If you're planning a TV pilot...

I'm not sure where you got that. MORE people are watching television than ever before! You're totally wrong.

In fact, Americans now watch an average of 4.5 hours of TV per day! It has gone up to record highs. There is more TV-watching going on in than in the history of the medium. Perhaps you are confusing the number of people who watch the major networks and who watch TV in general. There happen to be many hundreds more stations than ever before, so of course the major networks are experiencing eroding viewership because many people are watching great shows on USA, the CW, Showtime, HBO, etc.

TV viewership is doing excellent, but it's more spread out than it ever has been before, which also makes it tougher for advertisers because they'd prefer to target more people at once. At the same time, though, the demographics are split now across more networks, so you can target specific products easier. That doesn't benefit something like Coca-Cola much, though, since everyone is the target market for that.
 
I think he just means they are watching tv on the tv less.
As I mentioned arelier, primetime is now noon on youtube, not friday night on your favorite tv channel.
But Matt your wrong about selling a pilot. It's a demo for what they are or are not interested in and that's the concept. The pilot just shows your production company can execute.
Any web packaging done prior to sell will be redone so only do that if wanting to impress with viewers numbers or the overall vision.
The bottom line if you are a self-pitcher today is don't give up. Tenacity is your best friend. Pay the entery fees at every convention that matches pitchers with catchers and when not pitching in person, cold call every network that is a match with your show.
I had luck with TruTV just last week with cold-calling. Didn't know anyone there. Now I do.
Leg work is what it takes.
 
Well if you talk with anyone in TV now, people are watching far less TV than ever before. Everyone is struggling in television. The networks are having major issues. Other channels are having problems as well.

Pilot seasons are sold by show runners. Sure, shooting a pilot might help in the selling process. But you sell an entire package. Including a bible for the series. You need to know three seasons out what is going to be happening. Now you need to pitch with an idea of what you are going to have on the online side. Games, mini-series, additional web content to match the skein you pitched.

Networks are looking for the full package. Anyone who thinks otherwise is grossly misinformed.
 
How many shows have you sold?
They love to see the leg work but of course, they'll market it themselves and prefer a clean slate for that.
Networks are in the packaging business.
 
Mattykins said:
Well if you talk with anyone in TV now, people are watching far less TV than ever before. Everyone is struggling in television. The networks are having major issues. Other channels are having problems as well.
Click to expand...

Are people actually watching far less, or has viewership just been scattered so much beyond the major broadcast networks? With cable, satellite, and Internet delivery becoming *much* more common, there are simply more choices for content. It is of course possible that total viewership could be up, with each individual network/channel getting fewer viewers than it used to. It would be interesting to see hard data.
 
Ratings have simply turned into online views.
As mentioned a couple of times, prime time tv is now youtube at noon.
What is changing is the ability to click when bored. Online viewing truely is on demand.
which is why it's in demand.
I think what Matt has been trying to say is when you pitch a new show, the catcher does indeed like to see that you have a finished look some place online but more than that, they care about the views already there. It simply removes a little gamble on their part. Like I said, they'll repackage to their liking after the sell.
 
I haven't sold anything. But I have conversed with several co-execs of major shows on now. Talking the 2 - 3 mil per episode slate. As well as with some development execs. Can't make this stuff up if I wanted to.

But I am going to go ahead and bow out of this. I've learned when to pull out and when to keep going ahead.
 
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