L.A. Screenings Buyer Feedback: RTE

June 2, 2010 World Screen
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LOS ANGELES: After watching all the pilots on offer at the L.A. Screenings, Dermot Horan, the director of broadcast and acquisitions at the Irish public broadcaster RTE, noticed that the U.S. networks have opted for tried and trusted genres and self-contained shows.

“My first impressions are that [this year’s] slate is much more a safe slate than a risky slate in that the only high-concept show I saw that had the kind of bravery of a Prison Break or a Lost or a 24 or even FlashForward was The Event from NBC Universal,” says Horan. “All the other shows are of the self-contained episode type. I think people are now recognizing that high-concept shows are very difficult for the audience, and if the audience misses one or two episodes of them, they abandon the series.

Horan explains that sometimes shorter-form series are better suited to high concepts, for example The Pacific or Band of Brothers or even Boardwalk Empire, which will premiere this fall on HBO. “Sometimes a 10- or 12-parter can satisfy the audience, but to watch something that is high concept for 22 weeks is a very big ask from the networks, particularly when they pre-empt the series sometimes for sport or for other reasons, that makes it even more difficult for the audience.”

 
“Secondly, the biggest single trend we’ve seen this year are legal series,” continues Horan. “It was crime procedural for many years, Criminal Minds, the three CSIs, The Mentalist, Lie to Me, maybe the networks felt this year, we’ve got enough crime procedurals, let’s go down the legal route. Following the success of The Good Wife, that we have had very good success with in Ireland, by the way, we’ve seen a lot of legal shows this year: The Whole Truth on ABC which is from Jerry Bruckheimer, The Defenders on CBS, Outlaw for NBC with Jimmy Smits. Harry’s Law the Kathy Bates is a mid-season from David E. Kelly.
 
Horan also points to the large number of cop-crime shows this year, such as Detroit 1-8-7 on ABC, Body Of Proof on ABC with Dana Delaney, Blue Bloods with Tom Selleck with CBS, Hawaii Five-O on CBS, Chase on NBC, Law & Order: Los Angeles on NBC and the Criminal Minds spin-off fro CBS.
 
“And quite a lot of those shows would be fairly blue collar as well,” notes Horan. “Cops in uniform, maybe recognizing that world isn’t the glossy place that it once was and a solid job in the police is a good solid job.”
 
Horan will be picking up a number of shows because of deals RTE have in place. “We do have a deal with Disney and we will get the Criminal Minds spin-off because the original Criminal Minds has done very well for us, it’s had its strongest season so far. Also from Disney, we’ll be delighted to get Body of Proof, with Dana Delaney show. One of the things that I liked about it is that Dana Delaney is playing a more mature woman who has lived a bit of life. Too often we see women who are meant to be crack investigators or ex-FBI agents who look about 23 and wear Jimmy Choo shoes! And the guy they are hanging around with is in his 40s or 50s. Maybe in Hollywood that’s how it works! It is always good to see a woman in her 40s or 50s who can be very sexy, who’s lived a little bit of life, who has a few crow’s feet around the eyes, but has real credibility. Dana Delaney was very pop on Desperate Housewives and she’ll do well with Body of Proof.
 
There were undoubtedly more pilots produced this year than in the last several years. “NBC, who were the ones who said they were getting out of the pilot business, are back at 10 o’clock with dramas and they are back with pilots,” observes Horan. “Everyone got back into pilots; it’s the best form of R&D. The only thing I may say about this year is the sheer volume of pilots that were produced during the spring probably meant that some of the talent—even in a country as rich as America, which is the home of the entertainment industry—in terms of writing, directing, and even on-screen talent, at times on some of these shows were a bit thin. Between now and when they go on air in the fall or midseason maybe they should skill up and get some better writers in or some additional cast members. We’ve seen that already, on quite a few of the pilots we were told that cast members would be replaced.”
 
Horan has no objection to making changes in after the pilot. “At the end of the day, a pilot is a pilot,” he explains. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be 100 percent episode one. And if you have to tweak something or replace one of the ancillary actors or even one of the lead actors, if the main premise is good, why not do that?”