*I am not a spokesman for smgo.tv or its creators, just an enthusiastic admirer of their potential to resurrect “The Borgias”.*

The Miracles of Show Must Go On... And Patience

The world we live in is unfair so it is only fitting that the TV landscape is equally so. A TV sphere that the Jeremy Irons drama “The Borgias” ends unceremoniously, the Glenn Close thriller “Damages” is cancelled, the hilarious idiosyncratic comedy “Arrested Development” concludes prematurely and the unique, cult “Veronica Mars” is axed remorselessly is not only unfair: it is INTOLERABLE. All four shows were not mega-hits with audiences (still, “The Borgias” exhibited remarkable steadiness, being the highest-rated drama to have ever been cancelled by SHO), but they were critical darlings with the followings of their viewers not being just fans but fanatics. But to no avail…

Or not? “Damages” returned with a lavish two-season renewal, courtesy of DirecTV's reputation for saving overlooked gems, “A. D.” was revived by a brand-establishing Netflix and “Veronica Mars” is ready to amaze movie-goers with a Kickstarter-funded film soon to be released. Perhaps fans of “The Borgias” could still hope for an eventual conclusion if only Netflix and Kickstarter had a baby…

But don’t they? Show Must Go On (smgo.tv) doesn’t really mean much to the uninitiated. This web platform is a relatively new effort planning to make a name by giving the upper hand to viewers and fans of shows gone at their prime. It is largely untested but the business background of its creators and its welcoming design could very well mean that this could be the NEXT BIG THING. It is in effect a harmonious fusion of Netflix and Kickstarter: whereas Netflix is a streaming service and Kickstarter a money-raising platform for otherwise risky projects, SMGO.tv is a streaming site with a slate decided by fans and largely funded by them.

One Platform Under God

Fans of “The Borgias” proved able to convince the SMGO team to pick the recently cancelled show as a candidate for rescue. The actual, current clout of SMGO is such that no promises can be made but if there is a chance to save the show by popular acclamation (as opposed to a whim of the show business, such as creator Neil Jordan raising the funds alone to bring it back or a studio suddenly deciding to) THIS IS IT.

Now, how exactly would this platform work? The way I understand it, the SMGO machine makes the studio responsible AN OFFER THEY CAN’T REFUSE (no horse’s head included) but before I can go into specifics, after having carefully studied the website’s FAQ and knowing a thing or two about the television business, I first need to clarify how a show is normally born.

In Loco Network-is

Ideally, a production company employs artists/executives that provide ideas to be then developed into full-fledged projects for a network to consider and possibly acquire: PROSPECTIVE SERIES. Consequently: before the studio can green-light the production of a script (which significantly increases the chances of the project one day airing), someone, commonly a network, first purchases the rights to debut the footage, thus eliminating, at least partially, the business risk for the production company. Keep in mind that the broadcasting fees, typically paid by a network to a production company, are nowhere near enough to cover the entire cost of production, since they are only meant for the purchasing of the rights to premiere (and possibly even repeat) the shot footage (a pilot, several episodes, an entire season or multiple seasons), while the studio remains the owner of the product and the various rights on it, namely the rights to sell the show internationally or release it for the home market (DVDs, Blu-Rays), to manufacture merchandise (soundtrack, t-shirts, actions figures, video games etc), to license it for film/stage/literary adaptations and so on, which WILL in most likelihood REIMBURSE the studio in the short run. In 2 words: a production company WILL MAKE IT if a network pays to AIR IT.

A simple example: a studio estimates that a show would cost, say, roughly $ 45 million per 10-episode season or $ 4,5 million per episode to produce (like “The Borgias” did). To ACTUALLY PRODUCE it, it would need assurance that a network would be willing to pay a sum to air it, a sum (considerably) below the production cost per episode. Were the studio sure that the network would pay, say, $ 1 million per episode to air it (a large sum, usually paid for high-profile, likely-to-succeed shows, representing an over 20% contribution to the production on behalf of the network), then it would DEFINITELY proceed with said show’s production.

