Billie Piper not involved in 50th anniversary

[Relayer1]

Y'know what amuses the heck out of me - how BBC can make a 14 episode "series" take two years to tell and yet you can have a modern American tv 'season' of maybe 22-23 episodes and have do the same in less than a year. I'm thinking of a show like Sons of Anarchy which has quite a bit of stunt work, sfx, and a very large cast of regular characters.

And it takes them ages to do even a two part episode - or do they just shoot all of it at once like we do - but milk it for all its worth over there?

I heard a story that the BBC were interested in a UK 'Giles' spinoff from Buffy some years ago. They were asked by Whedon and co. to provide scripts for approval. Months later they had only partially completed three and the deal died. At the time, Whedon was writing most of the years twenty plus Buffy episodes, some Angels, producing, directing, show running etc.

In defence of the BBC though, they have produced three episodes of Sherlock per year, and that's worth twenty episodes of anything else...

 

[Sindatur]

Yea, Network TV in the US does pump out more episodes per year, then British TV (Though US Cable, many shows are only 10-13 episodes per year).

I wonder if that's dow to the budget? Is it maybe because a bigger US budget allows for a larger crew, and so things can be done quicker, because there are more people to do them?

 

[Relayer1]

Yea, Network TV in the US does pump out more episodes per year, then British TV (Though US Cable, many shows are only 10-13 episodes per year).

I wonder if that's dow to the budget? Is it maybe because a bigger US budget allows for a larger crew, and so things can be done quicker, because there are more people to do them?

In the UK we traditionally produce shorter seasons and don't have the large writing teams common in the U.S. - we can do more though. We have a couple of primetime medical dramas that run all year round, 50 plus one hour episodes.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

how BBC can make a 14 episode "series" take two years to tell and yet you can have a modern American tv 'season' of maybe 22-23 episodes and have do the same in less than a year. I'm thinking of a show like Sons of Anarchy which has quite a bit of stunt work, sfx, and a very large cast of regular characters.

Hollywood tolerates (and pays for) a lot more overtime than British productions will. As a side-effect, Hollywood has more money to throw around, which also means more crew. Matt Smith doesn't work a lot of 16 hour days. On House, Hugh Laurie routinely worked 16 hour days. Different cultures.

 

[Nick Ryder]

I suppose - but it's still interesting - since it seems like Matt Smith and Karen Gillen have plenty of time to do all kinds of stuff off camera - but really don't. Is it just that UK stars balance their work load - when you can see American actors doing not only a weekly TV show, but V/O work, a handful of movies and interviews, appearences and the like.

Although I would totally love to see Karen Gillen in more stuff - she's damn cute - and I think I recall hearing she recently moved to LA - so maybe we'll see more of her in other things.

But y'know that brings up a point - since the UK filming schedule and writing schedule is a bit more.. I wouldn't say lax, but less intense - it could be possible that the 50th Anniversary thing wouldn't even air until next year - they'll just tease the hell out of it for 5-6 months after the end of 'Series 7b' and then we'll get it sometime in 2014

 

[sidious618]

I don't believe anyone who says they're not coming back as it's 100% possible they'll say that in order to avoid spoiling an awesome surprise. I'm not saying Rose is definitely coming back, I don't think she will, but in general I'm not believing anyone.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I don't believe anyone who says they're not coming back as it's 100% possible they'll say that in order to avoid spoiling an awesome surprise. I'm not saying Rose is definitely coming back, I don't think she will, but in general I'm not believing anyone.

I'm not fully convinced either especially after David Tennant's interview with Jonathan Ross:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MjFytp4ouOg[/yt]

 

[Relayer1]

how BBC can make a 14 episode "series" take two years to tell and yet you can have a modern American tv 'season' of maybe 22-23 episodes and have do the same in less than a year. I'm thinking of a show like Sons of Anarchy which has quite a bit of stunt work, sfx, and a very large cast of regular characters.

