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Zucker threatens to axe pilot season The Hollywood writers' strike took a dramatic turn today as NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker announced that he was axing pilot season in a bid to save the company US$50m a year. Zucker's announcement comes at a crucial stage in the ongoing row between the Writers' Guild of America (WGA) and Hollywood studios, with some in Tinseltown viewing the NBCU chief's news as a tactic to force the WGA's hand. Studios have already dropped many planned pilots, pulled shows off-air and cancelled ongoing deals with many writers, who are 11 weeks into a strike about their slice of revenue from the digital distribution of the shows they write. Zucker's plan is to cut out the expensive business of producing dozens of pilots for dramas and sitcoms that mostly never get picked up by the networks in the annual Upfronts. Money is thrown at these pilots in the attempt to attract ad dollars to the planned series, but approximately nine out of 10 pilots fall by the wayside each May, when advertisers decide on the shows they want to buy airtime around. "Things like that are all vestiges of an era that's gone by and won't return. The development process will change forever," Zucker told the Financial Times, in a clear message to writers that if they continue to strike their livelihoods could be in more jeopardy than they thought. "I think there were a tremendous number of inefficiencies in Hollywood and it often takes a seismic event to change them, and I think that's what's happened here," he said, adding that a few pilots would still be greenlit but nowhere near as many as usual. Perhaps contributing to Zucker's bold move is the fact that NBC's ratings have in some slots increased since the strike, thanks to unscripted replacements. American Gladiators, for instance, has lifted the Chuck slot substantially. As well as the WGA strike, which has crippled California's economy, America's broader economy has been hit by the sub-prime debt crisis. “It’s clear we are in a recession in the United States, and we’re going to have to manage our business accordingly,” Zucker told the New York Times. Ed Waller 23 Jan 2008 © C21 Media 2008 
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