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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

CSI MIAMI 08 Budget x EPISODE???

5-10 mil, holy cow, i wasnt aware that SUCH budgets are spend i n the US...

... here in germany, the most prestigious series as "tatort" run 500.000-1.500.000.

most employees favorite series right now is btw shot on hd, its "Battlestar Galactica". Steve McNutt, the DoP, does most of the colorcorrection on-set, with the camera.
 
Finner said:
Pilot's are expensive compared to following episodes of the first season of a series. After the first season though if a show has taken off the price per episode rises dramatically as the show pushes limits resulting in higher production costs, actors wages jump way up, bigger more expensive directors are brought in and other "above the line" people on the show pull down way more money. I admited my 10mil was a rough guess and probably more in the 7-10 zone but your numbers mmost are way to low and not accurate.
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Sorry, I only worked in network television, primarily on dramas, for about 25 years, so I guess I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm comparing the show in question to shows I did work on in recent years, which would include Ally McBeal, The Practice, Without a Trace, Veronica Mars, Boston Public, Boston Legal, and others I won't go into. The sitcom you mention was a singular, unique case of a show that the network could not afford to lose, and that the producing studio knew had a huge future in syndication. No drama is in that category, including CSI Miami. X-Files was a case of an out of control production that was given a blank check by the network and exceeded it. Nobody today gets away with what they got away with. There is no financial model that would let a show succeed with a weekly budget of $7 million today without a huge future in syndication - which basically doesn't exist anymore.

I could be a bit wrong. But I don't think I am. However, over the next few days I'll make a few calls and find out.
 
5 million an episode, with the occasional 6 or 6.5 sounds more like it, but except for the marquee shows, those which "define" a network nowadays, like Heroes, House, the original CSI, Lost, 24, you get the idea, I can't see an episode reaching 10 million anymore, especially not for a second tier spinoff like CSI Miami. Don't forget the actors at Friends were making a million each on their last season, after 10 solid years of ratings and a HUGE promise for sindication. With the economy the way it is now, we won't see those numbers for a while, or hopefully, never again, since as both mmost and finner pinted out, the extra money won't get used to add production value, only for above the line padding.
 
Thanks guys for your participation in this thread and for all the reply so far.

Bassam, you are only half correct, as this it is a series which will be shot 90% in Dubai, but it will be an Italo/American production in english, and the budget is actually the highest ever, of any TV series in History.

This is not only to be a TV series which basically it is a CSI in Dubai, were the forensic lab is substituted by a Photography Studio, and the crime scenes by Photo shoot locations and many surprises of which I can not expose as for current NDA agreements, at list till the deal is signed.

This is also to serve the purpose of giving Dubai Global exposure, beyond anything that has ever been done so far, both at a TV level and at a commercial level, as well as a advertising level.

And as I'm sure Bassam, you more then any of us knows, Dubai's Royal family has absolutely no limits to what they can do, and what there are willing to do for Dubai.

The world tallest tower currently @ 1 Billion construction budget is just one of their answers to sorry we can't build a tower that tall, it would cost too much, not to even mention the new islands of the "world" construction budget.

I just hope to be fortunate in off to be able to write a good piece of history in Dubai, and TV with the help of RED and many many others.

For now I'm wishing the best of luck to my friends the 4K Ninjas as they already have been shooting in Dubai, as Evin at NAB was showing me some kick A@%$ imagery of it, and hope that the boys will bring back some more Kick A$#@! imagery for me to see.

Ciao
 
KETCH ROSSI said:
Bassam, you are only half correct, as this it is a series which will be shot 90% in Dubai, but it will be an Italo/American production in english, and the budget is actually the highest ever, of any TV series in History.
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Now i have nothing to say But good luck

KETCH ROSSI said:
Dubai's Royal family has absolutely no limits to what they can do, and what there are willing to do for Dubai.
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You are absoloutly right .there is no limitations of thier willing to do

whatever needed to be done for that purpose

KETCH ROSSI said:
I just hope to be fortunate in off to be able to write a good piece of history in Dubai
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hope you the Best and successfull mission .inshallah
 
NoahK said:
David Caruso does suck beyond all belief though. here's the hilarious proof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sarYH0z948

-Noah
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Caruso probably will never be heading for an academy award, but I don't think he writes his dialogues himself. And, well, it's just a character - a character telling you: beware of the police. So, by playing this character in that way, I think, it's okay. I have to add that I am always surprised of the great potential of German actors when brought to the big screen (I am a native German speaker). They quite often make me switch off tv for a book. Is there a "Caruso's law" for bad acting in tv-series?

CSI has got weak stories, no first class actor, crackbrained dialogues - nevertheless it is still my favourite show on tv. why? cause I am totally mad about those pictures. CSI is the proof that we are visual beings. It's about stunning the senses. Isn't that great for a forum like this one? I really appreciate any show brought to us that cares about this human need - be it drama, doc or commercials. We long to be seduced by our senses... and I'd love to see an arabian show/arabian setting of a show here in EU. Keep us informed, Ketch!

Cheers, Fritz
 
I used google and found the websites below. It seems that if you want that kind of info, you gotta pay for it. How bad do you want to know?
http://studiosystem.com/
http://www.blssresearch.com/reports/tvpilot.aspx

Williams is a cooler character than Caruso. ( I know this is not the kind of photo lab you are talking about.)
one-hour-photo.jpg
 
Rudi Herbert said:
5 million an episode, with the occasional 6 or 6.5 sounds more like it
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Not to resurrect this topic, but I did a bit of research by talking to a friend of mine who is supervising producer on a major network program (the show is on ABC). For this season, the "average" budget for a network drama was anywhere between $2.5 and $3.5 million per episode. Some are higher, of course - "Lost" comes to mind - but the vast majority are in that range. For cable, the budget for a one hour original series is closer to $2 million. In the case of the show he works on, the budget was about $3.2 million this season and will need to be a bit lower for this coming season (closer to $3 million, hopefully below that). As I mentioned previously, this is the "budget" figure, which is not always the exact amount spent on each episode.
 
Thanks for the info mmost.

This have been the same figures given to me recently, on a network meeting, were we discussed the budgets and what current networks are paying for certain shows.

Dubai, sure looks like that will top all of them no problem, now if I just get the first check we can start shooting.:)

ciao
 
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