What is the Average TV Serial Episode Production Cost?
Answered by Ralph
http://hollywood-movies.yoexpert.com/movies/expert/2254.html
http://hollywood-movies.yoexpert.com/movies/
what-is-the-average-movie-budget-for-a-hollywood-m-1403.html
What TV series cost the most per episode? : television.
... Terra Nova cost "$2 million per episode" but that calculation always seems to include the initial set construction costs spread over the existing episodes. That approach doesn't seem fair, since as a show gets more seasons, that cost drops.
... Game of Thrones costs $6 million per episode.
The cost rarely drops per season and i think its actually standard that in most cases it rises per season mainly because the actors are and can demand more. if you take Friends as an example in the first season they were paid $22,500 each per episode and ended up on $1 million each per episode, so the final season of friends cost $6 million per episode just for the main cast.
... no breakdown is officially released by TV company's on costs, they are normally estimated from leaks, insider information, and guess work. the $X per episode is just to give a way for us to quickly compare one show against another as most shows have different amount of episodes per season, one show could cost $60 mil per season while another costs $40 mil per season but if that first show had 20 episodes while the other only had 10 episodes then your paying more for the show but your paying less per episode.
all $X per episode costs are estimated and an average of the cost to make the full season, some episodes will cost way more to make than others but their is no real way of finding that out as they don't give that info out. the only real info we get from costs of show are the cost of the pilot and the overall costs which i don't think ever get officially released and are just estimates.
for example Boardwalk Empire's first season had a reported budget of $50 million, it was also reported that the pilot alone cost $18 million. so if you keep these costs as fact you can say that the first episode cost $18 million and the next 11 episodes cost an average of $2.9 million each. however its simpler to read and compare if you say Boardwalk Empire cost $4.1 million per episode and most of the big initial setup costs are for the whole season anyway as sets and props get reused.
Band of Brothers clocked in at 12.5 million per episode so that's double Game of Thrones already.
Camelot on Starz reportedly cost $7 million per episode.
'The Pacific' had a $200 million budget for 10 episodes, so that works out to about $20 million per episode. ..
The most expensive per episode goes to The Pacific, which I understand isn't a full TV series, but a Mini Series.
It cost about $20 million per episode to produce.
While Band of Brothers focused on the bonding of soldiers on the battlefield, The Pacific focused on the horrors of war and how that can tear away someone's soul. To paraphrase Sledge's father, "It's not the wounds you can see that hurt so bad, but the ones you can't." ...
The 6 cast members of Friends each got paid $1 million an episode for the final two seasons, so I'm guessing those episodes could likely be the most expensive ever produced.
The pilot of Boardwalk Empire supposedly had a budget of $18 million.
Rome cost something like 10 million dollars an episode, as did Friends Season 10.
The former was due to the extremely high production costs, the latter was the high cast salaries/
Friends. The final season (or maybe two) cost $10 million per episode due to the high cost of the cast. Keep in mind that the series finale was the most watched TV episode of the last decade and a 30 second spot for just the finale was $2 million so the cost was justified. Also remember this was for a half hour show. The budgets for Rome ($9 million) and Game of Thrones ($6 million) were/are for 1 hour shows.
I know that Breaking Bad has a 3 million dollar budget per episode
Rome is the highest costing television show of all time.
9 million an episode, and that was for season one, and production costs alone. This was also in 2005 and there has already been a decent amount of inflation since then.
West Wing is one of my favorites, because apparently by the numbers as they usually ran them, it would've been cancelled after 2-3 seasons. It was kept on the air by executive order from the CEO. I've heard both "because he liked the show" and "because he knew it was hitting a very powerful demographic" - probably a bit of both.
Not the most expensive but Father of the Pride cost $1.6 million/episode. Lasted 13 episodes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3EKGBc1who" rel="nofollow
How Much Do Television Shows Cost to Produce.
Published by Sam Steele
http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/59338/sam_steele.html
and
Above the line
http://abovethelineproducer.blogspot.ca/
The craft of independent film production.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The answer varies.
