What chance another country picks up Firefly? by shinygav

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What chance another country picks up Firefly?

POSTED BY: SHINYGAV
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 06:11
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Sunday, August 13, 2006 11:14 AM

As I'm from the UK, I'm thinking of one of this country's broadcasters, maybe BBC2 or Channel 5 might be a good choice as they've been the best of the terrestrial channels for drama/sci-fi in recent years.

Obviously, aside from the any financial implications, they'd have to consider:

Getting the rights to the series;
Where to film: here or in the States? We have great technical talent over here and filming locations but could it match the original series?;
Audience: Firefly has a fiercely loyal following, but would it be popular enough?;

Most importantly would the actors and Joss be available and willing to go back to the 'verse?

Any thoughts?

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 11:30 AM

SIMONWHO

As Joss has said, what makes anything happen? Money. Now sometimes series have been picked up with support from other countries (Sky in the UK picked up a lot of the bill for BattleStar Galactica) and even more rarely they pay for a new series entirely (series 3 of Due South was funded by multiple countries, not by a US network).

However... Joss couldn't get enough money together for them to make new straight to DVD movies set in the Buffyverse. Remember, this is his widely known, very popular, commerically successful, breakout hit. And he still couldn't get anyone to fork out the money to get 90 minutes more of it made.

If it were to happen, it would have to be a major English speaking nation (Canada, UK, Australia) but of those three, only Canada seems possible as it wouldn't fall within the BBC's remit, nor would ITV, C4 or Five pay out the $1m an episode when they could import, say, CSI and pay $250,000.

I wish it could happen but I just don't see it.

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 12:04 PM

DINALT

Being UK based too, it's a nice idea. But I agree with SimonWho - the cost implications of each episode would put the UK media off.

BBC2 will support SF & Fantasy when it wants to......but with no real consistency in their viewing schedules. (Who else got bored with their favourite SF shows being interrupted for weeks on end with Wimbledon/Snooker or any other sport).
And with the Beeb under constant pressure, I can't seem them shelling out £1M+ per episode - which may well be more like £1-£4M per episode.
They have no advertising revenue to fall back on, so would be 100% reliant on marketing to recoup their investment(or our investment with the license fee, lol).

ITV isn't best known as a champion of SF. While it's true to say Channel 4 has invested in films & series, I don't know if they'd be willing to put that kind of cash into it either. They tend to buy in their SF shows (Andromeda, Stargate, Enterprise etc.), which is obviously cheaper than making them.

My guess is, that it would have to be funded by the media of multiple countries, and that could prove disastrous with too many studio exec's trying to run the show.

To succeed, it does need to be a US Network, or an organisation like Sky to back Fireflys return. And neither looks like happening anytime soon - Fox screwed Firefly over, but the b******s still hold the rights.

I mentioned this in another thread, but I'll mention it here as well as it's sort of on topic.
Has anyone here ever heard of this website - and I know nothing about it other than the URL:

http://www.fireflyseason2.com/About.htm

Is it legit ? Has anyone else seen it, or does anyone know anymore about it ?

Being still new here, I may have missed a thread about it, so apologies if it's been debated to death already. It looks more like a pledge site, as it isn't after any money, but that's as far as I can tell.
Anyone here signed up for it, or is anyone here affiliated with it ?
Just curious is all, as they mention they're pursuing the rights to continue the series.

May be a scam, may not - who can tell from a website, but first glance looks like it's on the straight and narrow.

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 7:15 PM

JOLLY

Up here in the Great White North, a certain amount of television is produced to satisfy Canadian content requirements imposed by the regulators. Nathan Fillion *is* from Edmonton. However, I doubt a Canadian production would have the budget of the original.

After CBS dropped Airwolf, there was a continuation on another network. The new production was filmed here in Canada, though I don't if it was used domestically to fill content requirements. To make it cheap, the original cast was dropped and replaced with new, less well-known actors. All the aerial fight scenes were filled in using old footage from the previous seasons.

From this, we can extrapolate the Canadian version. No Joss, none of the original cast, none of the original settings, and the same recurring Deja Vu that one gets watching 70's Battlestar Galactica. How many episodes could you make recycling footage of the existing episodes? Fortunately Joss won't let this happen.

