The Business of Television by Ken Basin

Author:Ken Basin
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2018-06-19T00:00:00+00:00

iv. Series Options

An actor’s pilot fee buys out an initial option to engage the actor to render services on a series (if ordered). During this option period, the actor is precluded from accepting any third-party engagements that would prevent him or her from rendering series services as required by the studio.52 The initial series option date may be set based on a concrete calendar date (which is typical for broadcast network pilots, which are produced in early spring with initial series option dates set to June 30 of that year), or a specified amount of time following the delivery of the pilot (which is typical for cable pilots that produce year-round, and is usually set to three to six months following the pilot delivery).

Studios also typically build in contractual extensions for such initial options (often to accommodate the right of a network licensee to place a later series order in anticipation of a mid-season launch). The historical standard for such extensions is six months (on a broadcast network pilot, to December 31 of that year), subject to payment to the actor of an additional pilot fee. More recently, studios and networks have experimented with variations such as breaking up the six-month extension into two three-month extensions for a half-pilot fee each, and/or making extension fees applicable in whole or in part against subsequent series fees. Extensions may prove particularly controversial or difficult to negotiate if they have the effect of keeping an actor off the market for a subsequent pilot season (as may be the case for cable pilots that are initially produced later in the year). For the most part, all series regulars engaged for a given pilot are accorded equivalent treatment (with extension fees scaled according to their respective pilot fees) in the option structures under their deals.

In addition, the series regular deal must specify option periods for the studio to exercise its option to engage the actor for subsequent seasons of the series. Again, these subsequent season option dates may be defined based on calendar dates (again typical for broadcast network pilots; usually June 30 annually), or a specified amount of time following the delivery or exhibition of the last episode of the prior season (again typical for cable; commonly set to the earlier of six to seven months following the initial exhibition, or nine to ten months following the final delivery, of the last episode of the prior season). Subsequent season option dates may also be annualized to the calendar date of the initial series option deadline. In any event, the subsequent season options must be set with sufficient spacing to allow the studio and network adequate time to produce and exhibit enough of the prior season for them to be prepared to make decisions about whether a show will be renewed, and whether any given actor will be required to return. Some studios and networks also negotiate for the ability to pay for one-time extensions and/or re-annualizations of subsequent season option dates, in order to

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