TV execs set to seek foreign rights to programs at L.A. Screenings

“Anybody who doesn’t enjoy this should not be in television.”

That’s Malcolm Dunlop’s take on the annual TV show buying spree known as the L.A. Screenings.

Dunlop is executive vice-president, programming, at Rogers Communications. He heads a team of programming executives out to find their next big import hit. The annual show buying junket begins in less than two weeks, but the run-up started in February when pilots were shot and the trips back and forth to L.A. commenced.

Team Rogers/City will be ducking in and out of studio screening rooms, hotels and network venues. As soon as their cars pull out, Team Bell/CTV (led by programming president Phil King) and Team Shaw/Global (led by senior vice-president of content Barbara Williams) will be right behind or right in front.

As a group, the three major Canadian private broadcasters spend somewhere between $600 million and $800 million acquiring rights to foreign TV programs at the L.A. screenings. The goal is to fill troubled timeslots with the next big hit from Warners, Fox, Sony, CBS/Paramount, NBC/Universal, ABC/Disney and others.

Hobnobbing with some of the star studio players, such as Warner Brothers Television chief executive Peter Roth, is part of the fun, says Dunlop. Over steaks at fancy restaurants, Roth and others share pilot scripts, casting news and other tantalizing tidbits.

What’s the early word?

“They’re all their kids at this point,” says King of the studio hype. “You know — you love all your children equally — so it’s really hard to tell right now.”

Nobody sees any actual pilots until later this month at the “Upfront” screenings in New York. Even then, show buyers have to play hunches based on timeslots and track records, basically judging a book by its cover with only a pilot and promises to go on.

It’s an annual multimillion-dollar gamble.

“This whole thing should be in Vegas, really, not L.A.,” says King, whose background is in sports programming. “Most people know the odds are not in anyone’s favour grabbing a hit. It’s the way it works. You have to grab 10 to get two that works.”

Often you can’t see a hit coming. Canadian programmers weren’t blown away by “The Big Bang Theory” at the pilot stage. A last-minute grab by CTV, it has stood for years as Canada’s most-watched series.

Doing tons of homework doesn’t always help. King recalls the year he read the scripts for every single pilot under consideration in the U.S. When he got to L.A. for the screenings, he discovered more than half of them weren’t even produced.

All agree that the landscape is getting more competitive.

“The whole conventional television market has changed and I think people are probably more prudent than they were before,” says Dunlop. It would seem that the era of overbuying and playing “keep away” — played aggressively for years at CTV — are over.

Besides, there is new competition to fight off. Network programmers now have to cope with the likes of Netflix, where entire series runs have been dumped in one day, to increased cable competition from series such as AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” an impact player on Sunday nights.

“Thank God they only make 13 episodes,” says King.

In the past, the Canadian private networks have tried to blunt cable competition by snapping up rights. CTV aired HBO’s “The Sopranos” and MTV’s “The Osbournes” on its prime-time schedule and briefly tried the same gambit with AMC’s “Mad Men.”

“The Walking Dead,” however, is off the table, according to Barbara Williams, senior vice-president of content at Global and the veteran among Canada’s current show buyers. AMC retains those rights in Canada.

Besides, she says, “these shows, as popular as they are, have proven time and time again that they are not as successful on the conventional platform.” While CTV had some success last season with FX’s “Anger Management,” “Dexter” and “The Shield” were a bust when tested on Canadian networks.

Williams also points out that “there is no simulcast win in the cable world, and therefore no real value.” King, naturally, disagrees, seeing “Management” as a handy utility player he can flip into any timeslot.

Simulcasting — airing a series at the same hour in Canada as on the originating U.S. network —allows for commercial substitution, higher audience levels and therefore higher ad revenues. It is a quick way to increase revenues and Canadian programmers seize that opportunity whenever they can.

The Canadians try to read clues and hints as to where ABC, CBS Fox and NBC will place their shows, but nobody knows for sure until U.S. network schedules are released at the Upfronts. Then the simulcast scramble begins.

You can’t always bank on a simulcast fix, however, cautions King. “Pick the best show,” is his philosophy, “because shows move around all the time.”

Williams agrees, saying her job is still “to bring back home runs.” There were few on last year’s U.S. schedule, but Williams scooped a winner with the CBS drama “Elementary.” Dunlop’s big winners came the year before in “2 Broke Girls” and “Person of Interest.”

Serial dramas, once dismissed and ignored, are now back in demand, although Williams insists “all shows are approached with equal interest. It’s about bringing in the biggest shows that are going to drive the biggest audience.”

Sniffing them out is never easy. Dunlop, who began attending L.A. screenings back when he was programming Rogers’ OMNI stations, says he’s screened as many as 12 shows from one studio in one day.

He remembers the years everything looked like a clone of “Friends.” “You had to make sure you make great notes because sometimes shows start to look like one another,” he says.

Most say they put a lot of faith in proven showrunners. If Chuck Lorre — the creator of such comedy hits as “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men” — has a new offering, as he does this season with “Mom” (about a single mom fresh out of rehab), everybody wants to see it.

Some see the showrunner as being more important than the stars. King points out the casts of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Big Bang” were virtual unknowns before those shows made them stars.

Still, few could name the showrunner on “NCIS” (Gary Glasberg). That drama is a worldwide hit and Global’s biggest draw.

As much as he’s always interested in the next J.J. Abrams offering, stars are often more of a factor than showrunners, says Dunlop. Take the smart CTV pickup “The Following,” he suggests. “Kevin Bacon is a huge star, so I think in that case, for me I would say it would be the star more than the showrunner.”

Among the big names headlining series this fall are Michael J. Fox, Robin Williams and Greg Kinnear, who stars in “Rake,” a Fox pilot which sounds like “House” with lawyers.

“Once again, we don’t even know if this is going to make it to air,” says Dunlop. “But you sort of think, Greg Kinnear — seems like he’d be a TV star.”

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Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.