On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 11:43 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > "... The overhaul will bring the show's weekly budget down to > about $1.7 million per week, from upwards of $2 million, the Times > reported." > > So it does look like The Tonight Show was getting budgeted at about $1.2M > more per month after Leno came back than it was before he left, and that > this was because when it came back it kept its primetime budget.
I'm not a math whiz, but here goes: $2 million minus $1.7 million equals $300k. If you divide $300k (per week) by the apx. 25 people laid off, in order to reach the $1.7 million, each laid off employee would be making apx. $12k per week. NBC doesn't pay its staff that well, the unions -- powerful though they are -- don't pay that well either. Being generous, let us say staffers are paid an average of $3000 per week (x25=$75k). That leaves us with $225k to cut. They moved into larger offices when they switched studios, but since the Burbank studios are akin to a ghost town, it isn't as though they were in use or could be in use by anyone else. But let us assume the new offices do cost more since they are renting as NBC no longer owns the Burbank facility. Again, being generous, let us assume an extra $15k per week compared to the cost of the studio 1/3 offices they used to use (a high number, but I've seen higher rental rates for Hollywood facilities). New total to cut is $210k. They might have one or two more cameras in the new studio, and maybe a field producer or two for pretaped pieces (in the past the writers often pulled double-duty), and they might have been doing extra pretaped bits. I'm going to be very generous and say all of the above comes to $25k per week. Still leaves us with $185k to cut. In summary, the provided numbers don't add up. There is something we aren't being told, or some of what we're being told is inaccurate. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
