sf/f TV development news - 2013

[Enterprise is Great]

Colin Salmon has joined the CW drama pilot Arrow as a recurring.

Salmon will play Walter Steele, a former business associate of Oliver’s late father Robert Queen and the No. 2 executive at Queen Consolidated. He married Oliver’s mother Susanna Thompson following her husband’s death at sea and the disappearance of her son.

[Enterprise is Great]

The Selection - more casting

Leonor Varela and Martin Donovan are set to co-star in the CW’s drama pilot The Selection, which has been compared to The Hunger Games. Based on the upcoming series of books by Kiera Cass...it centers on America Singer (Aimee Teegarden), a poor young woman who is chosen by lottery to participate in a competition to marry Prince Maxon and become the next queen of a war-torn nation at a crossroads. Varela and Donovan will play Maxon’s parents, Queen Amberly and King Clarkson.

And more casting for The Selection

The CW has added another actor to its Hunger Games-esque pilot, The Selection.
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Australian actress Peta Sergeant, who starred in the Aussie television series Satisfaction, has landed the role of Gaia Woods in the Warner Bros.

Sergeant's character is described as a rebel leader who is working to overthrow the monarchy.

666 Park Ave. and Zero Hour casting

Mercedes Masohn, female lead of The Finder, Fox’s modestly rated Bones spinoff, has joined the cast of ABC’s drama pilot 666 Park Avenue. Also cast in the project, based on the Alloy book series by Gabriella Pierce, is Robert Buckley.

Masohn and Buckley will play a married couple that lives in the building, playwright Brian and photographer Louise.

Carmen Ejogo is set to co-star opposite Anthony Edwards in ABC’s drama pilot Zero Hour.

Ejogo will play the FBI agent investigating the kidnapping who may have her own agenda.

[RJDiogenes]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

---

The bonus to being the first to stick out your neck with made-for-streaming TV is that you'd also be the first to figure out how to make the money work.

People do pay for original content on the web. They buy music, TV shows and books from iTunes and other places; they already buy ebooks from Amazon and Barnes & Noble (I have money in my pocket because of this, so it works). The trick is to make it both appealing to your niche audience and affordable-- then people will click and buy. And the trick to making it affordable is a low budget. No quarter billion dollar budgets for big video game movies. You need green screen like Sanctuary or simple (but aesthetic) sets like Exeter. It is possible.

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Here's the description of the novel 666 Park Avenue on Amazon:

What if your mother-in-law turned out to be an evil, cold-blooded witch . . . literally?

Ever since fabulously wealthy Malcolm Doran walked into her life and swept her off her feet, fledgling architect Jane Boyle has been living a fairy tale. When he proposes with a stunning diamond to seal the deal, Jane can't believe her incredible luck and decides to leave her Paris-based job to make a new start with Malcolm in New York.

But when Malcolm introduces Jane to the esteemed Doran clan, one of Manhattan's most feared and revered families, Jane's fairy tale takes a darker turn. Soon everything she thought she knew about the world—and herself—is upended. Now Jane must struggle with newfound magical abilities and the threat of those who will stop at nothing to get them.

[Christopher]

What if your mother-in-law turned out to be an evil, cold-blooded witch . . . literally?

Hmm, that's kind of a tall order, given how many layers of figurativeness are stacked on the term "cold-blooded." Is the witch literally endothermic? Does she have too little energy to function in winter weather or at night? Then again, endotherms are not literally cold-blooded except in a cold environment. So for that description to be entirely literal, her blood would have to actually be substantially below room temperature at all times, which raises all sorts of issues of its own.

Maybe the description should've avoided the many possible layers of "literally" abuse by just saying "...turned out to be an evil witch, literally."

[Temis the Vorta]

People do pay for original content on the web. They buy music, TV shows and books from iTunes and other places

But are they being made for the web? Or are they released on CD, in book format, and on broadcast/cable first and then released on the web as another distribution medium?

[Sindatur]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

---

But are they being made for the web? Or are they released on CD, in book format, and on broadcast/cable first and then released on the web as another distribution medium?

Big Finish does Audio Plays (I know from Doctor Who, but, they do many other series as well), which are exclusive to CDs, and only available to purchase over the Web.

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: Zero Hour, it's disappointing to see them cast an FBI character who "may have her own agenda." That's starting to sound like yet another show built on a flimsy fabric of cliches.

[RJDiogenes]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

---

But are they being made for the web? Or are they released on CD, in book format, and on broadcast/cable first and then released on the web as another distribution medium?

Both. Direct distribution is growing for both music and ebooks, so there's no reason it can't work for video-- as long as it's as affordable as the music and books.

[Temis the Vorta]

Well that's the problem, any reasonable looking video of scripted drama is going to cost a fair bit more than the production cost of a musical piece or certainly a book.

A book involves a writer and an editor. Music involves a composer and performers. TV shows involve writers, other writers who essentially serve as editors, music composers and performers, plus a whole lot of other necessary people - actors, costume designers, set designers, SFX people, makeup, hair, lighting, etc.

Just the number of people alone tells you why the costs get driven up. Everyone needs to be paid, and if they're good at their jobs, they need to be paid well. If they're not good at their jobs, why should I bother with their stuff? If one element is not up to par, everything suffers.

[Temis the Vorta]

Julie Benz cast as female lead in Defiance!

Set on a future Earth, Defiance is set in a world where humans and aliens live together on a planet ravaged by decades of war and transformed by alien terra-forming machines. It centers on Jeb Nolan (Bowler), the law-keeper in a bustling frontier boomtown that is one of the new world’s few oasis of civility and inclusion. Benz, repped by ICM and Vincent Cirrincione, will play Amanda Rosewater, the idealistic newly appointed mayor of the mining boomtown who is determined to maintain peace in the community.

Plus Rewind casting (lead?). Shane McRae will play

Henry Knox, ex-Special Forces who now ranks as a field operative in a special division of the Department of Homeland Security. Rewind is also set to begin production in April.

[JD]

I haven't watched it, but Netflix's first original series Lilyhammer is available. Here's there description:

After he testifies against a Mafia boss, ex-gangster Frank Tagliano enters the witness protection program and asks to be sent to Norway. Despite the peaceful surroundings, it's not long before Frank strays from the straight and narrow.

The mobster is played Steven Van Zandt from The Sopranos, and the rest of the cast appear to be Norwegian.

[Temis the Vorta]

There's been speculation that viewership of Lilyhammer is pretty low.

Even for a web series, there does does need to be some motive for people to bother with it, and that description sounds like a lot of cable shows. It just doesn't jump out as something amazing and worth watching, even if I'm already a satisfied Netflix customer (which I am).

People like me aren't the people Netflix needs to worry about - they're already getting my money. They need shows that will make people become first-time subscribers, and if they can't even get current subscribers to watch something, that's not a good sign.

However, it doesn't sound that Netflix is footing the bill by itself, so as long as their investment is minimal, the viewership can be minimal too. It's a first, low-risk step for them.

However, if Netflix wants to produce shows that will make people who are not current subscribers become subscribers - and stop current unhappy subscribers from defecting - they are going to have to come up with more compelling content.

[JD]

Yeah, I have no interest in it whatsoever, I just wanted to mention that it's out there. They are also going to be relaunching Arrested Development eventually, and that one I am really looking forward to.

[Temis the Vorta]

That's a better idea for them. There's a fanbase that wants more of that show, and might opt to subscribe in order to get it, and the quality is on par with what they should be going for - something equivalent to the better cable shows.