When the clever signs are put away and the days of themed pickets are over, Hollywood’s writers will go back to work. But to what kind of job market will they return?
Insiders candidly admit that a reduction in the overall number of series produced each year is not a bad thing for the biz. “I think it’s necessary,” another top tenpercenter observes. “There’s good stuff that doesn’t get seen and doesn’t get marketed. And then of course there’s just so much garbage.”
But fast forward to 2023, and many of those deals have not paid off. While some have managed to produce massive hits, others have produced hardly anything at all. It is not always cut and dried and the pandemic created many hurdles, such as when Mike Schur landed a series order for a “Field of Dreams” series under his deal at Universal Television only for it to be scrapped at Peacock.
Broadcast networks have been ordering fewer scripted shows for some time, with this year’s pilot season yielding just five series orders to date in addition to two straight-to-series orders at Fox. A few pilots remain in contention, but gone are the days of dozens of new shows getting picked up across the five networks.
“Advertisers want more stability and regularity,” says J.D. Connor, an associate professor of cinematic arts at USC. “And they aren’t necessarily as afraid of that cost escalation as Seasons 3 and 4 come along. So my sense is that change will make it easier for writers and actors to get some return to a more traditional backend like we used to have in a world of broadcast and cable dominance.”