Apart from Batman origin story Gotham, one of this TV season's big hits, the most compelling project touted by Fox at its upfront presentation to ad buyers last May was its pitch for M. Night Shyamalan limited series Wayward Pines. With a starry cast headed by Matt Dillon, Terence Howard and Melissa Leo (names more readily identified with film than TV), the series shared some of the DNA of hits like Under the Dome on broadcast TV or True Detective on cable. But as intriguing and ambitious as the psychological thriller looked, its biggest twist may end up concerning its business model. Fox has just announced that it will launch the series next May 14 simultaneously on more than 125 of its networks around the world, which the network called a record for a scripted series. This worldwide-saturation approach is common among film studios seeking to make events out of genre fare, a tactic that dates back at least to the beginning of the sound era. In TV, though, it's a less tested release pattern, Typically, major new offerings still wend their way through the territories, hopscotching through international windows based on deals often negotiated territory by territory.
Increasingly, though, the name of the game is about owning both the content and the pipes around the world. Wayward Pines is produced by FX Productions, a sister unit under the 21st Century Fox umbrella. Fox International Channels, which has existed since 1993, and has grown to the point where its 300-plus networks reach some 1.7 billion households across Asia, Latin America, Europe and Africa. It recently set up a content sales division, which is selling all international TV, non-linear and home entertainment rights for Pines. Other TV content companies, from the major studios to Discovery, AMC Networks and Netflix, have also hit the accelerator on their international strategies, so more Pines-type efforts are sure to follow. As my Broadcasting & Cable colleague Jon Lafayette noted in covering this week's UBS Global Media and Communication Conference, Viacom chief Philippe Dauman is among those upping the ante. Viacom this fall acquired U.K. network Channel 5 for $761 million, which enabled it to fast-track launches of several cable networks there. "The value of acquired programming to us is diminshing," he said. "As we get bigger globally that increases our portfolio of original programming."
An ultra-wide release doesn't suit every property, of course. Some series need word of mouth and benefit from buzz and discovery and awards, as the spark travels from continent to continent. Even some established shows that could, in an ideal world, mount a Pines-style assault, travel a more gradual path. PBS breakouts such as Downton Abbey and Sherlock, for example, continue to have a sizable lag between British and American premieres, to the consternation of some viewers. When you are in the Shyamalan business, however, it seems a sensible hedge to blast a show wide on the strength of a heavy promo push. While the writer-director's craftsmanship has been unassailable on films like The Sixth Sense and Signs and The Happening, with box office accordingly robust, he has largely struggled since. More than just missing with critics, which plenty of well-intended filmmakers do, he also foisted some of the most ego-driven, big-budget spectacles on the moviegoing public since William Friedkin decided to remake The Wages of Fear. A short list for reference would include After Earth, Lady in the Water and The Last Airbender.
Wandering Pines is the first TV project for Shyamalan, and its plot details are -- yes -- largely under wraps. Most of what we know, apart from the central storyline of Dillon as a Secret Service agent arriving in bucolic Wayward Pines, Idaho, on a mission to find two missing federal agents. A series of not-quite-explainable events then ensue. Doubters will have ample reason to wonder, but the crowd of fairly cynical ad buyers last May at the Beacon Theatre seemed to be at the very least intrigued. And hey, people initially hooted at CBS when it decided to run a Steven King-based popcorn series over the summer. Former Fox chief Kevin Reilly, now spearheading programming at TNT and TBS, likened Pines to Twin Peaks (no modest claim) and promised it would be "highly addictive." Even if all of that proves to be just one last spasm of hype from the network boss who's no longer at the helm, it could still work out just fine for Fox. Forget Peoria, media companies are increasingly able to say. Let's see how this plays everywhere.
Here is the Wayward Pines trailer:
