28 ways to reduce the cost of TV content

See also Bubblegum films

These are tough times, and they are unlikely to go away this year.  Broadcasters in South Africa face a conundrum.  The future promises decreasing income, and the same local content quotas.  There is no way broadcasters can replace costly local programming with cheap imports.

Local programming has to carry on, and if advertising revenue continues to slide the way they are, then production costs of at least 15% will be the order of the day.

How can these cuts be achieved?  They are achieved as easily as it is to cut your expenditure at home.  With ruthlessness and courage. When you trim household costs, it is painful in the short term, but once you are used to them, you wonder why you were so extravagant in your lifestyle in the first place.

You have to be brutal, with yourself and with producers.  You have to make enormous compromises in what we, equally extravagantly and indulgently call “quality”.

 1 Think Fit for Purpose

Develop a “Fit for Purpose” attitude. If the programme is worth only one broadcast at ten o clock on a Saturday morning, why are you applying normal cost parameters to it?  If the dramas will never travel and are only worth a few broadcasts locally, why are you devoting international standards to the costings?

Fit for Purpose is a different take on “You get what you pay for”, or in other words, of you want to pay nothing, expect home video quality.  These are extraordinary times, and call for extraordinary measures. 

However, Fit for purpose does not mean just paying less and taking delivery of a home movie in return.  Fit for Purpose means evaluating potential return in order to assign realistic budgets, and then working SMARTLY.  It means taking on the attitude that just because we have done it this way for years, that it is not necessarily the right, nor the best way of doing things.

You just have to drop the policy of “we won't compromise our quality just because the broadcast is off-peak with a small audience.  Everyone is entitled to the same quality, regardless of their numbers ore the time of the slot”.

2  Target concepts

If the content is outstanding, the audience are infinitely forgiving of quality.  If you give the audience precisely what they want, they won’t notice that the opening logo is done on the cheap; that the lighting as done by a flight kit; and that there are no digital effects.

Look at the examples of Summit TV and KykNET. They are culturally specific, targeted to an audience that don’t get this content anywhere else, and therefore the audience pay attention only the content and not style, form, quality or aesthetics. 

Remember that 99.9% of people have never heard of aesthetics, and really don’t care, as long as you are appealing to their emotional needs.

3  Go for attention

Go for attention and not eyeballs.  Why are you broadening the appeal by watering down the concept in order to attract a wider audience?  All you achieve is mediocre content that attracts a few more eyeballs.  Those eyeballs are probably talking on the cell phone at the same time as they are pointing their faces in the general direction of the TV set. 

You want viewers who are attentive, and most likely to keep watching through the ad breaks.  Advertisers are willing to pay a premium for attentive audiences.  Look at sport: its rate card prices are far higher than those of other programmes.  That’s because advertisers know that sports viewers are attentive.

Fewer loyal and attentive viewers that justify advertising sold at a premium usually bring in far more than a broad based audience where the slots are sold at rate card less a discount.

4  Think of your advertisers.

What do advertisers want? Do they want visually superior programmes, or content that lends itself to those products that have to be advertised. 

These are hard times.  People are not buying cars or luxury clothes. No matter how much they are advertised.  These advertisers are likely to cut back.  But the advertisers of soap powders, mieliemeel, tea, coffee, and all essentials must continue to advertise in order to push their brand. 

Think of what else you can do for them.

5 Stop calculating cost per minute

Cost per finished running minute does not help you relate income to expenditure.  Broadcasters’ income comes from advertising, which is calculated per hour.  Work on a cost per hour, and then you can relate the costs to the hourly income.

You can also do it per half hour, but whichever way you go, make all your judgements on the basis of the total cost of the programme, compared to the total potential income.

6 Stress preproduction and scheduling

Put the utmost emphasis on pre-production and proper shooting schedules, together with the paperwork that goes with it.  A few sheets of paper and a few extra hours put in by the production manager are infinitely cheaper than a whole lot of people hanging around on the set waiting for someone to get their ducks in a row.

Insist that there is a detailed shooting schedule, and software, or macros that spit out Call Sheets, reports and all the disciplined paperwork that many producers just regard as a nuisance.  They are only a nuisance if they treated as a nuisance during planning.

If they are taken seriously then their true purpose will be understood, and production managers will find that they are there to save time and money.

