How's this for irony?
A sacked TV pilot about a large number of people who stay in touch through an underground data network has popped up on ... well, an underground data network.
The WB television network passed on the pilot for Global Frequency, a sci-fi adventure series based on the graphic novel by English scribe Warren Ellis.
But that didn't stop someone from leaking the pilot on the internet. The file eventually found its way into the BitTorrent network.
Over the last couple of weeks, enough people have downloaded and viewed the pilot online to give producers hope that TV executives might take a second look at the show.
"There's a large and growing fan base for a show that never aired," said John Rogers, the show's writer and executive producer, on Wednesday. "Now I have an extra 10,000 hits a week on my website, and I've got to figure out what to do here."
Rogers, who said he had nothing to do with the leak, has already received 350 e-mails from people praising the show. He said he would like to release the pilot as a DVD.
"If that's successful, that's a pretty good argument to pick up the show," he said.
Of course, the decision to broadcast the show is up to Warner Bros., which owns the rights to the pilot. The studio declined to comment about the future possibility of airing the show. However, it wasn't shy this week about slamming the BitTorrent leak.
"Whether the pilot was picked up or not, it is still the property of Warner Bros. Entertainment and we take the protection of all of our intellectual property seriously," said Craig Hoffman, a company spokesman. "While Warner Bros. Entertainment values feedback from consumers, copyright infringement is not a productive way to try to influence a corporate decision."
Hoffman added that the pilot's unauthorized distribution is "unacceptable and illegal ... no matter what the underlying motives" and said the company hasn't ruled out taking legal action "when it comes to stopping the illegal distribution of our copyright material."
The show's plot revolves around Global Frequency, a secretive global organization comprised of 1,001 members, who each possess a special talent they use to fight bizarre world threats.
The leader of Global Frequency is the enigmatic Miranda Zero, played by actress Michelle Forbes. (Forbes is fast building a tech-geek pedigree: She's also the voice of Dr. Judith Mossman in the video game Half Life 2).
The pilot's creative team, meanwhile, is a who's who of Hollywood and TV heavyweights, including reality-show king Mark Burnett (The Apprentice), writer Diego Gutierrez (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson's Creek), and director Nelson McCormick (Alias and Third Watch).
In describing the show, blogger Chuck Lawson wrote, "imagine the X-Files has world-class sex with Alias, and produces a mutant offspring with a taste for crank that lives 20 minutes in the future."
But with the current buzz wholly the result of unauthorized peer-to-peer activity, show creators are a bit unsure how to proceed.
"I'm officially against downloading files when they violate the laws of the country you live in," Rogers said on Wednesday.
On his June 19 blog, Rogers wrote that "illegal file-sharing is a bad, bad thing, and I in no way encourage it.... All references to downloading sites will be immediately deleted from ... this website. You, despite your enthusiasm, should be ashamed of yourselves. Ashamed."
In his June 21 blog post, he asked people to "spread the word (but not the file. Bad TV audience. Baaaaaad)."
P2P advocates aren't surprised that Rogers would ask fans not to trade the file even though that very activity seems to be helping his cause.
"In Hollywood, he knows he has to say those words or get thrown off the reservation," said Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "But we're seeing more and more of this. People are downloading things and clamoring to pay for it. It shows that fans want to support content, not just steal it."
Morpheus CEO Michael Weiss called the leak "just another positive example" of P2P.
"There have already been countless success stories on how musicians -- either aspiring or established -- have turned to P2P to build or reinvigorate their careers," he said. "It is not surprising that the same effect is now beginning to happen in film and TV."
Meanwhile, Global Frequency creator Ellis has chimed in on his own website, noting that "the TV pilot (is) all over the net right now, on that filthy BitTorrent thing which is illegal and nasty and I certainly don't use it to watch The Daily Show or anything.... I don't have the torrent link, and I haven't seen the pilot, so don't ask. But feel free to buy the book."
Whether all the internet buzz ultimately revives the show, Rogers said he has learned much from the leak and about the power of the internet.
"It changes the way I'll do my next project," said Rogers. If he owned the full rights, he said, "I would put my pilot out on the internet in a heartbeat. Want five more? Come buy the boxed set." He urged other creators to do the same.
"It's a model and a reminder to the next guy who comes along," he said.
Meanwhile, Rogers, who is currently busy writing big-budget screenplays such as the Transformers movie due out from Dreamworks in 2006, said he plans to try to set up some meetings with Warner Bros. in the coming weeks to discuss whether Global Frequency has a future.
For now, the ball remains firmly in Warner Bros.' court.