Show Must Go On And It Will If You Vote...

How does SMGO fit into this? Quite simply SMGO, in lieu of a network, acquires the broadcasting fees thus making it worthwhile for a production company to revive the show. In the case of “The Borgias” SMGO would, through a gradual process, A) ascertain the fanbase’s willingness to save the show by means of a public vote (they need to know that there are at least a few thousand of us out there willing to pay to watch new episodes), B) contact the studio to learn whether resurrecting the show is at all viable (a studio won’t agree if, for example, its parent company is already prepping a remake) and C) return to the fanbase to fund the purchase of the airing fees for future installments, ensuring the production company that it all makes financial sense. In short: if enough people vote (The Borgias | smgo.tv) then SMGO will take our plea to the studio heads along with a promise to buy the airing fees of any future outing(s), which will entice them into FRONTING THE REMAINDER OF THE PRODUCTION COSTS.

...And Pay

It goes without saying that SMGO doesn’t individually have the means to purchase the broadcasting fees once the vote target has been met. That’s when the fans come in: through a process similar to Kickstarter, a crowd-funding goal with a 3-month deadline on it is set by the SMGO team in league (and in a legally binding contract) with the production company, based on business estimations and considerations. SMGO, depending on the fans’ consultation and suggestions and in agreement with the parent studio which is the holder of the show's merchandising rights, prepares several packages of possible donations or "reward packs", practically pre-selling the revived show’s future merchandise. To make it better, instead of instantly paying the money, fans merely pledge or promise to give certain sums of their own choosing, sums that are only debited once the fundraising goal has been met. To put it simply: YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY, if the total of the pledges made don’t suffice to meet the goal set.

To sum it up, by choosing a certain package and pledging to donate, for example, $ 20, one could pre-purchase a “The Borgias Season 4” DVD box set or a T-Shirt with the show’s logo on it or a "The Borgias Season 4" coffee mug and so on, which means that you don't merely donate money to rescue the show: YOU GET YOUR MONEY'S WORTH (the show back) AND THEN SOME (the show's wares). It seems perfectly harmless and PayPal seems to be guaranteeing the safety of any transaction.

Not Apocalypse Now

Let’s dispense with pretending that we liked “The Borgia Apocalypse” screenplay, released as an e-book last August. To be fair, it was only a draft and by no means a shooting script but FANS NEED NOT FEAR: SMGO intends to, if all goes well, bring the show back for, at worst, a two-hour MOVIE, at best, a MINISERIES. For that to happen the production company will, if convinced to revive the show, commission a new script or at least a rewrite of the “The Borgia Apocalypse” screenplay.

I'll Bring This House Crashing Down Around Your Ears… But I'll Keep the Pieces Intact

The show’s sets having been torn down and the props/costumes popping up elsewhere (on James Faulkner’s Pope Sixtus on “Da Vinci’s Demons” for instance), fans are admittedly worried that to decide to resurrect the show is now unfeasible, but in that scenario the production would have to be reconceived any way and it is highly likely that the entire production infrastructure has not been completely destroyed but merely disassembled and subsequently stored and digitally archived, as is common practice with big-budget productions.

Bank(able) Bang!

Finally, hearing that Jeremy Irons or Francois Arnaud or Holliday Grainger has been cast in the X or Y prestigious project (and that doesn’t apply to Francois's candidacy for the lead in the screen adaptation of the trashiest, most insulting-to-reason-and-taste novel of all time) doesn’t really have any bearing on any future revival of the show. On the contrary, actors have to keep being busy and bankable for any studio to find the idea of reuniting them for “The Borgias” commercially attractive. Believe me, even if working around their schedule may prove tricky, that isn’t a code their agents can’t crack!