It can run from the low hundreds of thousands (minimum of about $500,000 to produce a Pilot for a drama series) to the $13 Million PER EPISODE NBC paid Warner Bros. to produce the hit show ER (network average is $1.5 to $2 Million per episode for a television series). This fee covers everything associated with producing one episode from salaries to paper clips (there are on average 22 - 26 on "free" broadcast television such as NBC, ABC, CBS, etc. and 13 on cable broadcast stations such as HBO, TNT, FX, etc.).
For reference, the cost of producing television shows (on free broadcast stations) is subsidized through the sale of
advertising to sponsors. Corporations pay substantial fees to air their commercials during a specific show. Higher rated shows bring with them a higher cost to advertise on their time slot. But on the flip side, this fee exposes a company's product or message to a large potential customer base. This is what advertisers pay for.
But what about HBO - it does not have any advertising during its shows.
That's right - it doesn't. A cable network like HBO makes its money in large part through its share of cable and satellite subscriptions as well a product placement fees (a good deal for advertisers who would otherwise expect to pay upwards of $287,000 for a 30-second commercial to obtain the kind of exposure afforded through product placement on a cable show like
"The Sopranos").
A cable network's audience base is smaller and it normally costs less to produce a show aired on HBO.
But proportionally the difference in expenditure is minimal when considering the rate of advertising versus that of subscriptions and the fact that cable "seasons" are about half that of free broadcast television seasons.
"The Wire," for example, is one of HBO's most critically acclaimed and successful shows.
It costs approximately $1.5 Million to produce a single episode of that show. Another HBO show - "Deadwood" - costs about $5 Million per episode to produce. And the price is steeper for an astronomically successful show like "The Sopranos." Given such considerations, you begin to understand what a challenge it is for a new show to attract the necessary resources to produce and air.
Eschewing big name stars and employing relatively unknown actors is a consideration that may help keep overall
costs down but the minimum costs for services they render are still set by the collective bargaining process of trade unions such as the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America. Let's take a closer look...
How much do actors get paid?
Again, this varies. While James Gandolfini can command a salary of more than $800,000 for one episode of "The Sopranos" and the cast of "Friends" can each demand a cool $1 Million for a single episode, most actors do not command such
exorbitant fees.
According to one established talent manager with Executive Producer credits, an unknown actor can expect - with the
help of an agent or manager worth their commission - a fee of about $50,000 (minimum) to film a Pilot episode for a one-hour drama - and that is if they are considered a "star" on the show. After the Pilot, the salary for that same actor on that same show can drop to about $17,500 (or more) per episode. That is still a lot of money considering that a series can enter into a deal to produce 13 episodes on cable networks (e.g. $17,500 x 13) and 22-26 on free broadcast networks
($17,500 x 22 - 26). And these are rock bottom prices for unknown talent. If a show becomes successful, that same actor will have the power to request higher fees for services rendered. Note: all figures are hypothetical, can vary and do not extend to all categories of actors.
And if you wonder why a salary is higher for a Pilot (foundation episode for the series) it is because an actor must be
retained for an extended period of time to ensure availability once the Pilot is picked up and produced into a series. In other words, you pay an actor more so that he doesn't take on any more work for a set period of time.
Generally speaking, on a cost-conscious television series, salaries (for actors) can range from a minimum of (please
consult the screen actors guild basic agreement for latest information):
$ 130 per day for "background actors"
$ 759 per day for "day performers" (single line of dialogue or speech - single day of work)
$1,920 for three day performers
$3,158 - $4,188 for weekly performers
$2,828 per week for stunt coordinator (flat rate)
The main players or "stars" of the show may be paid at higher rates than those quoted here.
This is a far cry from the $50 per day many independent productions offer as compensation (if you get a paid at all). These features operate outside the scope of the collective bargaining process and thus are not bound by the SAG and WGA minimum standard agreements. But such productions are valuable to the actor in that they offer practical experience and credits on a resume.
Keep in mind that these are simply guidelines.
You can earn much more but you cannot earn any less.
These are for television programs - not commercials.
Also consider that these salary figures are specific for acting.
There are different scales for writers and other personnel.
In addition to salary expenses, Producers of a television show must consider everything from catering, per diems, transportation, lodging and even the cost of flight insurance. There are a lot of different categories of expenditures
associated with the production of a television series - not all have been mentioned here.
