When you run a production company, as I do, ideas can come from anywhere. Increasingly, my development pipeline is being filled by younger producers who live and work far outside the traditional TV ecosystem. There are two obvious reasons for this: 1) a huge increase in new and diverse buyers, over-the-top platforms like Quibi and, soon, Apple that are looking for projects with "auspices" (the word I hear from everyone). That's the TV equivalent of no longer wanting to drink "coffee"; it's got to be a single-source grown by a guy named Guillaume in French New Guinea. Buyers want new, authentic, diverse voices, not the same old white dudes. 2) Technology, duh: award-winning films are now being shot on iPhones.
The problem of course is that a lot of these young producers lack the experience to deliver bigger-budget, complex, multi-hour narratives. Sometimes the problems are even more basic: one young producer I spoke to last week had to halt production because his computer broke. This is why production is moving to the TV equivalent of a hub-and-spoke model, where next-gen creatives team up with more established houses that can deliver their shows on time, on budget, and at a level of quality demanded by the most discerning buyers. This is ultimately where GreenlightGo is headed: to a place where it can facilitate and enhance those creative and commercial alliances. Should be an interesting ride.