*I am not a spokesman for the smgo.tv website or its creators, merely an enthusiastic admirer of their potential to bring back “The Borgias”.*

*I am not a spokesman for smgo.tv or its creators, just an enthusiastic admirer of their potential to resurrect “The Borgias”.*

The Miracles of Show Must Go On... And Patience

The world we live in is unfair so it is only fitting that the TV landscape is equally so. A TV sphere that the Jeremy Irons drama “The Borgias” ends unceremoniously, the Glenn Close thriller “Damages” is cancelled, the hilarious idiosyncratic comedy “Arrested Development” concludes prematurely and the unique, cult “Veronica Mars” is axed remorselessly is not only unfair: it is INTOLERABLE. All four shows were not mega-hits with audiences (still, “The Borgias” exhibited remarkable steadiness, being the highest-rated drama to have ever been cancelled by SHO), but they were critical darlings with the followings of their viewers not being just fans but fanatics. But to no avail…

Or not? “Damages” returned with a lavish two-season renewal, courtesy of DirecTV's reputation for saving overlooked gems, “A. D.” was revived by a brand-establishing Netflix and “Veronica Mars” is ready to amaze movie-goers with a Kickstarter-funded film soon to be released. Perhaps fans of “The Borgias” could still hope for an eventual conclusion if only Netflix and Kickstarter had a baby…

But don’t they? Show Must Go On (smgo.tv) doesn’t really mean much to the uninitiated. This web platform is a relatively new effort planning to make a name by giving the upper hand to viewers and fans of shows gone at their prime. It is largely untested but the business background of its creators and its welcoming design could very well mean that this could be the NEXT BIG THING. It is in effect a harmonious fusion of Netflix and Kickstarter: whereas Netflix is a streaming service and Kickstarter a money-raising platform for otherwise risky projects, SMGO.tv is a streaming site with a slate decided by fans and largely funded by them.

One Platform Under God

Fans of “The Borgias” proved able to convince the SMGO team to pick the recently cancelled show as a candidate for rescue. The actual, current clout of SMGO is such that no promises can be made but if there is a chance to save the show by popular acclamation (as opposed to a whim of the show business, such as creator Neil Jordan raising the funds alone to bring it back or a studio suddenly deciding to) THIS IS IT.

Now, how exactly would this platform work? The way I understand it, the SMGO machine makes the studio responsible AN OFFER THEY CAN’T REFUSE (no horse’s head included) but before I can go into specifics, after having carefully studied the website’s FAQ and knowing a thing or two about the television business, I first need to clarify how a show is normally born.

In Loco Network-is

Ideally, a production company employs artists/executives that provide ideas to be then developed into full-fledged projects for a network to consider and possibly acquire: PROSPECTIVE SERIES. Consequently: before the studio can green-light the production of a script (which significantly increases the chances of the project one day airing), someone, commonly a network, first purchases the rights to debut the footage, thus eliminating, at least partially, the business risk for the production company. Keep in mind that the broadcasting fees, typically paid by a network to a production company, are nowhere near enough to cover the entire cost of production, since they are only meant for the purchasing of the rights to premiere (and possibly even repeat) the shot footage (a pilot, several episodes, an entire season or multiple seasons), while the studio remains the owner of the product and the various rights on it, namely the rights to sell the show internationally or release it for the home market (DVDs, Blu-Rays), to manufacture merchandise (soundtrack, t-shirts, actions figures, video games etc), to license it for film/stage/literary adaptations and so on, which WILL in most likelihood REIMBURSE the studio in the short run. In 2 words: a production company WILL MAKE IT if a network pays to AIR IT.

A simple example: a studio estimates that a show would cost, say, roughly $ 45 million per 10-episode season or $ 4,5 million per episode to produce (like “The Borgias” did). To ACTUALLY PRODUCE it, it would need assurance that a network would be willing to pay a sum to air it, a sum (considerably) below the production cost per episode. Were the studio sure that the network would pay, say, $ 1 million per episode to air it (a large sum, usually paid for high-profile, likely-to-succeed shows, representing an over 20% contribution to the production on behalf of the network), then it would DEFINITELY proceed with said show’s production.