For more information on compensation and the minimum standard agreements, please visit the Screen Actors Guild (http://www.sag.org) and
Writers Guild of America (West) for those west of the Mississippi River (http://www.wga.org) or
Writers Guild of America East if you live east of the Mississippi River (http://www.wgaeast.org)
Published by Sam Steele
http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/59338/sam_steele.html
Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation. For the last eighty years, film has been the major vehicle for the transmission of myth.
Supplanting religion, theater, literature, and art. By the end of this decade we may see a shift towards a more interactive environment. Whichever process can most accurately depict the dream state will be the vehicle of choice for cultures collective dreams. However for the interim future, film shall remain king of the dream machine.
View my complete profile
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Ten Myths : to breed Acceptability - Imprinting.
Authority TELLS - IMPOSES vs Experience provides discernment of Relevancy.
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People die immediately!
Movies and Serials show persons dying immediately and quietly from gunshot, knifings, and strikes with weapons. The REALITY is that, most often, a person will take 20 minutes to bleed out from a serious wound. A police officer shot in the heart, remained calm and was take to the hospital and survived, without disability. A WWII trooper shot in the chest recovered from his wounds, without surgery. Thirty (30) years later, and in full health in the interim, a shadow was detected on an x-ray at his heart. On further examination, a bullet was found lodged in his heart. Bullets do NOT magically kill people.
Bullets earlier, were simple projectiles. Wounds from them resulted in a cutting of flesh and blood vessels which could lead to death through blood loss, or, from later infection (more often). Shot or injured persons may wail and yell from pain or for help, for hours before succumbing to shock, or, dying. Shot or injured persons, especially in war or a conflict involving emotions of HATE or Revenge, may defend themselves and/or continue to fight against their attacker for as long as 10 minutes ... and may result in the death of their assailant. The myth is that bullets and armaments are tools of magic which protect us from confusion and defeat. The reality is that bullets and armaments CONTRIBUTE to Violence and most often accelerate and expand the experience of injustices ... which further encourages the acting out of fear, paranoia, intolerance, hatred, vengeance, rage.
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Mysteries can always be resolved quickly.
In all television series episodes, excluding mini-series, problems and crimes are resolved in 45 minutes!
In the procedural first used by the Canadian mystery fiction writer, (Canadian writer), later copied by Arthur Connan Doyle (Sherlock Mysteries), and then adopted by most serial screenwriters ... how the story will END, begins the writing. With that destination as a focus, the writer then builds backwards to the beginning, adding in incorrect assumptions, miscues, and other "complications" which add suspense, confusion, intensity, and, discovery (drama) to stimulate, involve, and distract the viewer. The intent is to take the viewer on a walk, hike, journey, or, run .. through a thicket of intellectual brambles to safely and confidently arrive at a destination of relief that holds a sense of achievement and confidence.
Unlike the long departed physical reality of the forest and savanna, a reality which could assist an individual in developing hunting and gathering awareness, discernment, and skills ... through effort and interaction ... this media stimulated intellectual dissociation conditions the viewer to believe half truths and lies, to receive direction from an unquestioned authority, and, to deceive themselves to choose passivity apart from assertiveness, reaction apart from responsiveness, immediacy away from patience, violence apart from understanding and forgiveness, and, lust apart from respect and sensuality. The audience is continually rewarding for setting aside their personal responsibilities in favor of technical button pushing. The myth is that technicians and simplistic rationalizations (as different from true, scientific complexities) will reveal Truth. The reality is that truths, which others use deception and manipulation to conceal, are often only revealed with great effort and at great cost.
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Police are ALWAYS either criminals, or, incompetent.
In most American serials, policing organizations and individuals are consistently patterned after the dramatic, often minor, realities of immature, intolerant, authoritarian, despairing, reactive, selfish, and lust-filled (for power, money, sex, control) characters of another era. Interaction styles which were more common decades previously are used to drive stories which use a heading of Justice to portray injustices which seem always to only bend and be broken by equally unspiritual, and often substance addicted individualists ... whose disrespect, acting out, and obsessions drive them, and the viewer, to some concluding scenario of retribution, recovery, escape, or revelation of truth. At the first sign of betrayal, threat, conflict, abuse, or aggression ... the potential hero AVOIDS contact directly, by phone, or indirectly, by request to others ... with the police.