Hollywood tolerates (and pays for) a lot more overtime than British productions will. As a side-effect, Hollywood has more money to throw around, which also means more crew. Matt Smith doesn't work a lot of 16 hour days. On House, Hugh Laurie routinely worked 16 hour days. Different cultures.

Different salaries too - how many millions did Hugh get per episode ?

 

[Sindatur]

how BBC can make a 14 episode "series" take two years to tell and yet you can have a modern American tv 'season' of maybe 22-23 episodes and have do the same in less than a year. I'm thinking of a show like Sons of Anarchy which has quite a bit of stunt work, sfx, and a very large cast of regular characters.

Hollywood tolerates (and pays for) a lot more overtime than British productions will. As a side-effect, Hollywood has more money to throw around, which also means more crew. Matt Smith doesn't work a lot of 16 hour days. On House, Hugh Laurie routinely worked 16 hour days. Different cultures.

Different salaries too - how many millions did Hugh get per episode ?

Yea, it's actually very common for US actors to work 14 or 16 hours per day.

Hugh Laurie in 2011 earned 250,000 pounds or US$409,000, according to his Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Laurie

The Friends actors and Seinfeld making $1M or more per episode for a comedy is a rarity, and can only be sustained by incredible ratings. US$100,000 to $200,000 seems to be average lead actor fo a Series (which is what Big Bang Actors get). Kiefer Sutherland is apparently getting US$400,000 an episode for his new show

So, yea, definitely nothing to whine about, nd still totals to $2M and up per year, but, $Millions per episode is an exaggeration

 

[ATimson]

Y'know what amuses the heck out of me - how BBC can make a 14 episode "series" take two years to tell and yet you can have a modern American tv 'season' of maybe 22-23 episodes and have do the same in less than a year. I'm thinking of a show like Sons of Anarchy which has quite a bit of stunt work, sfx, and a very large cast of regular characters.

It seems to me like that lattermost - at least when comparing to Doctor Who - is part of why. Doctor Who has a regular cast of two, who are in most every scene. With a show with a larger cast, you can give actors a break while continuing to shoot; you can also shoot two episodes simultaneously without making one of them "character light".

 

[MacLeod]

Well as others have said a UK Season can be as little as 3 episodes (Sherlock), 6-8 (Red Dwarf), 14 (DW), shows like Casualty which seems like it is on almost every week and the soaps which run multiple episodes per week all year round.

 

[The Wormhole]

it could be possible that the 50th Anniversary thing wouldn't even air until next year - they'll just tease the hell out of it for 5-6 months after the end of 'Series 7b' and then we'll get it sometime in 2014

If it airs in 2014, then it's not really the 50th anniversary, is it?

 

[Nick Ryder]

well yeah... tecnically

 

[Mr Awe]

^^ Well, it would still be the 50th year.

 

[Nick Ryder]

Exactly - sure the anniversary DATE is this year - but technically next year would still be the 50th Year.

 

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, but, 50th anniversary celebrations have already started with the first of those e-books being published. Plus, later this month IDW's anniversary comic series starts. 2013 is the year that anything related to the 50th anniversary will happen, not 2014.

 

[Marc]

Well as others have said a UK Season can be as little as 3 episodes (Sherlock), 6-8 (Red Dwarf), 14 (DW), shows like Casualty which seems like it is on almost every week and the soaps which run multiple episodes per week all year round.

Shows like Casualty apart from the cast size (as mentioned above) also have little requirement for the building of new sets for each story or special effects which would save them a big chunk of change.

 

[Candlelight]

Yeah, but, 50th anniversary celebrations have already started with the first of those e-books being published. Plus, later this month IDW's anniversary comic series starts. 2013 is the year that anything related to the 50th anniversary will happen, not 2014.

The first season began in 1963 but only ran for five weeks before it turned into 1964, which I think is what some believe might happen; yes this year is the 50th anniversary year but the "anniversary season" will be for the 2014 season.

 

[Mr Awe]

^^^ I don't think that was the original plan but due to mismanagement, that's what will likely happen.

 

[Candlelight]

^ I blame Moffat.

Then again I blame him for the quality drop of series 5-7.