my money [...] then they need scripted shows.
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pmark23 said:
Reality TV is so popular because they're vastly cheaper than scripted shows.
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Exactly. But what a lot of us anti-reality show people forget is that not only do reality shows cost next to nothing to produce, they simply don't *need* to be as money-making. Any revenue they generate from it at all is like free money.

Jay Leno's new primetime talk show for example, is expected to generate far less ad revenue as well as viewership than NBC's current line of scripted dramas, but it's still a good move for them because it will cost so much less money that they'll end up profiting from the change.

That's the way it is folks.

The good news is that even people who watch all the reality shows aren't going to put up with a TV landscape that is *nothing* but reality shows, so there is a point of balance where a modest (but never fully regenerated) lineup of scripted series become more profitable than nothing but non-stop reality shows.

Luckily, even if the ratio settles to, let's say, 60% or 70% reality shows (!), the more cable networks there are, the more scripted shows there are, and if the TV industry stays healthy by balancing the expensive shows with the dirt cheap crap, then we all come out ahead in the end.

So before you fret too much, imagine how few scripted shows there are on TV now, and then compare that to the number of scripted shows airing in 1965...
 
But the fact that so many reality shows are the top-rated shows on TV indicates that they DO make a lot of money in ad revenues. Couple that with the fact they're much cheaper to produce, and it's a deadly combination.

Someday the public will get tired of reality shows and move on to something else. In the meantime, smart producers are trying to come up with hot new reality show concepts.
 
I can only conclude that reality TV shows appeal to people of very average to low IQs, because I personally don't know anyone who watches that crap, and the people I hear who do watch it are like some friend of a friend's mom, or something like that. Intelligent people simply don't sit around and watch The Hills, or The Bachelor, or American Idol. Intelligent people demand more from their entertainment. It's disgusting that people actually support that nonsense.
 
JonathanLB said:
I can only conclude that reality TV shows appeal to people of very average to low IQs, because I personally don't know anyone who watches that crap, and the people I hear who do watch it are like some friend of a friend's mom, or something like that. Intelligent people simply don't sit around and watch The Hills, or The Bachelor, or American Idol. Intelligent people demand more from their entertainment. It's disgusting that people actually support that nonsense.
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You're right! All of the REALLY intelligent people are watching "Paris Hilton's My New BFF"
 
Ryan Paige said:
You think it's bad now, when I was a kid there was a variety show hosted by mimes.

MIMES!
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I remember that one ... "The Shields and Yarnell Show" starring Robert Shields and Lorene Yarnell. They were also regulars on the Sonny & Cher Show. You may laugh at the notion of mimes but they were a great team and it was a terrific show, won several Emmys I think. http://www.scottstander.com/05ShieldsYarnell/SYabout.html
 
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chapelgrovefilms said:
Someday the public will get tired of reality shows and move on to something else. In the meantime, smart producers are trying to come up with hot new reality show concepts.
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Agree to a point. I'm afraid that there's no mechanism for the audience to decide what to watch -- the vast majority of TV viewers watch whatever is on TV. If there's nothing but crap, that's all they'll watch (and happily too.)

Personally, I haven't watched TV in more than 20 years (but I've never been a big TV watcher to begin with, except as a child). Now I download the shows that interest me, and before rented tapes (I even haggled a deal with the local mom-and-pop video rental store to rent me a movie a day for a $30 a month.)

I think TV will continue to get worse because the smart discriminating viewers get their fix from the net, and the broadcasters are all in a race to the bottom to capture the drooling-masses market-share.

In the end this means that in the future the best viewing will come from small independent filmmakers who are net-savvy and know how to turn a buck from online viewing.
 
pmark23 said:
Agree to a point. I'm afraid that there's no mechanism for the audience to decide what to watch -- the vast majority of TV viewers watch whatever is on TV. If there's nothing but crap, that's all they'll watch (and happily too.)

Personally, I haven't watched TV in more than 20 years (but I've never been a big TV watcher to begin with, except as a child). Now I download the shows that interest me, and before rented tapes (I even haggled a deal with the local mom-and-pop video rental store to rent me a movie a day for a $30 a month.)

I think TV will continue to get worse because the smart discriminating viewers get their fix from the net, and the broadcasters are all in a race to the bottom to capture the drooling-masses market-share.

In the end this means that in the future the best viewing will come from small independent filmmakers who are net-savvy and know how to turn a buck from online viewing.
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I see what you're saying. But the fact remains that anyone interested in developing a show for television should consider what the audience is watching most.
 
If wanting to watch that show, perhaps. If wanting to sell one, ya have to look at what is selling.
Those are two very different things. I think we all know what makes a good watchable show. Not seeing much of that on the air, it's much safer to make what sells then branch into art when a following and demand exists.
Look at recent Terentino films as example. He'd have no luck pitching that stuff without his name and without his name, nobody would call it genius.
same principal. The production companies with long standing with networks are the ones who can think outside the box. The first timer self pitchers are best off pitching something that is not a gamble.
 
Films and TV are two completely different things.

And we're not Tarantino. Not yet, anyway. When we make a name for ourselves, then we can try to be mavericks and get the things we want produced. For now, if we're relative unknowns trying to break into the business, we'd be wise to study what is successful on TV right now and take that into account.

Just my opinion.
 
Well first off, you don't sell pilot episodes to networks. You sell the whole package including web content.

Second, this pilot season is taking a different route. Glee, which is based on Highschool Glee clubs got picked up instantly because it is a 'happy' show. And fox needed a happier (yet witty, fox type show). The networks are scrambling to get a decent pilot season together. Think of the ones that appeared recently. Not much is sticking aside from Lie to Me. Which opened with a 5.2/13 share in both demos. And is currently taking a 6.8.

AKA. Less people are watching television than ever before. If you were to come up with a show idea - it needs to be out of the box. Something new. The arena genres are starting to wear out. But you wouldn't be planning to pitch a network skein if you were smart. You'd be working on something for the web. Since I can almost guarantee you won't get something on the network schedule.
 
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