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by JonnieCache
5093 days ago
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Steve Coogan pretty much did this last year, with Alan Partridge's Mid Morning Matters. It went out on youtube, sponsored by Fosters and then I think it got bought by sky and shown on TV. They were only 15 minute single camera things though. Plus, he already part owns his own production company, so I guess it's not a direct comparison. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_Morning_Matters_with_Alan_P... Also, just last week there was a 20 minute comedy pilot called People Just Do Nothing on the BBC which started life as a series of 10 minute youtube shorts. It had various industry people behind it, such as the producer from The Office. It'll likely get a series. It seems that in UK comedy at least, instead of pitching your show to commissioning editors at the channels, who probably won't understand it, you just make your own pilot and put it on youtube to demonstrate the concept. Peter Serafinowicz did this back in 2007: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peter_Serafinowicz_Show |
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That's less common than people who pitch traditionally, but yeah there are people who do that. I think the reason it works with comedy is that often you can make a good pilot with a tiny budget, and possibly the reason it happens more in the UK than the US is that our (English) comedy is slightly less formulaic and more crazy - subjective point of view, though.
A couple of other examples... American sitcom "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", the actors spent $200 shooting a pilot that they showed to networks as their pitch. The Office (original UK version) was originally a student project by Stephen Merchant, with Gervais as the only actor in it, and they then sold the show to the BBC based on that video they made. Gervais said in an interview something along the lines of "the BBC never would have bought it based on a traditional pitch because it only makes sense and is funny when you actually see it".