Latest in pilot season

During the holiday break, which traditionally shuts down Hollywood for the final two weeks of the year, top broadcast network executives used to spend a significant portion of their time reading pilot scripts before kicking off pilot pickups at the start of January with early drama standouts. Broadcast business…

The 2020 broadcast pilot season was decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, with all but one pilot unable to be produced. In the face of unprecedented disruption, the networks started veering toward the streaming model with backup scripts and straight-to-series orders. After the traditional pilot cycle was broken by…

A month ago, several TV studios, including Disney TV Studios, Warner Bros. TV and Universal TV, started to pay actors on broadcast pilots, which could not be produced because of the coronavirus pandemic. CBS TV Studios in the past couple of weeks also initiated compensation for most of the series regulars on the…

Almost two months since Hollywood’s TV studios put their broadcast pilots on hold just as most of them were about to start filming, some studios are starting to pay actors on the impacted pilots. The move comes after weeks of discussions between studio executives and SAG-AFTRA representatives over interpretations of…

It’s April, the month when Deadline usually launches its Pilot Panic feature, where we track buzz on the broadcast pilots as they go through production and testing. This year, there is no pilot production or testing, there actually isn’t much of anything typically associated with pilot season besides the panic, which…

The ongoing coronavirus health crisis is giving broadcast pilot season a jolt that might be felt long after the global pandemic is over. Following the unprecedented Hollywood shutdown over the COVID-19 outbreak, which left all but one broadcast pilot in limbo, I hear the networks have ordered at least one backup…

This story is a followup to Pilot Season 2020 In Turmoil Due To Coronavirus As Pilots Get Pushed published Friday morning.  When the dust settled Friday night after two days of dozens of production shutdowns and postponements coming at a frantic pace amid deepening coronavirus crisis, there were just a couple…

How is this for tragic irony? For decades, network executives have been trying to break out of the traditional development cycle with little success. It may take a cataclysmic event like the current global coronavirus pandemic to finally do that. The fast-spreading outbreak has shut down or postponed production on…

EXCLUSIVE: CBS is adding a twist to the classic TV character of Thomas Magnum in his return to television. I hear CBS’ intention is to pursue a non-white actor for the title character in its Magnum P.I reboot, a role originally played by Tom Selleck. Additionally, I hear Lacey in CBS’ reboot of Cagney and Lacey, also…

With the bulk of broadcast pilots picked up, the networks and studios are drawing up their casting wish lists, crossing their fingers and sending out offers to their top picks. As usual, there are a few names that keep cropping up. Raking in early offers are The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan, Rosario Dawson as well…

The first batches of offers for the 2018 broadcast pilots are out, and one surprising name has stood out, The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan. The actress, who plays Maggie on the hit AMC zombie drama, has been very sought after with close to half-dozen offers so far. The development may come as a shock to TWD fans…

As we rang in 2016, along with Happy New Year comes Happy Pilot Season. January marks the ‎beginning of the crucial final stage in the broadcast development season when pilots are ordered, cast, filmed and tested before the networks make their series picks for next season. It also marks the re-launch of Deadline’s…