Now the real question is *why* would any country outside the U.S. *want* to pick the show up? It didn't exactly perform stellarly in its home market, and it certainly doesn't fit the national identity of any of the aforementioned countries....

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Monday, August 14, 2006 5:48 AM

CYBERSNARK

As another example, note Andromeda, as RHW said, "not having enough money to execute an actual sci-fi show." The trouble is the "under the line" costs, where the salaries and similar overhead costs come in.

Andromeda actually had a pretty respectable budget, but because of the huge overhead (too many producers), very little of their money actually showed up on screen (limited sets, bad makeup, costumes that didn't always fit the extras).

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Monday, August 14, 2006 4:41 PM

SPODWO

I guess I don't understand why the Sci-Fi network doesnt' pick it up...I am not overly impressed with SG Atlantis... I would dump that spin off and add Firefly but that's just me...

[img] http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/spodwo/pil_03s.JPG[/img]
"Whoever had the choice, would choose an eagle's nest on the cliffs in place of a home. May he know how to sleep, though his eyes be red from the thunder, and listen to the cries of the wild spirits in the murmur of the pines." - on the grave of Josef Pilsudski

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Monday, August 14, 2006 10:19 PM

DARKFLY

BBC,ITV,C4,channel 5,or even Sky I don't think would or could even afford to fund Firefly.As for Canada again which channel could afford to fund it.The only chance of a series is with an American TV station cause their the ones with loads of money plus somebody has actually buy the rights off FOX which would be a hefty price tag.

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Go to http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=19&t=22697 for more info!

Things are about to get interesting...Define interesting...Oh GOD oh GOD we're all going to die.

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Monday, August 14, 2006 10:32 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Fox does not own the rights to Firefly. They own the rights to what was already made, but they don't own the rights to new stuff. I'm not sure who exactly does, but I remember very vividly an interview with Joss Whedon from a "Done the Impossible" preview (those who own it are welcome to correct me) where he said that he went to the offices and asked for the rights back so he could shop the series elsewhere. They said yes, he left, and has not interacted with them since. This. Is. What. JOSS. Has. Said. Dong ma?
Now, in light of Serenity, Universal might hold the rights. Perhaps, though, they only have movie right and the series rights are still in Joss's hands. I couldn't find any official information on this.
But Fox does not own the rights. So that's one hurdle out of the way as far as I'm concerned. As for it being picked up in another country, I have no idea. I sort of doubt it, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't love to see it.

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind. - Gautama Siddharta

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Monday, August 14, 2006 10:48 PM

DESKTOPHIPPIE

Well, one way or another I don't think it'll do any harm to write to Sky and say "Battlestar is great! By the way, I used to watch this show that was even better..."

More animations available at http://desktophippie.googlepages.com

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Tuesday, August 15, 2006 6:11 AM

JOLLY

Quote:

Fox does not own the rights to Firefly. They own the rights to what was already made, but they don't own the rights to new stuff. I'm not sure who exactly does, but I remember very vividly an interview with Joss Whedon from a "Done the Impossible" preview (those who own it are welcome to correct me) where he said that he went to the offices and asked for the rights back so he could shop the series elsewhere.

It occurred to me after your comments on another thread that you might be misunderstanding exactly what Joss was saying. Here is my understanding of the situation, which shouldn't be taken as Gospel. Firefly (and as I recall, Buffy and Angel) was produced by 20th Century Fox. Of the three, only Firefly was shown on Fox Television Networks. When the *network* dropped the show, Joss was allowed to shop the *broadcast* rights to other networks. Fox *studios* would retain the productions rights and continue to produce the show for the new licensee.

Whether or not Fox studios still holds the production rights seems to be a moot point with regards to a new show, as long as Joss's disagreement is with the network and not the studio. However, the real question to me is what rights Universal acquired when they bought movie rights for Serenity. A variety of quotes suggest that the rights included the option for a trilogy, along with an agreement to not produce new television for a specified period. This kind of an agreement would make sense; if you planned to go ahead with more movies, television exposure between movies would potentially dilute your future audience.

Anyhow, this is all speculation. My main point is simply to suggest that the quote you keep referring to is not inconsistent with other accounts of events.

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