A New Future For TV Pilots

Andrew Wallenstein writes in the Hollywood Reporter that another pilot has been illegally released over the internet. "The Adventures of Big Handsome Guy and His Little Friend" appeared on several viral video sites. At Break.com alone, it was streamed more than 250 000 times. Fox has written numerous cease and desist letters and the offending content will no doubt vanish from the web.

That's fine. Intellectual Property is all well and good but has it occurred to anyone that they are completely missing the point? Why isn't every pilot released over the internet? Viral marketing will see that the good ones get more views -meaning that the show stands a better chance of doing well- and the bad ones won't waste anymore of the network's money. For the life of me I cannot see why this doesn't become industry practice.

And it's not all bad for the creators of "Handsome". While they might have missed a spot on Fox's fall schedule the creators have apparently been asked to supply another script. Fox has extended its option to December. Good luck guys. This particular network isn't exactly known for wise choices when it comes to picking up new shows or continuing with good ones.