There's a name for it: "broken pilot."

They are hardly the minority in Hollywood. In fact, there are far more broken pilots lying around Hollywood than pilots picked up for television series. And once every network passes on a show, it's as good as dead.

But don't tell that to Josh Friedman.

The former "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" showrunner thinks he has struck gold in his pilot he adapted from the Joe Hill comic series Locke & Key, and he plans on leaving it up to the fans to decide.

Friedman showed the pilot to Fox, Syfy and The CW (they all passed on it). But now he plans to show it to fans at San Diego Comic-Con in July. And he's hoping, just hoping, that there might be someone in the audience impressed with the fan reaction, and is willing to invest in a series.

It's not clear whether Friedman really believes that a showing at Comic-Con could achieve the near-impossible -- bringing a broken pilot from the ashes. But at the very least, the move is bound to boost comic book sales for the Locke & Key series, which wouldn't be a bad thing for a convention whose origins were based on comic books.

The story, according to Entertainment Weekly, centers on a family who moves to New England, only to find itself entangled in "supernatural mysteries." It didn't seem work too well for some critics, although Hill -- the creator -- said Friedman's pilot was very similar to J.J. Abrams recent hit "Super 8."

Friedman should get some strong fan support of "Locke & Key" at Comic-Con. He is popular among genre fans, especially those who felt he got railroaded a bit with how Fox handled "Sarah Connor." That's despite the fact that fans had to forgive him for the screenplay of the 2005 film "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise.

The schedule for Comic-Con has yet to be finalized, but more details can be found at Comic-Con.org.