Show Must Go On And It Will If You Vote...

How does SMGO fit into this? Quite simply SMGO, in lieu of a network, acquires the broadcasting fees thus making it worthwhile for a production company to revive the show. In the case of “The Borgias” SMGO would, through a gradual process, A) ascertain the fanbase’s willingness to save the show by means of a public vote (they need to know that there are at least a few thousand of us out there willing to pay to watch new episodes), B) contact the studio to learn whether resurrecting the show is at all viable (a studio won’t agree if, for example, its parent company is already prepping a remake) and C) return to the fanbase to fund the purchase of the airing fees for future installments, ensuring the production company that it all makes financial sense. In short: if enough people vote (The Borgias | smgo.tv) then SMGO will take our plea to the studio heads along with a promise to buy the airing fees of any future outing(s), which will entice them into FRONTING THE REMAINDER OF THE PRODUCTION COSTS.

...And Pay

It goes without saying that SMGO doesn’t individually have the means to purchase the broadcasting fees once the vote target has been met. That’s when the fans come in: through a process similar to Kickstarter, a crowd-funding goal with a 3-month deadline on it is set by the SMGO team in league (and in a legally binding contract) with the production company, based on business estimations and considerations. SMGO, depending on the fans’ consultation and suggestions and in agreement with the parent studio which is the holder of the show's merchandising rights, prepares several packages of possible donations or "reward packs", practically pre-selling the revived show’s future merchandise. To make it better, instead of instantly paying the money, fans merely pledge or promise to give certain sums of their own choosing, sums that are only debited once the fundraising goal has been met. To put it simply: YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY, if the total of the pledges made don’t suffice to meet the goal set.

To sum it up, by choosing a certain package and pledging to donate, for example, $ 20, one could pre-purchase a “The Borgias Season 4” DVD box set or a T-Shirt with the show’s logo on it or a "The Borgias Season 4" coffee mug and so on, which means that you don't merely donate money to rescue the show: YOU GET YOUR MONEY'S WORTH (the show back) AND THEN SOME (the show's wares). It seems perfectly harmless and PayPal seems to be guaranteeing the safety of any transaction.

Not Apocalypse Now

Let’s dispense with pretending that we liked “The Borgia Apocalypse” screenplay, released as an e-book last August. To be fair, it was only a draft and by no means a shooting script but FANS NEED NOT FEAR: SMGO intends to, if all goes well, bring the show back for, at worst, a two-hour MOVIE, at best, a MINISERIES. For that to happen the production company will, if convinced to revive the show, commission a new script or at least a rewrite of the “The Borgia Apocalypse” screenplay.

I'll Bring This House Crashing Down Around Your Ears… But I'll Keep the Pieces Intact

The show’s sets having been torn down and the props/costumes popping up elsewhere (on James Faulkner’s Pope Sixtus on “Da Vinci’s Demons” for instance), fans are admittedly worried that to decide to resurrect the show is now unfeasible, but in that scenario the production would have to be reconceived any way and it is highly likely that the entire production infrastructure has not been completely destroyed but merely disassembled and subsequently stored and digitally archived, as is common practice with big-budget productions.

Bank(able) Bang!

Finally, hearing that Jeremy Irons or Francois Arnaud or Holliday Grainger has been cast in the X or Y prestigious project (and that doesn’t apply to Francois's candidacy for the lead in the screen adaptation of the trashiest, most insulting-to-reason-and-taste novel of all time) doesn’t really have any bearing on any future revival of the show. On the contrary, actors have to keep being busy and bankable for any studio to find the idea of reuniting them for “The Borgias” commercially attractive. Believe me, even if working around their schedule may prove tricky, that isn’t a code their agents can’t crack!

