The frantic but fun American TV Pilot season in Vancouver is over for another year and now we wait until mid-May for the networks to unveil their primetime schedules to advertisers and the media at the New York Upfronts. How many of the new pilots we saw filming in the Vancouver area before the Easter weekend will make it to series?
[Update: May 10th: CBS passes on untitled David Marshall Grant pilot starring Jamie Lee Curtis so of the nine American pilots that filmed in the Vancouver area before the Easter weekend, only The Flash, iZombie and Proof greenlit to series.]
[Update: May 8th: Deadline Hollywood reports The Flash and iZombie picked up to series but not Supernatural: Bloodlines; The 100 renewed for second season but The Tomorrow People cancelled at The CW. Once Upon a Time renewed for fourth season at ABC but pilots Sea of Fire, Warriors and Exposed not picked up to series.]
[Update: May 7th: Deadline Hollywood reports supernatural medical drama Proof picked up to 10-episode series on TNT.]
[Update: May 2nd: Deadline Hollywood’s Latest Pilots Buzz says military medical drama Warriors “has been largely well received” at ABC; Sea of Fire is “cooling off, though it’s not out” at ABC; Exposed is quiet but “screened OK” at ABC. The Flash is a “virtual lock” and “on the schedule” at the CW; iZombie is “strong” at the CW; Supernatural spinoff Bloodlines is less certain but “in the mix” at the CW.]
[Update: April 29th: Deadline Hollywood breaks news that Almost Human officially cancelled.]
[Update April 25th: Deadline Hollywood’s Pilots 2014 The Latest Buzz says mystery Sea of Fire hit a bump but is “back in contention with some tonal adjustments” at ABC. Military medical drama Warriors is “quiet” and perhaps too “dark” compared to soapy Grey’s Anatomy. At FOX, three strong pilots are “dimming” Almost Human‘s renewal chances. At The CW. The Flash and iZombie “continue to look like locks”. And Supernatural spinoff Bloodlines will get its test on Tuesday when it airs.]
[Update April 18th: Deadline Hollywood’s Pilots 2014 More Early Buzz says mystery Sea of Fire is “getting buzz, with limited series order a possibility” at ABC and The Flash “getting rave early reviews” which means it could be written into The CW schedule with “a permanent marker”. iZombie “also continues to go strong” but Supernatural spinoff Bloodlines may not be as sure a thing as The Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals was last season at The CW.]
It’s early days but Deadline Hollywood’s Pilots 2014 Early Buzz says mystery Sea of Fire and military medical drama Warriors have “early traction” at ABC and DC adaptions The Flash and iZombie from showrunners Greg Berlanti (Arrow, The Tomorrow People) and Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) are “flying high” at The CW. Plus Backstrom pilot reshoots are “getting good reaction” at FOX which ordered the Rainn Wilson detective drama to series at the beginning of the year. Backstrom starts filming new episodes here at the end of May.
Caveat: even if Vancouver-shot pilots are picked up there is no guarantee that the series will film here.
UPFRONTS
May 13th – ABC. Three pilots – Sea of Fire, Warriors and Exposed – filmed in Vancouver
- Sea of Fire. Based on Dutch series Vuurzee, Scandal writer Jenna Bans’s Sea of Fire is about the fallout from a pornographic film starring three local teen girls on their families and others in the small town of Serenity Falls. Uncompromising FBI agent Leah Pierce (Jennifer Carpenter), who alienates the whole town with her blunt questions, and the local sheriff (Jack Davenport) investigate a disappearance that leads to murder. Sea of Fire filmed in New Westminster near Queen’s Park and in North Vancouver’s Deep Cove, among other locations. NOT PICKED UP TO SERIES.
Related: Jennifer Carpenter & Jack Davenport Film Sea of Fire in Deep Cove
- Warriors. Inspired by the world-famous Walter Reed Military Medical center in Washington, D.C., this drama follows the military doctors and nurses who treat returning vets, military families and the Washington elite. Troubled psychiatrist Tory Sterling (Morena Baccarin) returns to work at Walter Reed and her family after a 9-month tour in Afghanistan. Her husband Clay (Steve Kazee) is unaware of Tory’s affair with fellow doctor George Mann. Warriors filmed at the University of British Columbia, among other locations. NOT PICKED UP TO SERIES.
