A not so common decision from the streaming giant as it rejected every one of its recent comedy pilots. The shows – Sea Oak, Love You More and The Climb – all featuring women in the main roles – will not be moving forward to series, Variety has confirmed.
This decision reflects the Amazon’s new programming strategy, toward massive projects like the new “Lord of the Rings.” Amazon is said to be searching for big hit series that can run for multiple seasons.
Amazon’s “pilot season” is a system of rating and reviewing of potential premiere episodes by Amazon Prime subscribers. In the past, The pilot episodes were made available to the streaming service’s subscribers to watch and weigh in on the decision. However, as Deadline reports, the streaming service is now considering no longer making some or all of its pilots available for public viewing as it seems like Amazon is shifting more toward straight-to-series orders.
Back in August, former Amazon Studios head Roy Price said that, “The reality of the marketplace is it’s competitive and often you just have to go to series. We still have customer feedback, but will probably have fewer pilots for sure.”
Recently ordering Goliath (David E. Kelley) and Crisis in Six Scenes (Woody Allen) indicates that Amazon is more likely to go for dramas with global appeal rather than niche comedies.
Sea Oak, Love You More, and The Climb debuted on Amazon Prime on Nov. 10.
