Hollywood Babble On & On #1012: Random Nuggets of Knowledge...

First up, I'd like to respond to a reader's comment...

Blast Hardcheese asked... 

I'm wondering if there's an opportunity for Netflix here. I've just burned through 'House of Cards' and looooved it. If they cut a deal directly with the theater chains, that might be another avenue for their original content. And not just standard movies, either - what if you did a miniseries-length production like 'Game of Thrones', one new episode every month or so?

Hmmm.....

Interesting thought.

Scheduling a theatrical release for a miniseries might be tricky, because it's so hard for so many to get to the theatre with any regularity. Especially with the big studios doing these 2,000-3,000+ super-wide releases of their big blockbusters.

Now I'm not saying that these alternative broadcaster/producers are completely out of luck. You see too many of those 2,000-3,000+ screen releases tank, and theatre owners are left without anything to replace them on short notice.

This is where the alternative broadcasters can get involved. They can organize special screening events that can step into an area on short notice. They can screen two or three hour-long drama pilots, or up to six half-hour pilots, in the form of a mini-festival roadshow. The theatres get things to show, the alt-casters get a means of promotion, and they can work together to promote the screenings.

How much would it cost Netflix & Amazon to add "Check You Local Listing For A Special Big Screen Event" to the ads they produce for their original programming.

SPEAKING OF ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING

Amazon is putting out 14 pilots as part of their plan to produce original programming by new creators.

Artist's Conception of an Amazon user voting for a pilot.

Well, I saw some new programming, but almost everyone involved in those new shows have been hip-deep in show biz for years, if not decades. So much for bringing in the fresh blood.

SPEAKING OF WATCHING TELEVISION

A blog about Canadian television called TV, eh? has posted a piece about getting Canadians to actually watch Canadian made TV and makes quite a few cogent points.

SPEAKING OF TELEVISION

NBC is pulling an episode of their crime/horror series Hannibal because of the Boston marathon attacks. The episode is about a woman manipulating and brainwashing children into killing each other, which someone at NBC thinks it might have some resemblance to a terrorist attack performed by two adult brothers from Chechnya....?

Not sure about the logic behind that, but this is NBC we're talking about here. They've got the first hour-long drama I've found worth watching in years, it's also doing pretty well in the ratings, which means they'll probably cancel it.