Supply, Demand and TV Writers

By Eric Hogan, President and CEO, Hogan Millar Media

The current golden age of television is in many ways the golden age for TV writers.

Nicole Clemens, the SVP for Series Development at FX, identified a shortage of quality writers as one of the main challenges facing the industry today.

With the explosion in demand for content, it’s not hard to see why.

According to Variety there are now 243 recurring cable series or mini-series on deck for the 2014 — 2015 season, an increase of 112 in just five years. The number of series is up 14 percent in the last year alone.

In addition to the dramatic increase in the number of series, some content buyers are moving past simply buying pilots — Netflix recently told investors they plan to continue to “prudently commit to a whole season, rather than just a pilot episode” as they continue to grow their investments in original programming.

The content is also changing dramatically and leading to new demands for writers. Take the Transmedia experience that accompanies Continuum — added story lines provided through micro-videos that create a parallel narrative to the TV series.

With these factors coming together, the demand for talented writers is poised to keep growing — and their supply will become a growing challenge for the industry overall.

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