While North American policing in urban areas did have a tendency, for decades, of delayed response and disbelief in witnesses and victims, plus, a professional confusion of their responsibilities in matters of family law ... an absolute avoidance of involving the police only encouraged this pattern. What the pro-individualist stance encouraged was the crime enhancing attitude of vigilantism, the stockpiling of armaments, and, a readiness to act out violently. Misperceptions, fueled by fear and paranoia often resulted in parents shooting spouses or their children in confusion, in gang membership expansion, and, accelerated instances of injustice. The myth is that Safety and Security are the Responsibility of the individual in a massive, dense population. The reality is that the Safety and Security of the individual in such an environment can only be maximized by the optimal integration of the individual with the sanctioned institutions and services.
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Criminals ALWAYS lose their freedom, life, or, demands of action .. to Justice.
The reality, in criminology, is that most life threatening and most white collar criminal acts go unresolved.
The reality is that many investigations of criminal acts and activities, that are solved, endure for weeks, months, and sometimes years ... before resolution. Even then, the penalties enacted by the justice system most frequently suggest that the crime was worth the time. Unbelievable to the public, yet easily confirmed by attendance in a courtroom, is that many prosecutions are based upon evidence and testimony which are irrelevant or contradictory, and, that many trials are suspended or denied through aggressive plea bargaining. Like in many countries, it is often only the rich or very poor (state assisted) accused who can afford, without risking bankruptcy, the cost of private legal defense and the possible additions of private investigations and searches.
Plea bargaining and legal arbitration procedures are often lengthy, conflicted, and seldom received as justice by any of the parties. They are thus, while a dominant reality, avoided or discarded as media topics. Like many of these myths, the unscathed individual remains ignorant of their presence, dominance, and impact .. until, they are smothered in such themselves. Feeling abandoned and manipulated at that point, it is easiest to react and choose a lifestyle direction in opposition or deception to the prevailing justice system. The myth is that Justice prevails. The reality is that Justice is often LOST because individuals, and institutions, do not Choose to Participate and act Responsibly.
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ONLY Superhumans make significant positive changes within societies.
Within the common 45 minute (90 minutes for movies) story presentation limit adopted by most producers, the reality of negotiation and maturing processes which effect significant cultural change cannot be displayed. The reduction of decades of persistent and consistent effort by organizations with changing memberships and leadership revealing losses and abuses and building towards more constructive policy and procedure interventions into these sanctioned time spots ... is counterproductive. In a society imprinted with a short attention span by a mass media of drama, fantasy, and authority ... much of the potential audience has been manipulated to forgive their patience and openness to the commands of commerce. Realism will prove too boring, slow, inactive, confusing, and, demanding ... to support.
Presenting snapshots of the reality will demean the efforts of the true participants and convert such a reality into a cartoon-like display more indicative of fiction and fantasy. It will be CONSCIOUSLY discarded, as irrelevant, dated, past ... nothing to learn from. Yet, in a contradiction, good intentions to display the conflicts and attitude and behavioral challenges present in the REAL scenarios will prove acceptable to the fantasy cartoon imprinted audience, IF, they are presented in a dissociated image. The "story" can retain the attention of the viewer, present the tragic identity conflicts, and have the conclusion reached by bedtime ... by having Superhero individuals represent anthropomorphically, each of the authorities in conflict. The myth is that "Good" will win, by the viewer staying OUT of the fray!
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People never defecate or use a toilet.
With the advent of indoor toilets, septic tanks, and, sewage systems ... personal contact with ones waste products became more and more dissociated from one's experience of reality. An awareness of what was involved in the operation and maintenance of such infrastructures became more and more minimized. With the introduction of the microbial theory of disease and the horrors of past communicable epidemics spread by contaminated water and unclean surfaces ... cultures spread cleanliness and disinfection proclamations which incited fear and paranoia in mothers and healthcare workers. Growing out of decades of millions of dollars of investment in dramatic advertising campaigns, the use of highly toxic chemicals as a bold shortcut to scrub and wipe hands on cleaning began to present equally devastating health consequences which were largely ignored by the users, manufacturers and government leaders.
