Piloting Its Way to Theaters

Usually, when a television network rejects a series prototype, or “pilot,” the concept fades into oblivion--perhaps running during the summer if the broadcaster wants to recoup some of its costs.

For “Where’s Marlowe,” a Paramount Network Television pilot, getting passed on by ABC may rather have been its ticket to the big screen.

In an extremely rare maneuver, Paramount recently resumed production on “Where’s Marlowe” in order to expand the 53-minute pilot into a feature-length film that the producers hope will win theatrical release.

That meant going back to work on the project--which features Miguel Ferrer, Dante Beze and John Livingston--roughly two years after they initially worked on the pilot and more than 18 months since ABC decided the show wouldn’t make its prime-time schedule.

“Where’s Marlowe” focuses on a pair of young documentary filmmakers making a movie about a Hollywood private eye and in the process becoming involved in solving his case. The project is shot in documentary style.

“When their camera breaks, they use an 8-millimeter [lens], and so do we,” says John Mankiewicz, who wrote the pilot with director Dan Pyne.

“Part of the reason that ABC balked at this is it was not a traditional form of storytelling,” adds Aaron Lipstadt, who’s producing “Marlowe” with Mankiewicz and Pyne, having worked together previously on the ABC series “The Marshal.”

Surprised ABC had ordered the pilot in the first place, the trio kept seeking some way to revive the project. Once Paramount gave the go-ahead to shoot an additional 45 minutes, the producers had little trouble reassembling the cast.

“Everybody had a really good time, and we kept them abreast of this dream to make it into a movie,” says Lipstadt.

Paramount’s network television arm spent about $2 million on the pilot and will allocate roughly that much more to turn the existing footage into the equivalent of a low-budget feature. Paramount’s film division will get first crack at distributing the movie, but if they pass it will be shopped to other studios.

“It’s one of my favorite unsold pilots,” says Paramount Television Group Chairman Kerry McCluggage. “It was really well done . . . a little jewel.”

The move isn’t entirely unprecedented. Fifteen years ago, during McCluggage’s tenure at Universal Television, the studio theatrically released a passed-over NBC pilot entitled “Nightmares,” which featured Emilio Estevez.

Still, that was a completed movie-length project. In this case, Paramount had not only to retrieve the pilot but renew production. According to Lipstadt, nothing will be scrapped in turning the concept--meant to run week after week--into a one-shot movie.

“We’re using everything we have,” he says. “We’re being very resourceful about it.”

The producers’ experience with “Where’s Marlowe” demonstrates the blurring of lines between television and features, while underscoring the novel ways producers fight to showcase pilots deemed not ready for prime time. As an example, another one-time ABC prototype--”Dear Diary,” starring “Cheers’ ” Bebe Neuwirth and written by David Frankel--was exhibited in film festivals during 1996, qualifying for (and ultimately winning) last year’s Oscar as outstanding film short.

“We’re probably the first TV pilot ever to get nominated [for an Oscar], and I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re the last,” Frankel said after the nominations were announced.

Or maybe not. Paramount can make business sense of taking a stab with “Marlowe,” offsetting some of its investment by steering the pay TV rights to Showtime, another holding of its parent company Viacom.

Still, McCluggage says the decision was driven by “purely an enthusiasm and love for the project.” He also stressed that Paramount doesn’t plan to make a habit of trying to parlay its TV also-rans into features.

“I don’t think it applies to every failed pilot,” McCluggage says. “This is in our eyes a very special one.”