L.A. Screenings Buyer Feedback: Sky’s Sarah Wright

LONDON: There was depth and breadth to the pilots offered at the L.A. Screenings this year, according to Sarah Wright, the controller of acquisitions at British pay-TV behemoth Sky.

“There was everything from high-concept shows like Odyssey (NBCU) and Gotham (WBITD), to romantic comedies such as Marry Me (SPT) and Selfie (WBITD), with a healthy dose of spinoffs such as CSI: Cyber (CBSSI) and NCIS: New Orleans (CBSSI),” notes Wright. “On the whole the emphasis was on serialized rather than procedural.”

She didn’t feel there was one particular show that created a lot of buzz. “I don't think there was one standout show like last year [with] The Blacklist, but there was certainly lots to talk about,” Wright continues. “Singing knights in Galavant (DMD) caused lots of buzz, for example. It's certainly a departure for ABC. Warner Bros. had a strong slate and Liz Hurley as the Queen [in E!’s The Royals (Lionsgate)] was a hoot!”

Wright, who acquires films and TV product, is able to accommodate shows of all kinds because as a pay-TV platform Sky provides its subscribers with a vast array of linear and nonlinear services, including the channels Sky 1, Sky Living, Sky Arts and Sky Atlantic, which has been positioned as the home of the best of U.S. programming.

Because of the competitiveness of the U.K. TV market, and the bidding wars some sought-after shows can create, Wright is not at liberty to say which shows she might be interested in buying. She did, however, state that her job is to “find brilliant shows our customers will love and continue our strategy of the providing the ‘Best of the U.S.’”

“We are one of the few broadcasters in the U.K. who really market acquired programming,” says Wright. “We put programs on billboards, launch them, curate them and look after them. That is quite important for us. We are all about sustaining a show for its life and looking after it and working in partnership with the studios.”

While British broadcasters are known for not having output or volume deals with the Hollywood studios, Sky has made a deal with HBO, and Sky Atlantic is the exclusive home in the U.K. for product from the U.S. premium service. (Wright, however, does have deals with the studios for feature films in order to feed Sky’s movie offerings.)

Sky is able to offer its customers all types of TV shows—serialized or procedural—because it has so many different outlets that can accommodate any and all of its subscribers’ viewing habits.

“We always pick a show from the heart and think about what our customers love,” says Wright. “They love a serialized show like Game of Thrones that builds momentum season after season after season. Equally they absolutely love Modern Family, which still has a series arc, but each episode is slightly closed. Or you can go to a procedural like Criminal Minds that has a crime of the week, which is wonderfully compelling.”

Other American series that have been popular on Sky’s services include Elementary, Criminal Minds, Arrow and The Simpsons, as well as shorter-run offerings like 24: Live Another Day, Ray Donovan and The Following. Limited run series have been posing scheduling problems for some broadcasters, but not for Wright.

“Ideally as a scheduler you would love 23, 24 episodes each season,” she says. “It’s good to program a really big hit. We will always love shows like Criminal Minds that do longer runs. Equally, less is more—for us it’s all about the show finding the right length. Ray Donovan to me is perfect with a limited run and its story arc was beautifully crafted, its characters are incredible and we did brilliantly with it.”

Wright also welcomes the trend of U.S. networks bypassing the pilot process and going straight to series with a show.

“I think straight to series is great,” she says. “In some ways you know that the commitment is there and people really believe in the project. It depends on the show but straight to series gives you a real sense of where the story is going when you buy it. It’s good that we all know what we are jumping in to and how we can best support it. Whereas with a pilot mechanism, you see a pilot in May and you finally get to see the show in October—it would be useful to know more and see more before you buy and before you promote.”

For Wright, satisfying Sky’s customers is always top of mind. “We literally do just want the best shows, so we are willing to wait till mid-season or wait till whatever time of the year,” she notes. “It’s very efficient to go to the May Screenings and see lots and lots of shows over the course of five days, absolutely. But equally, we are having those discussions all year round because the cable shows never really followed that model anyway, so something like Ray Donovan, we had already bought by the time we got to the Screenings.”

Read about what ProSiebenSat.1’s head buyer, Rüdiger Böss, had to say about the new crop of U.S. shows here.

Want more on the U.S. fall season? Download the new edition of World Screen Reports, our iPad publication, which features our handy network grid, studio listings, analysis from The WIT on the season’s strongest contenders and more. Download it from iTunes here.