<snip> > The problem is this word - commerical. Commercial TV exists to sell > products. More and more the 'sponsors' of programs are wanting to pay > less and less to advertise. Down comes the price of advertising, > followed by the budgets for programming, followed by cheap American > import TV. > Cheap American TV is often bundled together, or with 'quality' programs at an even cheaper price. Personally, I agree it's important to remember we wouldn't have tv without advertising ... after all, it's free. You only watch what you want to watch.
I don't want to instigate a 'turn off your tv' revolution, but people not watching tv would force broadcasters to review the content they produce and purchase. Just a thought. > One episode of (cheapish) Australian drama can cost over $60,000 to > produce. Then we watch it for half an hour, and forget it. A four > part Australian documentary is around $350,000. > Actually a cheapish episode of Australian Drama generally costs 'over' $350k to produce. I don't know any commercial tv program that costs $60k to produce per episode (talking about final cost rather than what a newpaper might quote on). Often it depends on how much is shot inside a studio vs outside camerawork. > I'm not sure of the details - I know there is someone on this list > from Screenwest so they would probably know for sure, > I'm not the best qualified person to answer, but I'm happy to comment based on what I know. :) > but I think you > can buy a US sitcom episode for less than $2000. Now sell the same > amount of Sorbent ads and you are suddenly making a profit. > I think you're undervaluing the average cost of a US sitcom, although its possible a broadcaster could get a series for that price with the aforementioned bundling (I reckon the show might be total crap and screened at 3am :). Your argument is sound though (imo). Interestingly, while alternatives to free to air television have produced some great TV (e.g. The Sopranos), it's also produced huge amounts of bad tv. It might be simplistic to say that 'commercials' are the primary cause of bad commercial television. Hmm. Cheers, Tobes. Toby Oldham IT & Publishing Services SCREENWEST - Western Australian Film & Television Tel. +618 9224 7322 Fax. +618 9224 7341 http://www.screenwest.com.au mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For the latest in WA production, events and hot news log on to ScreenWest's weekly email newsletter, Screen Online at www.screenwest.com.au bes.
