L.A. Screenings Buyer Feedback: RTE

DUBLIN, May 27: Dermot
Horan, the director of broadcast and acquisitions at Irish state broadcaster
RTE, kicks off World Screen Newsflash’s third annual survey of buyers’ reactions to the new U.S. network
shows presented at the L.A. Screenings.

“Certainly it's been a
different year and a different L.A. Screenings,” says Horan on this year’s
event, which featured far fewer pilots as a result of the writers’ strike. “One
of the main reasons I travel here is to hear first hand how the networks have
planned their autumn/fall schedules and that didn't change very much, except
for the early NBC announcement. However, there aren't nearly as many shows
going into those schedules, at least not before midseason, and certain shows
which may have been cancelled if they had had a full 2007/2008 season have
reappeared in most networks’ autumn schedules, but presumably with a government
health warning saying 'in grave danger of cancellation'.”

Horan praised the overall
slates at Warner Bros., CBS Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox, adding that
“NBC Universal and Sony were light on new product and Disney combined mainly
ABC Family shows with presentations, the best of which was a comprehensive and
honest appraisal of the ABC schedule by Steve McPherson [the president of ABC
Entertainment].”

Horan was also pleased to
see the number of independent studios offering U.S. network fare.
“ShineReveille have quite a slate in the making,” particularly given its deal
with Media Rights Capital, which is programming The CW’s Sunday night
prime-time schedule. “Lionsgate were showing Fear Itself [for NBC] and telling us about the series Crash [for Starz]. And Alchemy were screening Flashpoint, the Canadian/CBS co-production.”

Given the current lack of
product, Horan notes that “most studios will show their fully completed first
fall episodes and their mid seasons pilots in early to mid September at various
locations close to their satellite offices. For most northern Europeans that
will probably be a three-day trip to London, without the sunshine, and the
endless lines of food. A strong coffee and a muffin will do most of us, and
help the weight situation, which always inexorably goes up in L.A.!”

For more on the shows
presented at the L.A. Screenings, visit WorldScreen.com’s U.S. Fall Season Guide.

—By Mansha Daswani
and Anna Carugati