Thanks Matt. I'll pontificate!
So which show costs more to get on the air... TPiR with its streamlined production day, or WL with its marathon tapings? Surprise: "Price" is pricier! More on that in a moment.
There are huge cost differences behind the production of different shows, even shows of the same general genre such as TPiR and WL. What's important isn't how many hours are spent in the studio, but that each show spends not a minute more in the studio or in post-production than the time for which each was budgeted. It's all about knowing what will be entailed in producing a show before the tape rolls. The production needs of every program are determined way before the show is given its final green light. Each is budgeted accordingly. Then the trick is staying within that budget. In some cases the overages can come out of the producer's pocket, cutting into his profit.
So, the 12 hour tape days for some shows are anticipated and factored in to the total cost. A reality show may have comparatively low shooting costs because of the minimal crew and set/location costs. But it has post-production costs that would shock most of our members. Talk and court shows generally are among the least expensive to produce; game shows are generally the next least expensive genre. Variety shows were always big budget. Depending upon the cost of name talent, star-driven sitcoms and scripted drama are the big budget busters. But the latter two also have the potential to mine millions in reruns. Most talk, court, reality and game shows have limited rerun potential, although the recent repurposing of shows such as "Fear Factor" are a break with tradition. No, games that rerun on GSN generate only minimal rerun profits.
To your comparison between the time it takes to tape the two, "Price" is fully written and staged before the tape rolls. It was created in an era when there was such a thing as LIVE TV! "Link" is of another generation, and was written after each round as the game was played. There was as much as 20 minutes of stopdown after each round, and those brief chats between the host and the players were edited from much longer conversations. I'll always remember Weakest Link as "The Endless Warm-up"; I ended up with a temporary condition called plantar fasciitis from the hours of standing... a malady that Bob Barker suffered from briefly during the time I worked on TPiR. But I digress.
Friends such as Bricon can break things down in far greater detail, but you are right about the time in a studio being expensive. Again, the shows that are tougher to shoot are already budgeted for the added expense of long tape days. The studio and equipment rental may likely be for 24 hours, but the minute a production day runs past 8 hours the overtime kicks in; after 12 hours it's another bump in labor costs. Work a few minutes beyond the mandated number of hours between meal breaks, and you pay a penalty to every member of the crew and talent... perhaps even in 15 minute intervals.
Every show wants to keep things moving along briskly for reasons beyond the finances. It helps maintain an up-beat and productive environment that can affect the creative process, and as Matt can attest to, it is difficult for talent to continually shift gears between the adrenalin-tinged energetic pace and recovering from the lost momentum.
So how can TPiR be more expensive? One show a day is terribly inefficient because the daily studio rental is huge (even though CBS owns the real estate, it's a cost written against TPiR's budget). And each crew member gets a day's pay even if they are in the studio for only a few hours. Plus, there is a (deservedly) high price for the host ;-)
Anticipating and managing the costs are usually the domain of the Associate Producer and the Executive in Charge of Production. Next time we'll discuss the responsibilities of the Best Boy!
Randy
tvrandywest.com
