'Buffy' Reboot Will Shoot in L.A.; Veteran Broadcast Writers are Winning
My scoop about the Hulu reboot, awaiting a formal pilot order; and an anonymous top TV exec explains to me why broadcast's resurgence is good for the biz
Lesley Goldberg is the newest member of the Series Business team, reporting from L.A. on TV development and of course, here to deliver scoop after scoop. As a paid subscriber to Series Business, you’ll receive dispatches from Lesley, Elaine Low and Manori Ravindran on the TV industry. This is a standalone subscription separate from The Ankler. For access to Series Business and everything The Ankler publishes, including Sean McNulty’s The Wakeup and Richard Rushfield, subscribe here.
In the past week since I rejoined the TV community — thanks to all for the kind words! — a few things have jumped out at me. Namely, the industry isn’t much different than it was when I last covered it back in June despite high hopes for a new wave of activity this year.
For those in the industry who managed to Survive ’til 25, the rewards of “thrive in ’25” or “come alive in ’25” — or whatever we were hoping for all this time —haven’t really manifested yet as the Palisades and Altadena fires forced everyone in SoCal to hit pause, including when it comes to hearing pitches. One big difference I have noticed, however, is that many studio chiefs — those key gatekeepers who have the greenlight power — are now consumed with adjusting to expanded purviews as they’ve been promoted to lead more teams or those teams have shrunk, or often both.
To wit: Universal’s Pearlena Igbokwe added oversight of NBC and Peacock scripted, along with the title of chairman of NBC Entertainment, in January; Channing Dungey expanded her realm in December to include Warner Bros. Discovery’s suite of cable networks; and also last August, longtime CBS Studios president David Stapf added Paramount TV shows under his banner as the separate Paramount TV Studios was shuttered. All three are examples of the vast changes currently gripping an industry that is expected to see the overall volume of scripted originals to have tumbled again for 2024 after experiencing its biggest decline (14 percent) in 2023 since FX began its Peak TV tracking in 2009. (FX’s John Landgraf, the keeper of this research, typically announces the numbers at the Television Critics Association Press Tour around this time, but since that’s been canceled this year, it’s not clear when he’ll share the news.)
It was challenging to get an interview with a studio chief or network topper in the midst of Peak TV. Now, post-strikes and amid the industry’s continuing contraction, it’s only become harder. Nobody wants to do an on-the-record interview right now to discuss the current state of the business, because our industry is far from the thriving boom of the streaming era — during which seemingly anyone with a keyboard could get a show on the air — and now those studio bosses have other blow torches that they’re juggling amid everything else. They’ve immersed themselves in new responsibilities amid new corporate overlords and industry-wide challenges. Nobody wants to be a Debbie Downer, and I certainly would rather focus on the positive things that could put ’25 in overdrive. (Hey, new rhyming slogan, people!)
With that in mind, I asked one very senior studio executive, who agreed to speak only on background to offer a frank and wide-ranging view of the landscape, about the trends they see in the market now that everyone is finally getting down to business. While no one’s expecting a year of yes (h/t Shonda Rhimes) — on the contrary, it’s more like a year of less — there are positive developments, and even within the most irksome challenges (if-come deals and endless development, anyone?), opportunities lurk too.
In this newsletter, you’ll learn:
Why broadcast’s bounceback benefits the networks and the streamers
How the deal for Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s buzzy reboot planned shoot in Los Angeles came about — and how it could boost #StayinLA
The jobs opening up for veteran network writers
How global audiences are driving studios to remake the development cycle from the get-go
Why the greenlight process is going to stay in the slow lane
The upside for creatives of all those new hurdles to development
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