*I am not a spokesman for the smgo.tv website or its creators, merely an enthusiastic admirer of their potential to bring back “The Borgias”.*

*I am not a spokesman for smgo.tv or its creators, just an enthusiastic admirer of their potential to resurrect “The Borgias”.*

The Miracles of Show Must Go On... And Patience

The world we live in is unfair so it is only fitting that the TV landscape is equally so. A TV sphere that the Jeremy Irons drama “The Borgias” ends unceremoniously, the Glenn Close thriller “Damages” is cancelled, the hilarious idiosyncratic comedy “Arrested Development” concludes prematurely and the unique, cult “Veronica Mars” is axed remorselessly is not only unfair: it is INTOLERABLE. All four shows were not mega-hits with audiences (still, “The Borgias” exhibited remarkable steadiness, being the highest-rated drama to have ever been cancelled by SHO), but they were critical darlings with the followings of their viewers not being just fans but fanatics. But to no avail…

Or not? “Damages” returned with a lavish two-season renewal, courtesy of DirecTV's reputation for saving overlooked gems, “A. D.” was revived by a brand-establishing Netflix and “Veronica Mars” is ready to amaze movie-goers with a Kickstarter-funded film soon to be released. Perhaps fans of “The Borgias” could still hope for an eventual conclusion if only Netflix and Kickstarter had a baby…

But don’t they? Show Must Go On (smgo.tv) doesn’t really mean much to the uninitiated. This web platform is a relatively new effort planning to make a name by giving the upper hand to viewers and fans of shows gone at their prime. It is largely untested but the business background of its creators and its welcoming design could very well mean that this could be the NEXT BIG THING. It is in effect a harmonious fusion of Netflix and Kickstarter: whereas Netflix is a streaming service and Kickstarter a money-raising platform for otherwise risky projects, SMGO.tv is a streaming site with a slate decided by fans and largely funded by them.

One Platform Under God

Fans of “The Borgias” proved able to convince the SMGO team to pick the recently cancelled show as a candidate for rescue. The actual, current clout of SMGO is such that no promises can be made but if there is a chance to save the show by popular acclamation (as opposed to a whim of the show business, such as creator Neil Jordan raising the funds alone to bring it back or a studio suddenly deciding to) THIS IS IT.

Now, how exactly would this platform work? The way I understand it, the SMGO machine makes the studio responsible AN OFFER THEY CAN’T REFUSE (no horse’s head included) but before I can go into specifics, after having carefully studied the website’s FAQ and knowing a thing or two about the television business, I first need to clarify how a show is normally born.

In Loco Network-is

Ideally, a production company employs artists/executives that provide ideas to be then developed into full-fledged projects for a network to consider and possibly acquire: PROSPECTIVE SERIES. Consequently: before the studio can green-light the production of a script (which significantly increases the chances of the project one day airing), someone, commonly a network, first purchases the rights to debut the footage, thus eliminating, at least partially, the business risk for the production company. Keep in mind that the broadcasting fees, typically paid by a network to a production company, are nowhere near enough to cover the entire cost of production, since they are only meant for the purchasing of the rights to premiere (and possibly even repeat) the shot footage (a pilot, several episodes, an entire season or multiple seasons), while the studio remains the owner of the product and the various rights on it, namely the rights to sell the show internationally or release it for the home market (DVDs, Blu-Rays), to manufacture merchandise (soundtrack, t-shirts, actions figures, video games etc), to license it for film/stage/literary adaptations and so on, which WILL in most likelihood REIMBURSE the studio in the short run. In 2 words: a production company WILL MAKE IT if a network pays to AIR IT.

A simple example: a studio estimates that a show would cost, say, roughly $ 45 million per 10-episode season or $ 4,5 million per episode to produce (like “The Borgias” did). To ACTUALLY PRODUCE it, it would need assurance that a network would be willing to pay a sum to air it, a sum (considerably) below the production cost per episode. Were the studio sure that the network would pay, say, $ 1 million per episode to air it (a large sum, usually paid for high-profile, likely-to-succeed shows, representing an over 20% contribution to the production on behalf of the network), then it would DEFINITELY proceed with said show’s production.

