Greg Berlanti: I sounded "like a crazy person" begging Lifetime to renew You

Variety

Berlanti recalled that it took many years for You to become a massive hit on Netflix. “We pitched it and sold it to Showtime of all places, but…once they read the script, they were really cool about saying, ‘You can take it somewhere else,’” Berlanti said at the INTV conference in Jerusalem. He then turned to Lifetime, which “wanted to make it, and we shot it, and because of their launch cycle it sat in the can for a while for two-and-a-half years. Then they finally started to release it, and it didn’t do very well.” He added: “You go into offices and sound like a crazy person: ‘I still think it’s going to work, I still think it’s going to work – maybe one more episode, maybe if people have a chance to see five more episodes.” When Lifetime decided against a Season 2 renewal, Berlanti said Netflix stepped in and bought the show and “assured us they would do a second season.”