7  Go for the best production managers

Producers who are new to the business or not all that experienced should employ the most competent production manager available.  It doesn’t pay to cut costs and have the producer double up as production manager.  The producer is supposed to be developing the next job.  He should be dedicating his efforts to continuity, sustainability and ensuring that the company has work once this production is delivered.

Efficient productions are more likely to get extended seasons and renewed contracts than are those that appear indulgent and costly.

Even experienced producers know that the best investment in a production, after the star, is the best production manager money can buy.

8  Clean up shooting reports and editing

Make sure the director submits reports of every shot and take to the editor if the editor is editing concurrently with the shooting.

The editor should be working off the shooting script, amended only by daily reports. At the end of the production, all these reports must be collated into a final script so that it is an exact written representation of the final master.  If you don’t do this, you will incur no end of costs if you later want to subtitle, reversion or repurpose.

9  Insist on International Tracks

Make sure every shot is recorded with the dialogue on one track, and general ambience on the other.

The editor can them separate the tracks, and edit on three tracks: one for music, one for effects and the last one for dialogue.  The editor only has to enhance the effects track with the odd door slam that did not come through well.

Every production must be delivered with two tracks – one finally mixed, (M&E & Dial), and the other IT.  It costs a negligible extra amount for the sound mixer to do this.

10  Go for Multiskilling

If the project is a documentary, or a magazine programme, why doesn’t the director edit as well?

If you look into matters carefully, you will find that multiskilling, doubling up roles, and cutting staff to the bone is going on anyway.  Why are these savings ending up in the producers’ pockets and not attributed to the efficiency of the production?  It is far better to pay the producer and production manager a little more and encourage them to reduce staff and crew.

Directors don’t come from nowhere.  They have risen up the ranks from somewhere.  Perhaps in small productions, they can double up in whatever occupation they came from.  If the director is too high and mighty to deign to do another job, get another one.  In South Africa, everyone seems to be a TV director, so there must be lots of them.

11  Select the right Post production

Encourage the producer to shop around.  Just because a post production facility is well known, its high prices don’t guarantee the best service.  Many top practitioners leave these facilities to open their own garage operations.

The foyer décor, the receptionist, the offer of coffee or cold drinks in the reception area, and the comfortable settee in the editing room are a guarantee of only one thing – a high price.

You may not get five star accommodation in a garage facility, but you may get a better job at half the price.

12  Try long term contracts

These always make sense, but make sure you are getting a good deal from the long term contract.  A contract for 52 half hour magazines programmes that were contracted out at R3000 pm for 13 episodes, should come in at around half price for 52 episodes (if there’s no travelling involved).

However, remember that lifestyle programmes, location shot single-camera style on other broadcasters’ channels are often bargained down to R1000 a minute on a year long contract.

13  Be flexible with rights

If the producer wants to negotiate more rights than are visual in a standard commission, such as some foreign sales rights, let him have them – in return for a drop in the price.

14  Exploit trade exchanges

Business is equally down in airlines, hotels, car hire and restaurants.  You should have no difficulty getting trade exchanges.  These people have plenty of seats etc. available that are empty.

Sponsorship means asking for cash.  There’s no cash around, so don’t waste too much time trying to find it, unless there’s exceptional value for a potential sponsor.

15  Slash the crew

Cut the crew to the bone.  There are no unions in South Africa, and there is no need to employ people in roles just because this is done in unionised countries.

In documentaries, magazines and other entertainment programmes, can’t the director also present (perform)?  Or the camera operator edit as well?

Why can’t the sound operator rig the lights?  Do you really need a make up artist for street make up? If a performer cannot apply their own street make up, they haven’t got much experience. Will the audience care?

Think Fit for Purpose.

16  Be audience centred

Make the programmes for the audiences and not for the international awards ceremonies.  Awards make you feel better.  The audience don’t give a damn.

The audience want emotionally satisfying programming that meets their own personal needs.  Audiences don’t watch programmes because they won awards.  Other producers do.  If you make programmes just for your peers,  you will have an audience of 500.  What you really need is an audience of 500 000.

17 Foster business minded producers

Encourage producers to concentrate on the audience first and then on the business of management.  Management comes second because "no audience, no broadcaster, no programme, no work".  Once they have finished all their duties required in business management, they can possibly think about adventurous aesthetics and international awards.

Producers are supposed to get the work, and employ a production manager to manage the productions.  As soon as the production is under way, the producer should be looking for the next job, and planning for the next lot of development and pitch.

