Hulu, Amazon and DirecTV Deliver Big Stars, Big News, Big Events - Ed Martin

Beverly Hills CA What39s the difference between a television network and a streaming service At Television Critics Association tours the answer is increasingly quotNot muchquotThis was abundantly clear last Saturday when Amazon Studios and Hulu largely dominated an entire day at the Summer tour Amazon making its TCA debut was here for three and onehalf hours which included a lunch following six panels They included sessions with the producers and casts of Alpha House which is the first Amazon series renewed for a second season and four upcoming series amp8211 comedies Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle and dramas Bosch and The After The pilots for these series are currently available for free viewing on AmazonThe day had actually begun with a presentation from another quotalternatequot programming provider as they are sometimes referred to at TCA DirecTV kicked things off with a session for its upcoming seriesamp160Kingdom a scripted drama about mixed martial arts fighters that stood out as one of the most intriguing and original series previewed at this tour so far The wellattended Amazon sessions and a panel for Reelz Channel39s upcoming reality series Living with the Jacksons followed Then it was back to the digital spectrum with a block of sessions from Hulu here for its fourth TCA tour which makes it the streaming service most invested in this organizationHulu had scheduled three panels amp8211 one for its new reality effort The Hotwives of Orlando and two for its returning series Quick Draw a westernthemed comedy and East Los High a youthensemble serialized drama with an allLatino cast and a series unlike any found on English or Spanishspeaking television There was a panel at the July 2013 tour for Quick Draw before its debut making it the first digital series to twice be showcased at a TCA tourThere was also a surprise panel at the end with South Park and Book of Mormon creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone on hand to announce that Hulu is now the exclusive home to every episode of South ParkParker and Stone were among the attendees at a lavish party Hulu threw in the penthouse suite here at the Beverly Hilton Hotel after its sessions making Hulu the first streaming service to host so deluxe a meet and greet at a tour A special guest at the party was Seth Meyers who arrived that afternoon in preparation for his appearance on a panel for the Emmy Awards during NBC39s presentations the following day Meyers is the cocreator and an executive producer of one of Hulu39s most successful animated series The Awesomes and he worked the party like a pro on behalf of that show He will also be busily promoting it at the San Diego ComicConAnyway Hulu is completely impressive in is approach to TCA and the value this event provides to programmers of every kind There are in fact some television networks that could learn a thing or two from the way Hulu takes full advantage of this opportunityAmazon meanwhile is coming up fast on the TCA front The roster of talent it produced for its panels was certainly impressive including John Goodman Mark Consuelos and Clark Johnson of Alpha House Titus Welliver Annie Wersching Lance Reddick and Scott Wilson of Bosch along with author Michael Connelly author of the 17 Bosch novels Saffron Burrows and executive producer Jason Schwartzman of Mozart in the Jungle Aldis Hodge Sharon Lawrence Adrian Pasdar and executive producer Chris Carter of The After and Jeffrey Tambor of Transparent Most of them made clear that they were thrilled to be working in productions that were not hindered by the rules of traditional television including cableGaby Hoffman costar of Transparent said it best quotThe notion that is prevalent that we are making some sort of sacrifice by working for Amazon is actually completely false I would have done this show for no pay Luckily I39m getting very very nicely paid It is a privilege working with Amazon We have such freedom We talk about it every day They are our allies and our supporters and our cheerleaders We don39t have to fight for anything We are given everything we want and need and they are letting the show and us be what we need to be what we want to be what we organically are becoming every moment and it is 100 percent a privilegequotThat sentiment was echoed by virtually every producer and actor on every Amazon panelAmazon has made a practice of posting pilots for promising series on its free site and inviting usersvisitorscustomers to rate them as a means of helping to determine which projects will move forward This has resulted in the greenlighting of one good but not great series Alpha House and one that likely should never have been made Alphas proving that it is an imperfect practice at best Transparent Mozart in the Jungle The After and Bosch represent the favored programs from Amazon39s second batch of publictested pilots which the service refers to as Pilot Season They all seemed quite promisingTCA members were shown clips from the next five pilots amp8211 three comedies and two dramas amp8211 that comprise Amazon39s third Pilot Season set to begin in AugustRed Oaks from Steven Soderbergh and starring Paul Reiser The Cosmopolitans from Whit Stillman starring Chloe Sevigny and Adam Brody Really from Jay Chandrasekhar Hand of God starring Ron Perlman and Dana Delany and Hysteria from Shaun Cassidy and starring Mena SuvariThere were a few issues Amazon executives were made to address not always successfully including the lack of release or drop dates for some of these series Transparent will arrive sometime in September the second season of Alpha House in October and Mozart in December and the question often posed to executives from all streaming services How many people are watching your showsWhen asked specifically how many people had watched Alpha House Amazon programming executive Joe Lewis replied quotWe do know how many I39m not going to tell youquotquotI think the important part what we focus on is the feedbackquot Lewis continued quotDo people like it This isn39t necessarily about the number You don39t have to tune in Thursday at 800 to watch Alpha House As a company I don39t think we39re particularly concerned if you watch it on your television or Kindle or if you watch it Saturday or Sunday or a month from now I think its short term to think about how many viewers watch it on a given night amp8230 for us character and story are more importantquot

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Hulu, Amazon and DirecTV Deliver Big Stars, Big News, Big Events - Ed Martin

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