Forget The Apprentice. A ‘reality TV’ show where you have no say, and where you can only watch as Sir Alan Sugar does all the hiring and firing? That is so last decade. Forget, too, quaint programmes such as The X Factor, where you pick the contestants you like and the ones you don’t — a format that’s been kicking around since Eurovision.
No, imagine if your power as a viewer extended way beyond deciding which participant stays and which goes: instead, you get to choose whether an entire TV series deserves to be born. ‘Out!’ you can say after watching a single episode of a wannabe series, and finding it wanting. ‘Cut! Next!’ Or, if you like a particular pilot episode, you could decree: ‘Fabulous. Now make a season’s worth and air it on the network. And make it snappy.’
OK, I exaggerate. In reality your role won’t be that glamorous. But something very much like that is happening in the world of TV. LoveFilm, the online rental service, has put up 14 pilot episodes on its website: viewers can watch these for free (you need to log in, but don’t have to subscribe) and say whether any of them deserves life as a fully fledged series.
There’s another twist: these episodes were directly uploaded by their screenwriters on to the website of Amazon Studios, the film unit of Amazon, which owns LoveFilm. Amazon Studios buys the screenplays it finds promising, then fleshes them out into half-hour episodes. This does away with the traditional role of Hollywood suits choosing which projects to invest in. It’s also LoveFilm’s riposte to Netflix’s House of Cards extravaganza, which saw the rival film service plonk 13 episodes of its critically acclaimed series online, all at once.
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