Looking for perspectives on shooting spec pilot vs web series

L

Luke Hill

New member
Hi everyone,

For a while, I've been planning on producing a web series – nothing too terribly ambitious, probably a first season run of six 10-minute episodes (give or take). A few days ago, I came across some of the footage from the spec pilot for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia which, from what I've gathered, was shot by the creators on a cheap video camera with basically no budget, and it got me thinking about the merits of shooting a web series vs. a pilot episode of a show.

The more I think about things, the more I think perhaps the pilot route has the advantage. Here's why:

Amount of content:
A pilot episode wins here…. We're talking roughly 24m vs. roughly 60m for the web series.

Marketing:
Whilst getting a project picked up from a spec pilot is VERY unlikely, so is developing a good following for a web series. I'm not a marketer (and I don't wish to be, and it seems like the success of a web series (presuming it's good) relies on being able to market it effectively online. I feel like pilot wins out here as well – there's a finite amount of things one can do to try to market a completed pilot (I'm assuming, I don't know too much about this part of the process), and then you move on, whereas trying to create a successful web series would turn me into a full-time social networker / online marketer.

I am aware that the odds are stacked against either option, but I'm going to keep producing stuff anyway, and at this point, I feel like web series or pilots make more sense than features or shorts. I'd love to hear everyone else's thoughts

Thanks!
 
I think you have a good grasp of what's going on. I have a similar situation with a writer/producer I'm working with - pilot or web series. It really depends on what you want to achieve. On the plus side, the web series will be seen if you do the social media thing. I was cinematographer on a web series 2 years ago and I got a lot of juice from it because it was viewed by a lot of people. It's a labor of love obviously. That and I think the market is opening a little to this with more sites. Right on the content. It's a lot! Ours was only 40 minutes. I did the editing and dialog and sound mix and I worked my tail off. It's a lot of work.

The pilot always seems like a better, more professional idea. If you're shopping a series and you have a bible and a season arc and you're using the pilot to sell the scripts then I guess, and I don't know first hand yet, that it may help. I have friends in LA shopping series and it's all done with scripts to producers because if they want it, they'll produce it. They will pay you, if you're great maybe you can get on the writing staff but if it gets picked up, you won't have much more to do with it. At least that's my hearsay understanding.

Check this out; if you get a chance read "Writing the Pilot" by William Rabkin. It's excellent and very current about the state of the business and the actual writing of a series.

I'd say if you're a writer, the pilot is your friend but if you're a shooter/director/self-producer and you want to move more than your script, maybe some actor friends, your production company that maybe the web series is a thing to keep in mind. It's a strange world but I think a "streaming series" (sounds better, no?) might be the way to go.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I definitely do want to move more than just my scripts - the actual production is a big part of what I enjoy.... Is your impression that in order to make a go of things shopping a pilot, I should already have a full season scripted, (as well as possibly a bible) or just the season's arc planned out?

If I were to go the, ahem, 'streaming series' route, I think the key there would be to bring a really top-notch marketing person on board. I've learned the hard way that I just don't have what it takes to mount a successful online marketing campaign on my own (not to mention the fact that it's like pulling teeth for me!)

Thanks for the book recommendation as well - purchased!
 
Cool, I really like that book. It really helped me understand the working structure of series and especially what a pilot is meant to do. I hope you find it helpful. Yeah, a good producer, someone who has the tenacity to get your stuff out is invaluable. I'm still doing much of that but I've worked on some things where they had a couple of producers that did all that, and it paid off, at least as far as getting eyes.

I DP'd a short last spring with a producer/director who can really bring it. She has been shopping a series in LA, and from our conversations, the concept has to be pretty air tight. I don't think you need the season arc but she has one. She's taking the story to producers out there who can get her meeting with cable networks. It seems to me a very political process. I haven't done it but I think you need at least a strong pilot script, character breakdowns, and if not the whole season arc, a strong treatment.

In my conversation with the other producer/director who wants to produce a pilot, for which she has a good script and good concept, we keep going back and forth about what value the TV pilot would have. If she struck gold and a cable network like FX or AMC decided to pick it up, they aren't going to let me shoot it, or her cast it among our NY actor friends. It's going to go in their pipeline and they will produce it. They have to, right? They have their whole machine to answer to. They're not going to air our pilot. So I think the pilot would just be, hopefully an add on that would encourage them further but I still think you're selling the idea, not the pilot. However, as you point out with Sunny, if you have an ensemble cast that is just kicking ass, then you might be able to sell the whole shebang. They did!

There's lots of producers in NY that run out of small(er) offices that produce shows and get them out there to the networks. A lot of them do reality shows and magazine shows, cooking shows, nature shows, all sorts of stuff. I worked as an actor for one that shoots big ass productions that go out to the History Channel and A&E, Nat Geo. They have a deal with the network and a track record and a format that the networks eat up, and their good at it. That's a lofty goal. I'd love to get there with my small production company. It's possible, I guess if you keep plugging. I hope so anyway.

Right now I am self-producing 2 shorts. I'm really working hard on delivering the best thing I can for story and production. I just want to get better. With shorts it's a total labor of love. There's no pay off.

With web series there could be but it's still so dicey. You tube hits are like Spotify to musicians. They will just starve you. Vimeo has good deals for self-producers as does Amazon, but they're all getting into producing themselves. I know one series that has out of work Soap stars and they charge a subscription. If you can fine a niche, and soap fans are rabid, you could do that. They make bank each season and everyone gets paid. It happens.
 
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