It's interesting to notice on some of the larger screenwriting discussion lists the change in mood on a number of topics. One being how spec sales are picking up, and word getting through is that the studios are on the look out for new material. Maybe they always have -but the positive feedback on the lists are growing over the pessimisms that have pervaded topics such as the reign of reality shows and the like. It gets confusing. The spec market is dead. the spec market is humming along.
The other topic of interest is that someone innocently asked if anyone had heard about the "new format" of programmes as happening in Europe, to which it has been expanded on to mean the rise of serial shows
such as 24, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Prison
Break over the likes of the episodic shows/series.

Of course the same problem of getting the right pitch to the right people at the right time applies for your humble run of the mill wannabe I suppose.
But some interesting artciles on it none-the-less
Posted on Tue, May. 23, 2006
CHUCK BARNEY: AS SEEN ON TV
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/entertainment/columnists/chuck barney/14646140.htm
Networks focus on serial drama
GET SET TO ADD plenty of serial to your TV diet.
Only a few years ago, network programmers were extolling the virtues of keeping things simple. Assuming that America's collective attention span had shriveled to the size of Teri Hatcher's waistline, they fell in love with easy in/easy out, close-ended plots best exemplified by police and legal procedurals.
But now the rousing success of shows such as "Lost," "24" and "Prison Break" is emboldening networks to take more chances with big-scale storytelling. Next fall's broadcast lineups, unveiled last week in New York, are studded with serialized thrillers designed to send shivers dancing down our spines.
Every network has one or more such shows in the works. NBC will offer "Kidnapped," a "high-stakes" drama about a wealthy Manhattan couple whose teenage son is abducted. Fox is adding "Vanished," the mystery-laden saga of a senator's wife who has gone missing.

Over on ABC, there's "The Nine," which chronicles what happens to nine strangers when they get caught in the middle of a hostage crisis following a bank robbery gone bad. And on the new CW, there's "Runaway," which has been described as a "Fugitive"-like series about a family that goes on the lam after Dad is wrongly convicted of murder.

Even CBS, the undisputed champion of closed-ended procedural dramas, is getting into the act with "Smith," a tale of master criminals who plot high-risk heists across the country; and "Jericho," a post-apocalyptic nail-biter that centers on a small Kansas town that weathers a nuclear holocaust.
The networks thus far have made only a few preview clips available to advertisers and the media, so there's no telling if these shows even will be worth the trouble. It's clear, though, from where they derive their inspiration.
"Kidnapped" is said to have a race-against-the-clock motif akin to "24." "Runaway" certainly sounds like it contains elements of "Prison Break" with its conspiratorial overtones. And "Jericho" appears to be going for the creepy cut-off-from-the-world anxiety of "Lost."

But can the newcomers replicate their predecessors' success? In the words of Fox entertainment chief Peter Liguori, such shows are risky "high-wire acts" because they demand a greater-than-usual commitment from viewers. They also demand much from their writers, who desperately scramble to find ways to keep the twisty plots, hair-raising happenings and calamitous cliff-hangers feeling fresh.
Still, the network bigwigs are obviously compelled to take the risk, believing that the best way to generate major buzz amid this crowded TV landscape is with high concepts and sprawling, suspenseful sagas. As Kevin Reilly, the entertainment boss for beleaguered NBC, said last week, "the same ol', same o'" just isn't going to do it.

Then again, the television industry, with its annoyingly derivative impulses, has a way of taking what seems to be hot at the time and turning it into exactly what Reilly supposedly abhors the same ol', same ol'. By jumping on the bandwagon as they all clearly have, they could be setting us up for a case of genre overload, in which so many shows look and feel the same.
Besides, recent TV history shows that bandwagon-jumpers don't always prosper. After all, at this same time last year we were talking about how the networks suddenly had a jones for sci-fi and fantasy. But check out next fall's schedule and you'll see no trace of "Threshold," "Surface," "Invasion" or "Night Stalker."
Of course, it's way too early to make any fall predictions, but don't be surprised if the network masterminds find a way to suck all of the thrills out of the serialized thriller.
Chuck Barney is the Times TV critic. Reach him at 925-952-2685 or (Email Removed).
BY THE NUMBERS
Last week the broadcast networks announced their lineups for the fall. Here's a cursory breakdown:
• New dramas: 15
• New comedies: 11
• Network with the most new shows: ABC (9)
• Network with the fewest new shows: The CW (2)

