The Scoggins Report: 2014 Primetime Network Pilot Season Scorecard

The Scoggins Report
by Cindy Kaplan, Landon Rohwedder
& Jason Scoggins

2014 Primetime Network
Pilot Season Scorecard

Here's our now-standard preface: For those new to the Scoggins Report, this is our 3rd annual TV one-off. Cindy, Landon and I absolutely love the TV business and keep track of development and pilot season each year much the same way we do the spec and pitch markets. Now that up-fronts are over and the results of the five broadcast networks' development labor are set in stone, we're wrapping up pilot season with a Scoggins Report-style Scorecard showing how many scripts each network bought, how many were picked up to pilot, and how many of those pilots got ordered to series.

Here's the primary year-over-year takeaway: As you'll see on page 1 of the 2014 Primetime Network Pilot Season Scorecard, embedded below, the networks returned to their 2012 form last summer, collectively buying 23% more projects this year than last, just 5 shy of 2012's total. And while they picked up roughly the same number of pilots as they did in 2012, they ordered 43% more new series than in 2012, just 5 shy (10%) of 2013's tally.

All that said, looking at the networks collectively is not as useful (or even as interesting) as examining each of their development patterns separately, and we've done that for you as well, getting into the weeds with each network's year-over-year numbers for half hours and one hours. You'll see what we mean starting on page 3. And for those of you who prefer to read this kind of thing on a tablet, you can click here to download the PDF or click on the image below.