Elizabeth Guider Reports: Warner Bros.’ Blindspot Strikes Chord with Buyers

PREMIUM: If international buyer reaction on Monday is any indication, a show called Blindspot will end up as one of the top picks among overseas clients at this week's L.A. Screenings sales bazaar.

Buyers are never so enthused as to do cartwheels, but they did throw out a few thumbs-up adjectives in the theater lobby or outside over coffee—"edgy," "sexy" and "broadly targeted"—in referring to Blindspot.

Some 400 executives spent the day on the Warner lot for that studio's first executive presentation and screening marathon for the international contingent. Altogether 1,400 execs from around the world are in town, traipsing from lot to lot to assess the fall broadcast contenders.

Burbank-based Warner Bros. is fielding just six new scripted dramas, given that the five networks tilted toward their in-house divisions for their prime-time freshmen series—and Warner owns only a 50-percent stake in the smallest of the quintet, The CW. Blindspot was the kick-off series in the studio's order of play.

An informal survey of a dozen buyers—mostly European and Latin America—who broke for lunch turned up generally positive comments for the comic book-inflected mystery which stars Sullivan Stapleton (Strike Back) and Jaimie Alexander (the Thor movies).

The hour is one of three dramas produced by Greg Berlanti for the fall, each for a different net Stateside. Blindspot will air in the coveted Monday 10 p.m. slot on NBC, right behind The Voice.

"It'll be the freshest of the shows on air in that time period," Jeffrey Schlesinger, the president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution, told World Screen Newsflash. (Its competition includes Castle on ABC and NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS.)

Not that buyers responded poorly to the other five dramas that the studio is fielding this go-round. Supergirl, Containment, Rush Hour and Lucifer also garnered applause and, in the case of the latter two, a number of laughs during their viewing. The sixth greenlight for the company, Berlanti's DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, was repped only by a clip, as it's for midseason on The CW. 

"Overall, I'd say the money is on the screen and casting was first-rate," said Rüdiger Böss, the executive VP of group programming acquisitions at ProSiebenSat.1, in describing the four series screened Monday morning.

It's probably good the 12-member Teutonic buying team generally liked what they saw Monday, as they have an output deal with Warner Bros., and hence will go home with those dramas in their carry-ons, as it were.

In updating the attendees on Warner’s performance this year, Schlesinger once again put the accent on the studio's number one status in a variety of categories, most pertinently, its 22 scripted series on broadcast nets—6 new and 16 returning. Warner Bros. has been number one in total series 10 of the last 12 years and 24 of the last 29 years.

He also pointed to the pervasiveness of the DC Comics brand, and aura, across both Warner's movie and TV output as well as the company's ongoing commitment to making more J.K. Rowling- and LEGO-inspired movies. 

"We're committed to big films, global stars, top directors—and very big budgets," Schlesinger told the audience.

That last fact came across in the dramas on offer, the pilots at least likely costing considerably more than $4 million apiece, though those figures couldn't be confirmed.

(International buyers typically try to wait until the fall before they commit to new U.S. shows—unless a bidding war breaks out in L.A. with their local rivals for something hot, or they have an output deal with a particular studio supplier.)

In his remarks to the assembled buyers, Peter Roth, the president and chief content officer at Warner Bros. Television Group, said that the secret to the company's ongoing performance records was simply "working with the best talent." He then ticked off the roster of producers who are based on the lot: "from Lorre to Abrams, to Berlanti and his six series on the air. And also Heller, Wells, Williamson, Lindelof, Lawrence, Nutter, Plec [and others]…." 

"They're the reason we can boast 34 series [on broadcast and cable]," Roth added. "Quality," he quipped, "is a great business model."  

Those buyers queried by World Screen Newsflash did not mind sharing opinions, though most were quick to say their impressions were off-the-cuff and didn't necessarily reflect what they'd end up needing for their respective stations. Several also pointed out that they had not yet visited all the other studios, so their views could change.

Over sushi or burgers, here’s what they were willing to opine with respect to Warner’s shows:

Best chemistry between leads: Jaimie Alexander and Sullivan Stapleton in Blindspot; Biggest challenge: "not to consummate too soon," as one Latin buyer delicately put it.

Best one-liners: the mismatched cops in Rush Hour and their banter with their female boss; Biggest challenge: "keeping the jokes fresh and the kick-boxing in check," opined a female European buyer.

Best performance: Tom Ellis in Lucifer; Biggest challenge: "making the devil mythology believable as the show progresses," per a European client.

Best direction: the camera control in Containment (based on a Belgian original and helmed Stateside by David Nutter); Biggest challenge: "keeping the tension high once the initial panic over the epidemic ends," another European suggested. 

Unexpected plus: the supporting women characters in Supergirl (Calista Flockhart), Rush Hour (Wendie Malick) and Containment (Claudia Black); Biggest challenge: "always the same: keeping the writing clever," a Latin buyer said.

Cheesiest bit: A tie—the Supergirl Melissa Benoist in flight and Lucifer's awkward messenger from hell; Biggest challenge for the former show: "getting the balance right between the star's engaging normality and her super-human exploits," two female buyers said. Biggest challenge for the Lucifer character: "lose the wings," Böss quipped. 

As for deals to be made on these shows over the next few months, one interesting territory to watch is Australia. Since Warner’s multiyear output deal with Nine Network has ended, the six new dramas shown Monday are essentially on the open market in Oz.

A number of scenarios are possible as the international TV business keeps evolving, and both buyers and sellers rethink how to structure deals. In Australia, per sources, all the new dramas could be picked up in total by one player, or they could be picked off one by one, by any combination of Seven, Nine, Ten or Foxtel.

These deals matter, however they're structured. Without dough from abroad, studio execs are quick to remind, TV drama in particular would dwindle in quality.

For his part, Kevin Tsujihara, the chairman and CEO of Warner Bros., summed it up in his comments to the assembled buyers: it is the "ongoing partnerships" and "license fees" from the international contingent that allows for, what he argued was, "the most creative, innovative content" in the business.

Check out World Screen's guide to the network fall season here.