Networks milk serials on drama pilot docket
DVD, international sales fueling revival
By Andrew Wallenstein
A distinct breed of one-hour drama is ready to cut into the abundance of primetime
crime shows featuring forensic detectives or serial killers. Call them killer serials.
Serials are what broadcast development execs call dramas with continuing story lines
that extend throughout the season, unlike so-called procedurals such as NBC's "Law
& Order" or CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" franchise.

Outnumbered in primetime, serials in the mold of such breakout hits as ABC's "Lost"
or Fox's "Prison Break" are well represented among the scripted drama pilots broadcasters have nearly completed ordering for the 2006-07 season.
View 2006-07 drama pilots: ABC > CBS > NBC > Fox > CW

That said, the success this past season of CBS' "Criminal Minds" and Fox's
"Bones" has shown that grisly procedurals might not have reached their saturation point either. Welcome to the mysterious yin-yang dynamic of the primetime
hour, where the five broadcasters are exploring how to strike the right balance
between serials and procedurals.
"What I find interesting is that everything seems to be working," said Laura Lancaster, senior vp drama and cable programming at NBC Universal TV Studio.
"It's not like in the past when it seemed everything was serialized, then it
was everything procedural. Now 'Lost' and 'Desperate Housewives' are there, and
many procedurals we see on CBS are working."
"I do think there are fewer procedural and more unconventional serialized stories,"
said Laverne McKinnon, head of drama development at CBS. "What we're looking
at is a incredibly strong schedule that is allowing us to experiment and take chances
with new forms of storytelling."
As with the deserted island of "Lost" or the penitentiary depicted in "Break," serials tend to avoid well-worn primetime institutions like the
precinct house or the courtroom. This year may be no exception with the likes of
CBS' "Jericho," which follows a small town in the aftermath of a nuclear
explosion, to "Orpheus," a romance set in a mysterious cult. NBC is looking
to play on the gridiron with "Friday Night Lights" and even the TV industry
itself, with "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," whose ensemble cast includes
Matthew Perry.
Fox is taking the topic of kidnapping into the serial space with pilots "Vanished,"
which follows the abduction of a senator's wife, and "13 Graves," starring
Matthew Lillard, which intermingles a man's treasure hunt with a search for his
missing brother.
ABC looks to be mining the same territory as Fox hit "24," with four serials
that involve heroes caught up in conspiracies ("Day Break," "Sixty Minute Man," "Traveler," "Twenty Questions"), some involving the federal government. The network also is taking a stab at developing a popular
Spanish-language telenovela, "Ugly Betty," for domestic audiences to star
America Ferrera ("Real Women Have Curves").
Serials with a political flavor add a realistic touch with viewers plugged into
news on the world stage. But Jennifer Nicholson-Salke, senior vp drama development
at 20th Century Fox Television, believes this type of serial supports a plot that
stretches over an entire season.
"The challenge is to lay out the absolute highest stakes you can, and often
that will be the center of power in our country," Nicholson-Salke said. "I
think that's the answer to making the story feel big enough. The endgame has to
be enormous."
As procedurals pile up in primetime, broadcast marketers also have found that serials
tend to be more easily promoted because their concepts stand out from the pack.
Serials also tend to create for themselves a deep mythology for its story that lends
itself to ancillary revenue, including merchandise or spinoffs for new digital platforms
like the upcoming programming "Lost" has created for Verizon cell phones.
More business-minded execs also are open to serials now that alternatives are forming
to the traditional economics of television. Procedurals always have been a more
attractive proposition to networks because they carry far greater value in the syndication
market, where profit participants tend to make most of their money on a show. But
"Lost" et al. are blazing new paths to profit, putting less emphasis on a blockbuster syndication sale.
"We got a lot of pressure in the past to develop a franchise like 'CSI,' "
Nicholson-Salke said. "I think we found that with '24' and 'Prison Break' that
the appetite for these shows on the international market is enormous. The DVD life
of these shows is enormous."
Craig Erwich, executive vp at Fox Broadcasting Co., credits the likes of "24"
and "Housewives" from allowing writers to draw outside the chalk outline
of the procedural drama for fresh material.
"People are more eager to dabble in the form now that it's successful," Erwich said. "Serials tend to be pretty liberating for creative people."
However, the renaissance of the serial format is still only a few years old; there
are concerns that these shows have the legs to last five or more years, as procedural
warhorses like "Law & Order" have done. There were serials introduced in the fall that failed, too, including Fox's "Reunion."

