Comments on: Being willing to suck: The Seinfeld pilot as case study

By: SteveHC

SteveHC — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:39:09 +0000

Just stumbled upon this post, almost 2 years later, but it still holds up.

As far as tv pilots go, and this one in particular –

Very talented (and usually very *experienced*) network programming executives get to be successful by figuring out how to tell the true promise of a series proposal by (among other things) knowing what to look for in a produced pilot – usually at a cost of only a fraction of what future episodes will be should the show get “picked up” by a network. Such network execs are, unfortunately, rare and seldom exist in great numbers within any one network at any given time. Although NBC almost didn’t “pick up” the series and only one exec initially was truly interested in it, there were plenty of others well-regarded in the business who knew the quality of the people involved in the project and who subsequently lent their support. Thus the decision was made by NBC to pick up the series in spite of the “shortcomings” of the pilot (virtually ALL pilots have serious shortcomings; they’re not intended to be fully-fleshed out and/or finalized representations of a series to begin with… THAT doesn’t begin to happen unless someone actually signs a contract for X-number of episodes to be produced).

As far as the final Seinfeld episode goes -

I too happen to believe that it “sucked.” So did a LOT of other people at the time. But a LOT of other folks at the time happened to think that it was GREAT. And yes, it was a topic of a LOT of discussion and debate at the time… and although at the time of its original airing there was nothing known as website-based “blogging” per se, there WAS indeed a vast amount of online debate nonetheless (we just didn’t call it “blogging” in those days).

Anyway, the point of this post’s author is well taken. The undertaking of development of a new tv series, especially up to the point of actually getting financing for and producing that first “pilot” episode, is a GREAT example of the importance of being willing to undertaking substantial risks if one is to ever achieve true success in life. And this point is particularly well understood by anyone who has achieved any real degree of success in the entertainment in industry.

By: Diderik

Diderik — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:38:04 +0000

The story of how Seinfeld came into being is a fascinating one. The pilot was poorly received, and it was really just one executive at NBC who gave the show a chance. For all the details, check out “The Seinfeld Story,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZtu2WBO48U&NR=1.

By: Running backwards through life

Running backwards through life — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:04:34 +0000

[...] (Apparently I spent every Thursday night throughout high school and college parked in front of Must-See TV.) This is the one where Rachel and Phoebe decide to go running together, and Phoebe runs all crazy [...]

By: Shastina Schwarz

Shastina Schwarz — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:24:49 +0000

Being willing to suck is exactly what I’m having an issue with. I even acknowledge this daily when I look at (run away from) my writing. This little case study totally helped me : ) Thank you!

By: Lori Enos

Lori Enos — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:22:23 +0000

Excellent reminder that we shouldn’t be too caught up in being perfect right out of the box. We need to give ourselves time to fail and try again.

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:37:22 +0000

And you want to be my latex salesman…

Great post. Love the Seinfeld reference.

By: brandi

brandi — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:33:05 +0000

you know, this is an excellent and insightful post. I love how you find lessons in seinfield and it reminds me of what I already know (but try to push past anyway), let the art grow.

thank you.