The constructed aversion of individuals to their own biological wastes, previously used to enhance the fertilization of crops and gardens for thousands of agrarian history, resulted in a constant loss of this green fertilizer. This development further assisted the success, expansion, and power of control and profit exercised by growing chemical corporations. With the advent of a DISTRACTION medium, whose benefit and mission was to bring a fantasy of freedom to the economic slave, there would be no place in the drama of love, sex, comedy, war, and mystery ... for excrement. Initially, spectators were averse to reminders of the toilet training terrors of their infancy. Secondly, in the distraction of the alternative excitement and joy of the life they were NOT living ... reminders of their poverty, routine, regimentation, and suggested uncivilized "dirtiness" of their real life would break the spell, and the attraction, of the medium of imagination. The myth is that defecation is an act to be denied, hidden, avoided, and not shared in conversation. The reality is that defecation practices and problems ... resulting in or significantly contributing to 85% of all ill health in such "advanced" cultures ... builds upon the toxifying influences of poor digestion, assimilation, and elimination practices. The building pandemics spreading through such mass cultures are rooted in fear and lust (profit) attitudes, imprinting, behaviors .. and NOT in ecological adversity.
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Significant persons, unlike the viewer, either do not work, or, work in non-routine jobs.
Early serial story lines centered around time periods of the day which the viewer could relate to as "open" times. In the beginning, these segments included the after-work evening hours between spouses; the after- and before-work interactions between bus drivers, taxi drivers, policemen, ...; the at-work sessions of therapists, barbers, consultants, doctors ... and their clients; the after work "relaxing" episodes of drinking, smoking, or gambling with others wanting to avoid the abandonment of their loneliness while seeking membership in the company of like uninvolved line slaves committed to working on production lines of routine and boredom. This constructed camaraderie between the sanctioned movie reels and the depressed and despairing worker confirmed with confidence that the spectator was not forgotten, was noticed, and that others were, at least in fantasy, worse off than they.
With the advent of "soap opera" serials, the growing population of unemployed women, extracted from production and service jobs they had excelled in during WWII to provide work spaces for the returning troopers, and, encumbered by the routine and intellectually dumbing down influence of constant child rearing in non-communal housing ... found emotional stimulation. Their neural pathways would now record all of the manners in which intimate relationships could be frustrated, compromised, and destroyed. A sense of personal risk, intellectual superiority, attachment, mystery, and action ... added volumes of fantasy founded experience to the infant nap times, cooking and cleaning rest intervals, and, shade breaks from the hot sun of the garden. Yet, the context of the sanctioned authority of the parenting censorship imprinted the association of the attitudes and behaviors dramatically presented, as ACCEPTABLE. And, with repetition, both male and female viewers came to FEEL that serials presented a Norm of NO Boundaries as an alternative to the highly restrictive boundaries framing their Personal reality. The myth was that what you were ALLOWED to see, was, acceptable. The reality was that drama, presented to the immature person without the mentoring of more experienced and more aware persons to frame it into relevancy, becomes EDUCATION!
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Heroes are never touched by bullets, weapons, shrapnel.
In all of the ACTION and WAR movies, the main characters are embraced by bullets whizzing past them, plate glass shattering around them, explosions hurling them across rooms, furniture crashing beneath them, and, cars crashing and somersaulting with them inside ... yet, they walk away or continue their participation in the events ... without scratch, cut, or, bruise. Often, the adversary dies immediately from similar exposures. Sometimes, in order to extend and further dramatize the action, the adversary also escapes injury, at least temporarily. In REAL life instances of the actions portrayed, EVERYONE acquires breaks, sprains, abrasions, cuts, blood loss, and, PAIN. The reality is that such persons often wail, scream, yell, and, continue to battle for a few, or many, minutes. Such aggressive actions are neither clean, safe, or controlled. Slips, trips, stumbles, falls, and, fumbles happen, to everyone ... except in most movies and serials.
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Financial costs, losses, responsibility ... is unimportant.
