Report: "Everybody’s doing Zoom pitches like crazy" for new TV shows amid coronavirus shutdown

Vulture

“At a time where there are no in-person pitches, we are selling a ton,” a veteran agent tells Josef Adalian. "So what’s going on?" asks Adalian. "Insiders suggest the pitching frenzy is about platforms wanting to be prepared for whenever it becomes safe to start shooting again. While the big cable and streaming platforms all have a decent-size stockpile of new shows sitting on the shelf for later this year, the production pause could become evident several months later in 2020 or in 2021, when the number of new and returning show premieres is noticeably reduced. In theory, buying pitches and greenlighting projects now allows writers to start building a library of scripts ready to be filmed whenever production resumes. The same is true with having writers on existing shows get to work now on future seasons."