Writing the TV Drama Series 3rd edition. Pamela Douglas
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THE STUDIO
Most production companies can’t go to the networks by themselves. That’s because network series are “deficit financed.” Networks pay a fee to broadcast each program, around 75% of the cost of making it. For an hour-long drama that costs five million, the shortfall is around a million dollars per week. Every week. Companies don’t have that.
Studios do. Think of the studio as the bank. From the point of view of a “suit,” every time a studio endorses a series with one of the production companies on their lot they’re taking a calculated risk. Four years may go by before they see any return on their investment, if they ever do, and most shows are cancelled before that. But, oh, when a show finishes the 88th episode, they hit what they call “the mother lode,” “the jackpot,” “Valhalla.” Now they can sell the shows at a profit to cable channels, syndication and foreign markets. A single hit underwrites years of failures. Will yours be that hit?
That brings us back to you. Probably, you have no agreement in writing with the production company. They’re waiting to see if the studio will get behind this project. While you’re away, the producer is talking to the Vice President for Dramatic Series Development of the studio where he has a deal. If the producer loves your show, he’s pre-pitching it, maybe touting you as the next great thing.
Or not. He may be testing the waters to see if you’re approvable before he sticks in his own toe. That might involve sending your writing samples to the studio executive, or even, quietly, to a contact at one of the networks. He may also test the general “arena” of the show, without specifically pitching it: “Any interest in a drama about house plants; I have a great fern.” Prepare yourself, because if weak signals start coming back from the studio, he might drop the project; or he might keep the project but begin nudging you aside. You’ll know you’re being dumped if his conversation includes the term “participating,” if he floats names of possible writers who aren’t you, and if he talks up the title “associate producer.” Sometimes that indicates an actual job, but it might be honorary, a way to shift you off the writing staff. Remember, you do have the right to say no and take your project elsewhere.
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