Business of Television Quiz 5

Studios (traditional model)

work with talent and finance television series; make enough television episodes to syndicate

Studios from Traditional times

Sony Pictures Ent, Paramount Television, 20th Century Fox Television, Universal Television, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros.

Networks (Traditional)

selling advertising time and reaping that money

Networks from Traditional Time

ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC

FOLD

The traditional television studios business model; Finance, Own, License, D doesnt mean anything

Traditional Financial Model

Production Cost, Network License Fee, Deficit, Renouncement/Profit/Backend

Network License Fee

usually 65% of production cost

Deficit

leftover from production cost

Renouncement/Profit/Backend

Making up for the deficit and making profit

Source of post-network revenue for studios in traditional model

Foreign syndication, domestic syndication, SVOD, AVOD, EST or TVOD, Box Sets, Airline

What changed when going to the streaming model?

they want to own instead of license, not a deficit operation anymore: break even or better, studios are now limited to their streamer and cannot explore the market

Streaming financial model for outside suppliers

For scripted series the supplier gets 120%-140% of production costs and it increases each time the series is renewed, less expensive series the initial license fee is 100%-110%

How long do streamers take worldwide rights for?

10-15 years

Streaming Financial model for their own productions

In house studios pay all costs, pay higher salaries since there is no after market the talent can participate in, talent can negotiate bonuses when a series has been picked up for four seasons

What is studios hand in making a show?

They do not make the show, the finance a production company to make it

Production Companies

Do not own all of their equipment, profit participant but does not own the show they make, hire a lot of outside cast and crew, hand make the content

How do production companies participate in profit?

share in the profits when a show is syndicated and pulling in billions of dollars

Overall Deal

going to pay you a min amount of money, with no cap, over a period of time

Term deal

exclusive to a studio for a period of time (paid)

POD

producer overall deals

Series commitment

if a writer develops an idea and pitches it to a production company and they want to skip just doing a pilot

Put pilot

only want to make a pilot

Penalty

pay for the pilot script, but if it doesn’t go into production they pay an extra fee to the writer

Premium

paying more than they normally would because the script is in competition with other studios

Roll over

holding the script at a studio for a year because they have too many of similar types of shows or not enough money to produce it (unpaid)

Spec

not getting paid to write a script with the intention of selling it

If-come

production company will pay for the script, if the streaming service/network/buyer buys the script

How do studios decide what writers to put money behind?

track record, gut feeling, original vs IP, shares a sensibility with you

How do you decide which writers to put on deals and be in business with?

If they make a big hit you want to do lock them down, writers you have worked with forever, unique or original voices

Are IPs or original ideas harder?

Easier sale to use IP but has a lot of pressure on it

What criteria decides whether a TV show can go into a series commitment vs a put pilot?

They dont really do series commitment unless it is a competitive situation, pilots are coming back

What does social media help in this position?

Marketing, using influencers at events to promote the content, opens to a new younger audience

What does Marissa’s job entail when she works with producers or writers?

Helps them create character driven projects; audiences must care about their journey