ABC refused to broadcast a crime scene investigation?

This answer is somewhat unexpected. When Alexander's news was told to Levy, Levy was shocked and couldn't speak: The May screening has not yet arrived, why was the TV series rejected?

"Our TV series, the quality is not good?" When he heard this, Levy's face immediately became a lot more gloomy, he had worked hard for so long, how could it be that in the end it became something that could not be played?

"There is no problem with the quality of the TV series." Alexander replied immediately.

"So, is it a bad review, or is the advertising market not very responsive?" Immediately, Levy thought of the next two possibilities.

"No, the reviews are good, and the advertisers, they haven't read the film yet. Our TV series was vetoed internally - the people at ABC, without considering the market, directly vetoed our TV series. ”

This answer shocked Levy: What is this? The TV series has been rejected before it arrives at the screening? What does internal veto mean? You have to give a reason.

"ABC thinks that this drama is really a bit ...... It's too adult-oriented. From the color tone to the plot, it is too adult, and there are too many places that need to be used in the brain, and they think it is not suitable for playing. Seeing Levy's dissatisfaction, Alexander immediately explained.

"Just because of this, they won't play? We are filming a crime drama, can the crime drama be fresh and bright? Moreover, if crime dramas are full of idiots, can you still watch them? ”

"Because of that, they just don't want to continue investing in filming. Nick, don't worry, actually, I've already inquired about this matter, and there is very little room for redemption, and the person who denied our TV series is Michael Eisner. ”

This name made Levy think of something instantly: Michael Eisner, the current CEO of Disney, is also the most powerful real power holder of Disney now. Last year, he was the one who bought ABC TV and wanted to develop ABC TV, that is, he.

"I didn't provoke him, why did he veto my TV series?" Levy asked, a little puzzled.

"You didn't provoke him, but the CSI TV series provoked him. It wasn't anyone else, it was Michael Eisner. ”

Alexander's words made Levy suddenly understand something: he realized why Eisner would veto his TV series.

His own TV series is too different.

American dramas in the 90s have a very special style: they all like to use gold-orange filters to make the overall effect look with a warm color. This is very different from the natural light effect of American dramas in the 80s, and it is quite different from the cool-toned style that has become heavier and heavier since the new century.

When Levy was filming, in terms of the use of tones, he was even more inclined to use cold colors, which made the style of the entire TV series dark, which was very different from the overall style of the 90s. Moreover, the editing of Levy's TV series is quite sharp, the music style, and the overall plot are also quite gloomy. Unlike most TV dramas that solve cases like gods, in this TV series, in the case that came up in the first episode, some of the protagonists made a mistake in judgment and let the prisoner go, some delayed solving the case because of gambling, some simply let her go because the perpetrator was beautiful, and the last one that people thought was the protagonist was shot directly...... This style is too different from the previous TV series.

When Levy created the TV series, what he wanted to do was to make a drastic change in the style of the TV series, but he ignored that it was ABC, Disney, and Michael Eisner who reviewed the film.

As the CEO of Disney for the past decade, Eisner has clearly been quite successful. After Disney handed it over to him, the revenue rolled forward, which is incomparable to any major film company. However, although Eisner has made a lot of contributions to Disney, he also has some big problems: when making works, he has always adhered to his three principles.

Over the years, Disney has adhered to Eisner's three philosophies: the all-age strategy, the replication strategy, and the Brumsheimer model. Levy originally thought that these three concepts were only implemented by Disney in the film industry, but he did not expect that Disney would expand this concept to the television industry.

These three concepts, in fact, are also very easy to understand: the so-called all-age stage means that they do not shoot those movies with heavy tastes and viewing age restrictions, and all movie ratings cannot exceed PG13 - in fact, Disney's first PG13 movie is also the future Pirates of the Caribbean - they like works that can be played to everyone, and they don't like those that are limited to playback.

And replication success, that is, when they shoot movies and TV series, they prefer to copy the old model of those works that have already succeeded. Disney's strategy is to be conservative and not to reap the enviable benefits of innovation, but also to ensure that it does not lose money. If there's too much innovation in the work, then they won't think about it anymore.

And the last one, the so-called Brumsheimer mode, is the story of the heroic protagonist. The protagonist who is a bit ruffian and has some bad water is more attractive than the average hero, which is also the type that Disney prefers. All the way up to Pirates of the Caribbean, they still use this set.

