Documentary pricing?

D

DVXDaddyO

Active member
Guys, I'm putting together a business plan for an independent production company which does mostly TV documentaries in the US and the UK (this means only that I'm good with spreadsheets -- I'm still a newbie to the industry, as if you couldn't tell by my other posts, but I do have a strong creative partner). Target customers would be the cable/satellite networks like A&E, History Channel, Discovery Channel, etc.

Does anyone have any sense of the price points --- or where I might go to learn about price points -- for a one hour documentary or multi-part series? Do these companies pay $50K for an hour of high qualty programming? $500K? Does it vary? On what basis?

And, as always, I apologize in advance if this has all been written up and I haven't been able to find it. I assure you it is not for lack of trying. A man just has to know his limitations!

Thanks in advance,

DaddyO
 
If you can consistently produce a quality 48 minute program for under $350K per episode that is considered extremely topical you'll definately be under consideration by programming directors.
 
Thanks, Craig, for that data point. Is there some kind of industry "bible" that lists deals as they're done and the prices paid?

Irrespective of that, do you have any suggestions for how to reach programming directors to pitch?

Thanks again in advance!
 
Thanks again, Craig. So many of us write about work flow here on dvxuser, but inevitably it's about moving from shooting to capture to editing...

I realize I don't know what the work flow is for producing. In the links above, it appears that the films have already been produced and lined up with a distribution channel. But I would have assumed that shooting would not commence until someone had already purchased/invested up front to make it happen. Can your or anyone recommend a book or other source which takes me through the business workflow of producing?

Thanks in advance, yet again!

D
 
craig
You mentioned producing a 48 minute program.
Is that the standard desired time for a program by
broadcasters?
I'm putting together my first documetary. Is 48 min the standard
length i should aim for? Is there a market for 24 minute (1/2 hr)
shows? Do you think the 48 min film more marketable?
 
Most 1/2 hour shows are 20-22 min of content. One hour ranges from 44-48 minutes. Depends on where the show is broadcast. You may notice that credit rolls get speeded up dramatically for some countries where they want more commercial time.

It would be nice if everything was same everywhere, but its not.
 
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