Show Must Go On And It Will If You Vote...

How does SMGO fit into this? Quite simply SMGO, in lieu of a network, acquires the broadcasting fees thus making it worthwhile for a production company to revive the show. In the case of “The Borgias” SMGO would, through a gradual process, A) ascertain the fanbase’s willingness to save the show by means of a public vote (they need to know that there are at least a few thousand of us out there willing to pay to watch new episodes), B) contact the studio to learn whether resurrecting the show is at all viable (a studio won’t agree if, for example, its parent company is already prepping a remake) and C) return to the fanbase to fund the purchase of the airing fees for future installments, ensuring the production company that it all makes financial sense. In short: if enough people vote (The Borgias | smgo.tv) then SMGO will take our plea to the studio heads along with a promise to buy the airing fees of any future outing(s), which will entice them into FRONTING THE REMAINDER OF THE PRODUCTION COSTS.

...And Pay

It goes without saying that SMGO doesn’t individually have the means to purchase the broadcasting fees once the vote target has been met. That’s when the fans come in: through a process similar to Kickstarter, a crowd-funding goal with a 3-month deadline on it is set by the SMGO team in league (and in a legally binding contract) with the production company, based on business estimations and considerations. SMGO, depending on the fans’ consultation and suggestions and in agreement with the parent studio which is the holder of the show's merchandising rights, prepares several packages of possible donations or "reward packs", practically pre-selling the revived show’s future merchandise. To make it better, instead of instantly paying the money, fans merely pledge or promise to give certain sums of their own choosing, sums that are only debited once the fundraising goal has been met. To put it simply: YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY, if the total of the pledges made don’t suffice to meet the goal set.

To sum it up, by choosing a certain package and pledging to donate, for example, $ 20, one could pre-purchase a “The Borgias Season 4” DVD box set or a T-Shirt with the show’s logo on it or a "The Borgias Season 4" coffee mug and so on, which means that you don't merely donate money to rescue the show: YOU GET YOUR MONEY'S WORTH (the show back) AND THEN SOME (the show's wares). It seems perfectly harmless and PayPal seems to be guaranteeing the safety of any transaction.

Not Apocalypse Now

Let’s dispense with pretending that we liked “The Borgia Apocalypse” screenplay, released as an e-book last August. To be fair, it was only a draft and by no means a shooting script but FANS NEED NOT FEAR: SMGO intends to, if all goes well, bring the show back for, at worst, a two-hour MOVIE, at best, a MINISERIES. For that to happen the production company will, if convinced to revive the show, commission a new script or at least a rewrite of the “The Borgia Apocalypse” screenplay.

I'll Bring This House Crashing Down Around Your Ears… But I'll Keep the Pieces Intact

The show’s sets having been torn down and the props/costumes popping up elsewhere (on James Faulkner’s Pope Sixtus on “Da Vinci’s Demons” for instance), fans are admittedly worried that to decide to resurrect the show is now unfeasible, but in that scenario the production would have to be reconceived any way and it is highly likely that the entire production infrastructure has not been completely destroyed but merely disassembled and subsequently stored and digitally archived, as is common practice with big-budget productions.

Bank(able) Bang!

Finally, hearing that Jeremy Irons or Francois Arnaud or Holliday Grainger has been cast in the X or Y prestigious project (and that doesn’t apply to Francois's candidacy for the lead in the screen adaptation of the trashiest, most insulting-to-reason-and-taste novel of all time) doesn’t really have any bearing on any future revival of the show. On the contrary, actors have to keep being busy and bankable for any studio to find the idea of reuniting them for “The Borgias” commercially attractive. Believe me, even if working around their schedule may prove tricky, that isn’t a code their agents can’t crack!

*I am not a spokesman for the smgo.tv website or its creators, merely an enthusiastic admirer of their potential to bring back “The Borgias”.*

*I am not a spokesman for smgo.tv or its creators, just an enthusiastic admirer of their potential to resurrect “The Borgias”.*

The Miracles of Show Must Go On... And Patience

The world we live in is unfair so it is only fitting that the TV landscape is equally so. A TV sphere that the Jeremy Irons drama “The Borgias” ends unceremoniously, the Glenn Close thriller “Damages” is cancelled, the hilarious idiosyncratic comedy “Arrested Development” concludes prematurely and the unique, cult “Veronica Mars” is axed remorselessly is not only unfair: it is INTOLERABLE. All four shows were not mega-hits with audiences (still, “The Borgias” exhibited remarkable steadiness, being the highest-rated drama to have ever been cancelled by SHO), but they were critical darlings with the followings of their viewers not being just fans but fanatics. But to no avail…

Or not? “Damages” returned with a lavish two-season renewal, courtesy of DirecTV's reputation for saving overlooked gems, “A. D.” was revived by a brand-establishing Netflix and “Veronica Mars” is ready to amaze movie-goers with a Kickstarter-funded film soon to be released. Perhaps fans of “The Borgias” could still hope for an eventual conclusion if only Netflix and Kickstarter had a baby…

But don’t they? Show Must Go On (smgo.tv) doesn’t really mean much to the uninitiated. This web platform is a relatively new effort planning to make a name by giving the upper hand to viewers and fans of shows gone at their prime. It is largely untested but the business background of its creators and its welcoming design could very well mean that this could be the NEXT BIG THING. It is in effect a harmonious fusion of Netflix and Kickstarter: whereas Netflix is a streaming service and Kickstarter a money-raising platform for otherwise risky projects, SMGO.tv is a streaming site with a slate decided by fans and largely funded by them.

One Platform Under God

Fans of “The Borgias” proved able to convince the SMGO team to pick the recently cancelled show as a candidate for rescue. The actual, current clout of SMGO is such that no promises can be made but if there is a chance to save the show by popular acclamation (as opposed to a whim of the show business, such as creator Neil Jordan raising the funds alone to bring it back or a studio suddenly deciding to) THIS IS IT.

Now, how exactly would this platform work? The way I understand it, the SMGO machine makes the studio responsible AN OFFER THEY CAN’T REFUSE (no horse’s head included) but before I can go into specifics, after having carefully studied the website’s FAQ and knowing a thing or two about the television business, I first need to clarify how a show is normally born.

In Loco Network-is

Ideally, a production company employs artists/executives that provide ideas to be then developed into full-fledged projects for a network to consider and possibly acquire: PROSPECTIVE SERIES. Consequently: before the studio can green-light the production of a script (which significantly increases the chances of the project one day airing), someone, commonly a network, first purchases the rights to debut the footage, thus eliminating, at least partially, the business risk for the production company. Keep in mind that the broadcasting fees, typically paid by a network to a production company, are nowhere near enough to cover the entire cost of production, since they are only meant for the purchasing of the rights to premiere (and possibly even repeat) the shot footage (a pilot, several episodes, an entire season or multiple seasons), while the studio remains the owner of the product and the various rights on it, namely the rights to sell the show internationally or release it for the home market (DVDs, Blu-Rays), to manufacture merchandise (soundtrack, t-shirts, actions figures, video games etc), to license it for film/stage/literary adaptations and so on, which WILL in most likelihood REIMBURSE the studio in the short run. In 2 words: a production company WILL MAKE IT if a network pays to AIR IT.

A simple example: a studio estimates that a show would cost, say, roughly $ 45 million per 10-episode season or $ 4,5 million per episode to produce (like “The Borgias” did). To ACTUALLY PRODUCE it, it would need assurance that a network would be willing to pay a sum to air it, a sum (considerably) below the production cost per episode. Were the studio sure that the network would pay, say, $ 1 million per episode to air it (a large sum, usually paid for high-profile, likely-to-succeed shows, representing an over 20% contribution to the production on behalf of the network), then it would DEFINITELY proceed with said show’s production.

Show Must Go On And It Will If You Vote...

How does SMGO fit into this? Quite simply SMGO, in lieu of a network, acquires the broadcasting fees thus making it worthwhile for a production company to revive the show. In the case of “The Borgias” SMGO would, through a gradual process, A) ascertain the fanbase’s willingness to save the show by means of a public vote (they need to know that there are at least a few thousand of us out there willing to pay to watch new episodes), B) contact the studio to learn whether resurrecting the show is at all viable (a studio won’t agree if, for example, its parent company is already prepping a remake) and C) return to the fanbase to fund the purchase of the airing fees for future installments, ensuring the production company that it all makes financial sense. In short: if enough people vote (The Borgias | smgo.tv) then SMGO will take our plea to the studio heads along with a promise to buy the airing fees of any future outing(s), which will entice them into FRONTING THE REMAINDER OF THE PRODUCTION COSTS.

...And Pay

It goes without saying that SMGO doesn’t individually have the means to purchase the broadcasting fees once the vote target has been met. That’s when the fans come in: through a process similar to Kickstarter, a crowd-funding goal with a 3-month deadline on it is set by the SMGO team in league (and in a legally binding contract) with the production company, based on business estimations and considerations. SMGO, depending on the fans’ consultation and suggestions and in agreement with the parent studio which is the holder of the show's merchandising rights, prepares several packages of possible donations or "reward packs", practically pre-selling the revived show’s future merchandise. To make it better, instead of instantly paying the money, fans merely pledge or promise to give certain sums of their own choosing, sums that are only debited once the fundraising goal has been met. To put it simply: YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY, if the total of the pledges made don’t suffice to meet the goal set.

To sum it up, by choosing a certain package and pledging to donate, for example, $ 20, one could pre-purchase a “The Borgias Season 4” DVD box set or a T-Shirt with the show’s logo on it or a "The Borgias Season 4" coffee mug and so on, which means that you don't merely donate money to rescue the show: YOU GET YOUR MONEY'S WORTH (the show back) AND THEN SOME (the show's wares). It seems perfectly harmless and PayPal seems to be guaranteeing the safety of any transaction.

Not Apocalypse Now

Let’s dispense with pretending that we liked “The Borgia Apocalypse” screenplay, released as an e-book last August. To be fair, it was only a draft and by no means a shooting script but FANS NEED NOT FEAR: SMGO intends to, if all goes well, bring the show back for, at worst, a two-hour MOVIE, at best, a MINISERIES. For that to happen the production company will, if convinced to revive the show, commission a new script or at least a rewrite of the “The Borgia Apocalypse” screenplay.

I'll Bring This House Crashing Down Around Your Ears… But I'll Keep the Pieces Intact

The show’s sets having been torn down and the props/costumes popping up elsewhere (on James Faulkner’s Pope Sixtus on “Da Vinci’s Demons” for instance), fans are admittedly worried that to decide to resurrect the show is now unfeasible, but in that scenario the production would have to be reconceived any way and it is highly likely that the entire production infrastructure has not been completely destroyed but merely disassembled and subsequently stored and digitally archived, as is common practice with big-budget productions.

Bank(able) Bang!

Finally, hearing that Jeremy Irons or Francois Arnaud or Holliday Grainger has been cast in the X or Y prestigious project (and that doesn’t apply to Francois's candidacy for the lead in the screen adaptation of the trashiest, most insulting-to-reason-and-taste novel of all time) doesn’t really have any bearing on any future revival of the show. On the contrary, actors have to keep being busy and bankable for any studio to find the idea of reuniting them for “The Borgias” commercially attractive. Believe me, even if working around their schedule may prove tricky, that isn’t a code their agents can’t crack!

*I am not a spokesman for the smgo.tv website or its creators, merely an enthusiastic admirer of their potential to bring back “The Borgias”.*