Kevin Spacey's take on the future of television

Worth a listen. It's about 5 minutes. He makes some great points about how television is changing and what it should do to accommodate viewers.

The only problem I see is that to greenlight a thirteen-episode series without any kind of pilot is a huge gamble.  And just as most pilots fail, so will most series.  Except, you put a series on the air, it dies quickly, you halt production after four episodes.  You cut your losses.  You can't do that with a Netflix type series.

So after being burned big time a few times, Netflix and other providers who follow this concept might become super conservative in what they buy.  Big stars and big names will have to be attached.  Adaptations of blockbuster novels.   We've seen this with studio motion pictures.

That said, I totally agree with him on one thing -- the model of television is changing -- whether the networks like it or not.   New delivery systems, new ways of accessing content -- they're not just theories anymore.  They're HERE.  And there are more to follow.

The good news is that whatever these models are, they are going to need CONTENT.  Whether people watch on movie screens of telephone screens they want to watch stories.   That means more opportunities for writers.  Who knows what form they'll take?    But it's an exciting time.  I wish someone had let me go right to series and make all thirteen episodes without having to get everything approved including the set dressing and without having to subject my show to focus groups and dialing testing.  And for good measure I wasn't at the mercy of a time slot.  I also wish I could get Kevin Spacey to star in it.