There is nothing wrong with these ideas, at least Eisner has relied on them to develop his own Disney company. It's just that Eisner doesn't seem to notice: the most suitable scope for these three theories is actually Disney's cartoon market.

Only in the cartoon market, all ages, copying classic, subversive heroes, will make people feel fresh. And once it comes to live-action movies, this line of thinking may not be so good. The all-age nature of film and television works means that they must be able to meet the needs of children, and it is difficult for adults to like such works. And the output of film and television works is much larger than that of cartoons, ** The hero has been used up rotten, and there are at least two of his ideas that are not very suitable for this market.

This concept is outdated, and Levy complains in his heart: even the animation market, whether this theory can hold up now, is difficult to say: in order to implement Eisner's theory of copying the classics, Disney itself gave up the 3D animation market, and as a result, Pixar was ahead of the curve, and now their situation is very passive.

But now, Eisner still holds the power of ABC and even Disney, and he will certainly not accept a group of conservative guys who show a series of radical reform plans. Especially a group of guys who have been making cartoons for many years, let them review the TV series of autopsy, it's no wonder they can like it.

"Originally, Disney thought that what you wanted to shoot was a TV series similar to Law and Order, and they wanted to see if the TV series you shot could be recognized by the market. But after your TV series was filmed, it was just in time for Eisner to implement his three ideas in ABC, and our TV series bumped into his hands, so naturally there was no good result. Before the screening, their internal test screening had already been rejected. They asked me to tell you that such a TV series, no matter how good it is, ABC will not consider broadcasting. ABC is a big TV station with its own philosophy, and it will not broadcast such a dark and obscure TV series. ”

Obviously, in Eisner's view, his authority is much more important than the life or death of a TV series. In the past two years, because of a series of wrong decisions within Disney, Pixar has surpassed Disney in the cartoon market, 3D animation has collapsed 2D animation, Eisner's voice and status have declined, and even in the board of directors, there are already people discussing who is going to change the CEO. Eisner was dissatisfied with these discussions, he was not a person who easily admitted defeat, and he knew that he needed to defeat those who were talking about him behind his back, and the best way was to prove that his theory was still marketable. The cartoon market is a technical problem, and he can't get it back for a while, so he will naturally not give up on the new battlefield of ABC.

At such a time, CSI crashed into it by itself, which was simply looking for death. Eisner managed to catch a work that violated all three principles and immediately vetoed it. 10 million is not a lot of money for ABC - they lose more than 300 million a year - and for Disney, it is a piece of cake, and Eisner seems to be able to lose such a small amount of money to establish his prestige.

Levy was silent. If the TV series they shoot is really not good enough, then it is their problem, but this is not their problem of shooting TV series at all, just because others don't like it, they deny all their efforts, which is too unacceptable.

Is it because of a bastard, his own efforts are all in vain?

"There's no way they like our work, Disney hasn't even made a PG-13 movie, how can they like something like that?" Alexander sighed, but his sigh was too late, "There are so many crime dramas filmed, just follow the path of the predecessors, there is no need to try it yourself." A detective with charismatic personality, coupled with a beautiful woman, solves the case while messing around, bizarre murder, the means of solving the case are not important, even if you rely on special functions or vodoo to solve the case, this is a TV series. It doesn't matter if there is a problem with the story, the plot is not rigorous, it doesn't matter if the storyline is guessed, the audience is watching the detective playing cool, talking about love, not solving the case. A real detective film is not suitable for acting as a crime drama. No one wants to use their brains, no one wants to look at reality, isn't it tiring enough to watch their own lives, and they have to watch TV series to use their brains. ”

"This question is absolutely uncompromising," Levi snorted coldly, "Something cool, no matter how much you shoot, it can't become a classic." I don't want to make classics that everyone loves, I just want to do something perfunctory and follow the trend, which is to look down on myself. The trend will always pass, and the classics can be circulated. Our goal is not to live in the dark, and the idea of following someone else's model is best never to have it. ”

"But now, if we don't follow someone else's path, we have no way out."

"I'm afraid it may not be...... Alex, if we first want to buy the TV series from ABC and sell it to someone else, do you think it would work? ”