Still, with such a strong track record, procedurals are not facing extinction any
time soon. Although CBS has at least one procedural on the air every night of the
week, it still has at least four more such programs ordered to pilot, including
projects from such A-list producers as "CSI: Miami" executive producer Carol Mendelsohn and "The West Wing" executive producer John Wells.

Veteran producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who counts at least five procedurals on the
air to his credit, may try yet again in the fall on Fox with "American Crime."
Erwich believes that no one format could provide the foundation for a sound primetime
schedule.
"In terms of overall strategy and endeavoring to do a 'Prison Break,' which
may not be a series that could go on for eight years, you need shows that can repeat
and are built for longevity," Erwich said.
But the sheer volume of procedurals will force broadcasters to create distinctive
identities for new entries to the genre. Character-driven procedurals a genre
that typically sees its cast overshadowed by the crime they are investigating
is one way execs want to break ground. Inspiration comes from dramas anchored by
memorable characters like the caustic misanthrope of Fox's "House" or the obsessive-compulsive detective on USA Network's "Monk."

"I think we're seeing a lot more flawed characters," said Robin Schwartz,
president of Regency Television. "I think you can look to someone who isn't
completely redeemable and incredibly complicated. You can question their motives."
ABC may attempt such a project with "Drift," a drama about a traumatized
detective suffering from insomnia and memory problems. NBC will do the same with
"Seeing Red," which involves a cop who can see dead people who help him solve cases.
CBS also will tweak the procedural with offerings as varied as "Smith," which seeks to tell stories from the point of view of a band of criminals led by
Ray Liotta, to "Shark," which centers on a hotshot attorney-turned-prosecutor.
Inevitably, the boundaries between serials and procedurals will do some blurring.
"Without a Trace" creator/executive producer Hank Steinberg is trying his hand at an untitled serial for ABC that takes familiar ground for a procedural
a bank robbery and uses it as a springboard for a seasonlong character study
of the hostages in the aftermath of their ordeal. Fox's "Vanished" comes
from "CSI" executive producer Josh Berman.
Nicholson-Salke notes that serials may always run second to procedurals because
the very notion of flooding the schedule with serials would dilute the notion that
they are big-event offerings.
"I don't know how many of those shows you can put your fall launch campaign
behind," she said. "There isn't room for all of them."

The other big wild card in development for the 2006-07 season is the shrinking of
the broadcast network landscape from six to five networks once UPN and WB Network
shut their doors and reopen in the fall as the CW.

Both networks have cut way back on pilot orders this year in anticipation of the
merger, with only one drama pilot pickup apiece so far. Both projects hew to their
respective core audiences: WB is going for more superhero action with "Aquaman,"
while UPN is taking a stab at a Kevin Williamson-penned soap "Palm Springs."
As such, it's anyone's guess how they will fare in the weeding-out process as CW
programming chief Dawn Ostroff pieces together the network's first fall schedule
from new and returning fare from both networks.
Published Feb. 08, 2006
Paul :-)Nz