Fox Nabs Josh Friedman Spy Drama With Put Pilot Commitment

COMMENTS (18)

• What does “put pilot” mean?

  Comment by Put Pilot — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 3:52pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • It means that FOX will have to produce a pilot from the script. It’s pretty much skipping the step of ordering a pilot after the script is considered good enough. Here, the pilot order is guaranteed before the script is delivered.

    Comment by Lambsilencer — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 4:03pm PDT  Reply to this post

• It’d probably ensure the show would have a short life but maybe Friedman could work with Summer Glau again for this?

  Comment by John — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 4:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

• another white guy with a deal. so far all the deals posted are white guys making deals. WHERE ARE THE DIVERSITY WRITERS AND THEIR DEALS?!?!

  Comment by Lisa — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 4:23pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Better question is where are the interesting ideas?

    Comment by jkl — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 4:36pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • A better question is, If Genghis Khan went forward in time and opened a mail-order ball bearing store in the early 1970s, would there still be eight-track tapes…? Even for diabetics…?

      Comment by CLASSIC LIBERAL — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 6:23pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Indeed. How many more “Alias” remakes do we need? Let me guess she’ll be a winnowy blonde, no brunette, with lots of pluck, no moxie. She’s tough, too tough in fact. If only she had the courage to face her toughest adversary: love.

      *retching sounds

      Comment by FunkDubious — Thursday August 18, 2011 @ 2:30pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • “How many more “Alias” remakes do we need?”

        All we need is one that doesn’t suck.

        Comment by Page 48 — Monday August 22, 2011 @ 5:48pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • It’s all part of the great white conspiracy to keep brown down.

    Comment by David — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 6:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • They are considering giving Tyler Perry his own cable channel. How’s that for a non-white deal?

    Comment by Bitter Johnny — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 6:41pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • “Considering” and “doing” are two vastly different things, Bitter Johnny. But that was really mighty white of you to give your input.

      Comment by Lisa — Thursday August 18, 2011 @ 7:33am PDT  Reply to this post

• I love Josh, he is massively talented and I wish him the best, and he should have a pilot moving forward. I am not aware of the details in this deal- however a “put pilot commitment” actually means very little in most cases. It used to mean something back in the day, but many pilots are “put pilot commitments” every year now and very few of them move to pilot stage. Sometimes they have a monetary penalty attached if the commitment is not honored by the network(in this case Fox) but even in those cases they are rolled to next season development or the penalty is payed to the studio(in the case 20th) who is sold it to the network- most of the time that studio is owned by the same parent company(as it is in this case) so that payment is also meaningless. But it sounds cool!

  Comment by Put Sham-Wow — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 4:33pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Why did Fox screw over Joss Whedon? Why did they make him rewrite the Dollhouse pilot? Why are they scared of his writing? His show would have been amazing without the interference.

  Comment by Jack — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 5:56pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Jack, you’re really posting about Joss Wheadon’s unwatchable pilot under Friedman’s deal? Get a life. Wheadon peaked with Buffy. Find a new show.

    Comment by Jerome — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 6:28pm PDT  Reply to this post

• No one interfered with Whedon’s vision. Fox bent over backwards for him. His original version, which Fox shot, was bad and Whedon’s asked for another stab at it — which Fox gave him.

  Comment by Chris — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 6:12pm PDT  Reply to this post

• That’s not exactly true. Last year more than half the puts weren’t piloted. It just means the penalty for NOT ordering a pilot is so high, it usually indicates a pilot will be ordered, but it’s by no means a guarantor.

  Comment by laura — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 6:51pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Josh’s blog, “I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing,” is seriously entertaining and funny, but he hasn’t made an entry in a long time. I hope he goes back to posting at some point.

  Comment by TB — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 7:02pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • TB’s comment about Josh’s blog is seriously entertaining and funny, but he hasn’t made another comment since. I hope he comments again at some point.

    Comment by TBfan — Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 7:32pm PDT  Reply to this post