4 ms·

I want to find a model for the financing of "TV" show production that does NOT depend on a centralized "studio" making the funding and cancellation decisions.

by mcherm 3y ago

I want to find a model for the financing of "TV" show production that does NOT depend on a centralized "studio" making the funding and cancellation decisions. That would probably look like raising funds to produce the first couple of episodes from investors, then funding the continuation of the show through episode-by-episode revenue (based on viewership) and/or donations from fans.

autoexec 3y ago
Funding a show episode-by-episode would be way more expensive. It saves so much money when you can do things like produce multiple episodes at once, schedule filming locations or actor's time in advance, or leave sets up for months of filming. It can take many months for a single episode to be completed. Having to shut down production and fire everything up again after every episode based on the how the numbers look after every release seems like a logistical nightmare.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
bonestamp2 3y ago
I think it often comes down to distribution. Now that the distributors (netflix, hbo, apple, etc) are the ones frequently funding the shows, the show dies when the distributor no longer wants to fund it. There is less opportunity for the rights holder to take that show to another network/distributor. It would be harder to get trial, but if a pilot episode was free to watch on the show's website, then people could pay for the rest of the episodes right there. Conversion would also be lower than if it was distributed on a pre-paid subscription that someone already has, but at least the people paying for the show decide with their wallet if it continues to get funding. I've got a concept for an animated series and I'm planning to release it on youtube. I'm hoping that if it gets enough of a following, I can make it work with just the revenue from youtube. Of course, this kind of model doesn't usually work for high production value content unless the people involved want to bootstrap it.
OfSanguineFire 3y ago
This was attempted well over a decade ago by the makers of Pioneer One[0] which, hardly a surprise, failed to make enough money to continue. The quality of the episodes that were made was also subpar compared to traditional television of the time, though considering how low-budget some of today’s streaming shows feel, this may no longer be as noticeable for audiences today as it was then. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_One

by mcherm 3y ago

autoexec 3y ago

Funding a show episode-by-episode would be way more expensive. It saves so much money when you can do things like produce multiple episodes at once, schedule filming locations or actor's time in advance, or leave sets up for months of filming. It can take many months for a single episode to be completed. Having to shut down production and fire everything up again after every episode based on the how the numbers look after every release seems like a logistical nightmare.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

bonestamp2 3y ago

I think it often comes down to distribution. Now that the distributors (netflix, hbo, apple, etc) are the ones frequently funding the shows, the show dies when the distributor no longer wants to fund it. There is less opportunity for the rights holder to take that show to another network/distributor. It would be harder to get trial, but if a pilot episode was free to watch on the show's website, then people could pay for the rest of the episodes right there. Conversion would also be lower than if it was distributed on a pre-paid subscription that someone already has, but at least the people paying for the show decide with their wallet if it continues to get funding. I've got a concept for an animated series and I'm planning to release it on youtube. I'm hoping that if it gets enough of a following, I can make it work with just the revenue from youtube. Of course, this kind of model doesn't usually work for high production value content unless the people involved want to bootstrap it.

OfSanguineFire 3y ago

This was attempted well over a decade ago by the makers of Pioneer One[0] which, hardly a surprise, failed to make enough money to continue. The quality of the episodes that were made was also subpar compared to traditional television of the time, though considering how low-budget some of today’s streaming shows feel, this may no longer be as noticeable for audiences today as it was then. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_One