"I kept thinking 'This is pointless. How can we possibly afford a boardwalk, or an empire?' We can't call it 'Boardwalk Empire' and not see a boardwalk," Terrence Winter who wrote the pilot for HBO's upcoming Boardwalk Empire.
So they built a 300 foot boardwalk in an empty lot in Brooklyn. In the end, even with the New York tax credits the cost of the pilot came to $18 million according to Variety, but by the time they amortized that expense over all 12 episodes of the first season, costs came out to about $5 million an episode. Hour long dramas on broadcast networks typically come in closer to $3 million. But Variety says the $5 million isn't much more than HBO's other top-tier series (sadly no data to really back that up, though compared to The Pacific, Boardwalk Empire likely seemed inexpensive to HBO).
The Wall Street Journal did a similar article a couple of weeks ago focusing on the expense for Boardwalk Empire other HBO shows and shows on other cable networks. The WSJ piece set the cost of the Boardwalk Empire pilot at between nearly $20 million to closer to $30 million. The piece also notes Boardwalk Empire was HBO's best-selling series ever internationally having already licensed the rights to 160 countries.
Watch and see if HBO pay rate will go up, I'm paying about 12 dollars, is that how much it is in other parts of the country? Then it's 7 dollars for other pay channels.
because of all the special deals, discounts and bundling, what people pay for HBO is all over the map. It can be anywhere between $0 (for a limited period) to ~$20.
I don't think HBO will cancel this. Why? Because it's their ticket to a lot of awards. I think the DVD sales will be huge. Plus, the fact that it's been sold to 160 countries makes it a large sale. This is not the Chris Albrecht era at HBO and in this case that is a good thing. DVD
Pretty crazy. I think HBO likes spending too much money on sets. I seem to remember a lot of rumbling about sets from Rome and Carnivale too.
I really want to know how much True Blood costs. It's the big money-maker on HBO now, but I seriously doubt it costs $5 million an episode. There are some good sets, but nothing crazy. And the acting talent can't be that expensive, Anna Paquin and Evan Rachel Wood are probably the biggest names on the show. Does anyone know the budget for True Blood?
Don't forget Alexander Skarsgard too. He's getting a lot of movie roles now like in Battleship
How much money did Deadwood and Rome cost per episode, Robert before they were canceled
Thanks, I miss the old days when we had just one channel of HBO, Showtime and Cinimax, I had them all, could get those three for 14.95, then they came multi movie channel crap; and Starz and Encore were cheaper channels, like 8.95. I liked Encore, they showed old moves from the 70, and '80s unedited, seen them so many times like Stripes, forgot about all the nude scenes.
Thanks, I miss the old days when we had just one channel of HBO, Showtime and Cinimax, I had them all, 14.95, then they came multi movie channel crap; and Starz and Encore were cheaper channels, like 8.95 for both. I liked Encore, they showed old moves from the 70, and '80s unedited, seen them so many times like Stripes, forgot about all the nude scenes.
Wasn't high productions costs one of the reasons why they canned Deadwood? I recall reading that 1 episode of Deadwood cost roughly $5M and HBO was unwilling to pay that much that's why they canned it. I have to assume that HBO airs all their shows at a loss and makes up most of their costs through DVD/BR sales.
But, they've sold Boardwalk Empire to so many countries,160. So, they will make up the costs of producing an episode by selling lots of DVDs and international tv rights.
I hate paying for HBO Latino. I don't speak spanish and it should be optional in the HBO package. It's a wasted channel.
Judging from scenes in promos, it doesn't surprise me it cost so much. It looks like money well spent.
I think HBO wants Boardwalk Empire to become their Mad Men which is a critically acclaimed shows which wins lots of awards and hopefully draws in a decent audiences that will buy the DVDs. I think HBO will lose money on this, The Pacific and Game of Thrones but will recouped the cost in the long run, it's more to restablish the HBO brand which has been over shadowed by Showtime, AMC and to an extent Starz and FX.
Wow that is amazingly expensive. However knowing HBO, and their quality programming, they must think they have something here. I'll try & watch it to see where the money went.
I hope they make money on this so they keep these type shows coming.
Agreed. 12 expensive episodes to 160 countries: it's going to more than make up for production costs, I believe. Does anybody know how much an international deal costs? I'm not sure at all, but doesn't the cost for an episode move around in the hundreds of thousands? If I'm right, then HBO will be making a fortune on the international sales alone. Not to mention the subscribers this will bring along and the DVD WILL be popular.
Also, Ethan, as people have mentioned above, Deadwood was a about $5M an episode. Rome's first season, I believe, cost like a $100M, but BBC backed it up with about £15M, but it was still very costly. I read from somewhere else that the first season was $115M, but that was on a message board, so you never know.
I'm hoping Boardwalk Empire's dvd sales can do as well as True Blood's have.
WE CAN' WAIT FIR SINE IF THEY ENOYABLE “”EATS” SEE i WILL GOOE.
Just an't to soon for Boreorok
What shouold He see?