- Exposed. Adapted from Liza Marklund’s Swedish novels, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is Anna, an investigative journalist who’ll stop at nothing to uncover the truth and ends up aligning herself with the wrong people to do it: like her boyfriend Stova (Ben Barnes) who claims to be a pilot, but is actually an NSA whistleblower hunted by the American government. Exposed filmed in Yaletown, Kitsilano’s The Waterfall Building and Gastown, among other locations. NOT PICKED UP TO SERIES.
Related: Mary Elizabeth Winstead & Fran Kranz film in Yaletown for Exposed.
May 14th – CBS. One pilot filmed in Vancouver.
- Untitled. Untitled drama from David Marshall Grant. Based on Israeli Ran Quartet, Only Human (working title) is a soapy medical show about the head of a hospital (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her quadruplets – a sister and three brothers (Anna Brewster, Ashton Holmes, Cameron Scoggins and Nick Jandl) – who grew up on a reality show. It filmed at Riverview Hospital, a Kerrisdale house and Surrey City Hall, among other locations. NOT PICKED UP TO SERIES.
May 14th – TNT. Two pilots – Agent X and Proof – filmed in Vancouver.
- Agent X. Newly-elected American vice-president Natalie Maccabee (Sharon Stone) discovers her new duties include the running of a clandestine operative known as Agent X (Jeff Hephner). Agent X filmed at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Yaletown’s The Level and the University of British Columbia, among other locations. NOT PICKED UP BUT COULD BE RETOOLED.
Related: Sharon Stone Sworn In as U.S. Vice-President for Agent X at Vancouver Art Gallery.
- Proof is a supernatural medical drama about Dr. Carolyn Tyler (Jennifer Beals) who’s asked to investigate cases of reincarnation and hauntings for proof. Despite her own recent bereavement she remains Scully-skeptical and reliant on hard science when it comes to answering the question — is there something beyond death? Produced by Kyra Sedgewick, Proof filmed around the Vancouver Public Library, Queen Elizabeth Theatre, among other locations. PICKED UP TO SERIES.
Related: Jennifer Beals films Bay Vista Medical Center Scene for Proof at Vancouver Public Library.
May 15th – The CW. Two pilots – The Flash and iZombie – and one spinoff – Supernatural: Bloodlines – filmed in Vancouver.
- The Flash. Central City assistant police forensics investigator Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) becomes super fast, aka the Flash, after a freak explosion at STAR labs. Central City Detective West (Jesse L. Martin) is a surrogate father to Allen and Iris West (Candice Patton) is his best friend and potential girlfriend. Flash filmed on Expo Boulevard for two weekends (blowing up cars on one Sunday) and in several downtown locations. PICKED UP TO SERIES.
Related: Barry Allen Crawls out of Car Wreck for Flash by Dunsmuir Viaduct
- iZombie Rob Thomas’s procedural about a Seattle medical student-turned-zombie Olivia (Once Upon a Time’s Rose McIver) who works in a Coroner’s Office where she eats the brains of corpses as a way to survive without killing anyone. But here’s the added twist: each brain she eats gives her their memories which could help solve open homicide cases. She passes off this ability as “psychic” to work with a police detective (Malcolm Goodwin). iZombie filmed in the West End, Deer Lake Park, around Victory Square and out in Ioco, among other locations. PICKED UP TO SERIES.
Related: Rose McIver Films iZombie on Beatty Street
- Supernatural: Bloodlines. The potential spinoff will air April 29th as a Supernatural episode. It’s about a new hunter (Lucien Laviscount) and the tribes of monsters who run Chicago mafioso-style. A Chicago cop (Stephen Martines) mentors the hunter but is secretly on the payroll of one of the tribes. Shapeshifter David (Nathaniel Buzolic) has a forbidden love for a werewolf (Melissa Roxborough). Bloodlines filmed in a SW Marine Drive mansion, the Terminal City Ironworks compound and in Chicago for a few days with Supernatural stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. NOT PICKED UP TO SERIES.
- Jared Padalecki & Jensen Ackles in Chicago. Credit: Chuck Hodes/The CW