Why can't good pilot ideas be recycled?

Networks are in the process of listening to and buying pilot pitches. Hundreds, maybe thousands of ideas are hawked to those few beleaguered network executives assigned the thankless task of listening and deciding.

And you wonder – last year they heard another gazillion pitches. If they were good ideas then why can’t the networks develop them again? Why is it now almost standard practice that if a network passes on your pilot (at any stage) then that project is done?

Several reasons. One is that their marching orders change. And they can change at any time.

Personal example: David Isaacs and I once wrote a sophisticated upscale comedy pilot for Fox. They ultimately passed, saying it was more of an NBC show. A couple of years later one of the Fox executives from that period moved over to NBC and her boss said he wanted them to develop smart sophisticated shows. He wanted NBC comedy to return to the golden age of “Must See TV.” That executive remembered our Fox script and bought it for NBC. We then did a quick rewrite. The reaction was over the moon. Everyone was thrilled and excited. We were to start putting casting lists together. There would be very few script notes. This project went right to the head of the line.

Then that night MY NAME IS EARL premiered to big numbers and the NBC president said “no more sophistical urban comedies – now we want all single-camera rural half-hours. Our project was dead. In 24 hours it went from priority number one to pass.

So the pilot mandate from last season could be quite different this year and all the pilots from the previous era are suddenly birdcage liners.

Also, it becomes an awkward situation when the network believes the reason a certain good idea didn’t work was because of the execution of the writer. If they want to re-develop it they either have to go back to the writer they were disappointed in or risk lawsuits. It’s just as easy to shit-can the whole thing and look for something new.

In the past, networks would remake more pilots if they believed in them. I believe there are three versions of ALL IN THE FAMILY with different kids each time. Now networks routinely re-cast during the making of a pilot that either they ultimately get right or move on. And sometimes a network will pick up a show knowing they will need to recast. So it’s a matter of how sold they are on the show going in.

And here’s another reason: They forget. The project didn’t go. It didn’t have any real champions. Remember the final scene from Indiana Jones with that huge warehouse filled with discarded items that will never be seen or heard from again? Same scene only scripts.

Networks are also very mercurial. They may love an idea on Monday and by Thursday they hate it (which isn’t to say that by the following Monday they love it again). This is why producers hate to turn in a finished pilot early. The network screens it and really likes it. But new pilots keep pouring in. And by the time the network has seen yours for the fourth time they forget why they even liked it in the first place.

And finally: network turnover. If ever there was a revolving door in television it is network executives – especially mid level. The guy who bought your show last year is now trying to sell you a house.

So many good ideas are washed ashore. And the process is repeated every year. If you’re in there pitching good luck. May your idea be upscale and rural enough for them.