Private Thoughts of an Anonymous High-Level Development Exec
What’s sending 'shockwaves' through town, the new budget norm, and the comedy 'conundrum': 'If there's one element that scares the networks away . . .'
Dear Series Business readers, are we ready for another radically candid — and therefore anonymous — Q&A? This week I’ve got one with a top development and production executive at an indie TV studio you’ve definitely heard of.
The thing I love about these chats isn’t the potential to share devastating opinions about the state of the industry (though those are always welcome) or the opportunity to smack-talk a rival (but if you want to, you do you), it’s the chance to hear people in this industry — this infamously thin-skinned, careful what you say out loud industry — speak frankly about the business. It’s refreshing to hear from both the top and bottom of the food chain talk about their work without worrying about repercussions.
I really enjoyed this conversation where we open the hood of the TV business and try to figure out what’s wrong with the engine and how it all works, and am pretty sure you will as well.
In this edition of Series Business, you’ll learn:
The major change in the development market sending “shockwaves through people”
The genres selling right now
What studios are looking for in a showrunner in this post-M&A, post-strike environment
The current “conundrum” in comedy, especially hard-funny comedies
The battle over budgets and episodic prices — and where there should be budget pressure
The new reasonable price for an episode of TV
Who's selling “undeniable talent” well
One indication that the business is “alive and well”
Buyers are Having to Say No More
Elaine Low: Let's start broadly: How would you characterize the development market these days?
Development Executive: Unpredictable. Well I don't know, actually, if that's totally fair — I always joke that there are lots of highs and lows. Things that are working are working, and things that are not working . . . There's not a lot of volume.
There are no sure bets right now. You can try your hardest to be strategic, and you must be strategic, if you want to be successful. But the thing that we're all hearing about is very big, fancy packages that are getting passed on. That sends shockwaves through people, because a year ago or however long ago, a lot of those same packages would have found homes.
But for whatever reason, if something is a period piece, if something's too expensive — if there's one element that scares the networks away — they're not going to throw in for it.