The characters portrayed in most serials and movies, especially American ones, function as if they have a limitless credit card with no necessity to justify expenses. Without hesitation, they garner immediate airplane bookings when you or I might need to book days or weeks ahead. They have some form of employment income which is neither specified nor apparently relevant for they routinely meet contacts and associates in high class (expensive) restaurants, drive the latest model cars, wear designer suits, and use the latest forms of surveillance and communication technology. The audience can only be in awe with jealousy. Vehicles and buildings are destroyed routinely, yet, no police personnel arrive to detain them for extensive "How did it happen?" interviews or charges. No one ever is asked to take a breathalyzer test. No insurance representative, appraiser, or paramedic arrive. Either the participants of any friendly or conflict driven meeting walk away, or, they die quietly. We know that REAL life is NEVER that orderly, simple, quick, or devoid of frustration.
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Technology NEVER fails without a Human to Rescue the outcome.
Whether in serials or movies, technology never fails for the hero ... like it does frequently for us and many others.
Yes, cellphone transmissions may be dropped. Computers may stall, slow, or operating system major fail. Bomb timers may not rigger. Tires may deflate in the parking garage or blow out on a side street. People may recklessly walk into the street, bump into us on the sidewalk, delay our elevator, or dial our number in error ... but NEVER in the fantasy life of serials and movies. When a few days of screen life must be shot, edited, and distributed in 6 weeks, or, a month of plot must be squeezed from 18 months of production ... there is no time to exhibit the frustrations of spectator life which the viewer wants the memory of to disappear. In the world of DENIAL, everything works, always.
While the myths make it easier for the slave to invite, participate in ... their own imprinting ... and NOT assert one's possible confusion, lack of understanding, dislike, or unbelief ... they also imprint the viewer-spectator to
- Accept sanctioned Authority for Personal Experience.
- Prefer Aggression & Action, and, DENY Pause, Patience, Negotiation, Respect.
- Assume that ALL problems have SIMPLISTIC and Obvious resolutions.
- AVOID and disrespect officers of the law, by expecting them to fail.
- Be IMPOTENT in taking Leadership against any Authority sanctioned policy.
- Activities which humble us to accept ourselves as human, not gods, are best minimized.
- Gods-as-we-can-be participate as heroes and live lives of excitement, action, acceptance.
- Superheroes are always Pain free and error resistant, yet seldom Lust free.
- In the life os a serial, you never have to worry about credit, debt, or, loss.
- Now you can live, at least for a few hours, free of technology frustrations.
Reddit Links: an engine for creating communities.
A type of online community where users vote on content.
http://reddit.com/
How Reddit works: http://www.redditblog.com/2011/09/how-reddit-works.html
Every community on Reddit starts when a redditor creates it.
The creator becomes the first subscriber and the first moderator of the new subreddit.
A subreddit is a class of online community, just like mailing lists, forums, and chatrooms are.
Each of the thousands of subreddits is a distinct community with its own purpose, standards, and readership. Subreddits are the secret to Reddit's growth. As communities have scaled up, more focused ones have branched off of popular topics and posting practices.
2011-09 --- Over the past 15 months, Reddit has tripled in size.
Since last May, we've grown from 7 million monthly unique visitors to 21.5 million.
Our pageviews have exploded 4x to a staggering 1.6 billion pages served per month.
This growth brings new diversity, new opportunities, and new challenges to our communities.
There are now over 6,500 subreddits with over 100 subscribers.
On a moderator level, and a meta Reddit level, the best way that we can resolve community issues is through good communication and transparency. Admin and moderator intervention is wasteful because it's disruptive to both us and the community. It takes up time that can be spent building our communities further. We deeply respect the role moderators play in their communities, and we don't use admin ability to override that unless it is absolutely necessary.
There are problems that good communication alone cannot solve, and for those the best solution is to create features that allow for transparent self-correction. We have some ideas about features to add, such as making it easier to find subreddits, making the site friendlier for new users, and allowing moderators to make decisions more democratically. We're keen on building the features communities need, but we realize that we're only one voice in this discussion. Your ideas and thoughts will inform where Reddit goes next. ...
Redditors vote on which stories and discussions are important. the hottest stories rise to the top, while cooler stories sink.
Comments can be posted on every story on Reddit. comments add information, context, and humor.
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