Homeland

This is a — and possibly “the” — key question for Big Media investors coming out of the major broadcast and cable networks’ upfront programming presentations this week. As the sales pitches wore on it became clear that execs plan to spare no expense to recover from a year of dreary ratings. There’ll be 25 new programs on the Big Four networks, up from 18 planned this time last year. What’s more, “all of the broadcast networks are moving toward year-round original schedules, less re-runs [and] more frequent ‘mini-events’,” Bernstein Research’s Todd Juenger says. He adds that networks continue to depend on star power — for example CBS landed Robin Williams for its sitcom The Crazy Ones and Turner enlisted off-camera help from Michael Bay (Transformers), Dick Wolf (Law & Order), Howard Gordon (Homeland), Frank Darabont (The Walking Dead), and Jerry Bruckheimer (CSI). “These guys don’t come cheap, and we presume they must participate significantly in the back-end,” Juenger says. Execs no doubt feel confident that their bets will pay off. For example, hit dramas could play well in international syndication. Mini-series also should appeal to streaming services including Netflix and Amazon where subscribers like to binge view. But domestic advertisers still provide lions share of revenues for TV shows. And if networks are optimistic about that market, it has as much to do with whether they believe consumers will buy lots of cars as with the merits of what programmers ... Read More »

U.S. director Jeremy Saulnier used Kickstarter to help fund thriller Blue Ruin which has its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes on Saturday. The story follows a peaceful vagrant whose life is upended by dreadful news which sets him off to his childhood home to carry out an act of revenge. Macon Blair and Homeland’s Amy Hargreaves star. Saulnier directed 2007’s Murder Party and was the DP on this year’s Sundance title I Used To Be Darker. Here’s a clip from Blue Ruin: