​2014 could go down as the year that pilot season changed forever.

Variety reports in a huge cover story Tuesday that the Big Four broadcast networks have decided to change their ways and are experimenting with manner of new methods for bringing series to the Small Screen.

What’s en vogue? More straight-to-series orders, more pilot shoots in the summer and fall, development deals with new terms, and more writers working on more scripts.

Pilot orders are down from 102 last year to 87 this year, but Variety’s Cynthia Littleton reports that because the networks are handing out more straight-to-series orders. The amount of content being produced is relatively flat.

Much of what’s driving the changes at the networks is the perceived “talent drought” caused by increased competition from cable and streaming services. The best showrunners, writers, and actors have so many options these days that the networks are feeling a “slowdown of product,” according to the trade mag.

Fox has been leading the way into this brave new world, with chief Kevin Reilly famously declaring “RIP pilot season,” during this year’s winter TCA confab.

Fox is trying to make it easier for talent of all stripes to work with the network by removing the rigidity of the old January-April schedule.

Overall, all of the networks are hoping that the new evolving pilot season may allow for more deliberate project development and less frantic decision-making, with resources deployed more strategically, and more of a chance of a successful return on investment.

Read More: Variety

Brief Take: With increased competition and rapidly-shifting viewer habits, the Big Four networks couldn’t just talk about evolving anymore; they had to actually do it.

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