Proper producers should delegate the day to day running to the production manager, and this includes any day to day liaison with the commissioning editor.

The producer should only be involved if there is a major disaster or if the production is going way off track.  The production cannot afford to come to a standstill just because the commissioning editor is only allowed to liaise directly with the producer on mundane matters.

18  Cut dramas costs at script stage

Here are seven tips to challenge the screen writer to cut production costs:

1.    Don’t have too many characters or crowd scenes in your script. Combine multiple characters into one. In a group setting such as an office or party, have only one or two characters speak.

2.    Don’t set the script in weird places that are only accessible by helicopter. Travel expenses, permits and even the unpredictability of the weather, which can lead to setbacks due to technical problems, will all increase production costs. Even if it means tweaking the plot and the characters, set it somewhere nearby, where the weather is reliable.

3.    Keep exterior shots to a minimum. Exterior shots rely on good weather, extras, cars and often costly dressings, all of which cost money.

4.    Keep the main characters to a minimum. The more major characters, the less you have to pay for a crucial actor with a big name.

5.    Avoid special effects. Computer animation is expensive.  Digital effects look easy, but they take time, and the hourly rates of digital graphic artists are high.

6.    Be wary of stunts, and incidents that require costly stunts people.  These events need choreographers, safety precautions, and doubles.

7.    Keep camera tracking, jib and crane shots down. Moving shots require dollies and special camera operators and grips professionals.

19  Go for low-cost digital cameras

Just because HDTV is available it doesn’t mean you have to use it.  Only shoot on HDTV is you have already made pre-sales internationally, or if you know the programme will still be making money in 2020.  Otherwise select the lowest possible quality camera, that costs the very least, and that will give you what you need, and still meet the technical requirements of the channel.

20  Light in the camera

A DOP or camera operator who costs a little more can probably get the camera to do many of the lighting effects for you.  Even the simplest digital cameras these days have an array of features that many operators don’t even know how to use.

It often pays to employ an operator who has his own gear.  He knows it better than any gear you have hired.  He will also look after it better.

21  Avoid special effects

Digital effects encompassing the full range of fast cuts, posturisation, split screens, cameos, everything usually means that you are using visual effects to make up for bland, mediocre and uninteresting content. 

It’s far cheaper to make the content emotionally interesting, than turning it into visual eye-candy.

22  Plan for subtitling

If you are going to subtitle, make this a part of the total production planning and costs.  If the camera operator knows there will be subtitles he will always try and accommodate a suitable background for them.

Make sure the subtitlers know all the simple guidelines so that the extra cost leads to subtitles that are readable and useful; to the audience.

Forbid fancy subtitles that wipe in and out, type across or have graphic backgrounds.  Simpler is better – the audience prefers it that way.

23  Plan for versioning

Spend a lot of time deciding what the programme is worth in terms of its potential for repurposing, extra versions, and doubling up as part of another production.  The more you invest up front to prepare for repurposing and reversioning, the less it will cost ion the long run.

This investment you make up front consists only of extremely low cost pre-production time.

24  Try multiple language versions

It’s quite easy to turn out multiple language versions, especially in the black languages.  Most performers can speak in more than one language, provided they have the script.

If you would like the programme in Sesotho, Setswana and IsiXhosa, employ performers who can adequately speak those languages – they are available.  Then shoot all the language versions one after another, shot  by shot.  In other words, set up the shot, and shoot it three times, each time in a different language.  The editor simply assembles the three versions, using the same editing judgements for each version.  It’s possible to get three language versions at a premium of no more than 12% of the total production costs of one language version.  You may triple your audience reach for only 12% extra cost.

25 Study Nollywood

Twenty times a day, ask yourself how these ridiculously low cost movies can prove to be so popular on TV.  Ask yourself why the Africa Magic channel on DStv became a hit overnight, taking the producers and the broadcaster totally by surprise.

There are no easy answers to this one, but it seems that somewhere there is a secret to making low cost dramas with impact.

Ask yourself how these films can be shot and edited in a month, and for as little as $35 000.

The quality of their camerawork, sound recording and editing is usually described by local filmmakers as “totally unacceptable”.  However, it’s the audience that counts, not the standards required by the panels of the international awards committees.

No one would call the popularity of these films in South Africa as “totally unacceptable”.

We need to see what we can learn from their production methodologies.  By the way, $35000 is the equivalent of R4000 per finished running minute.

26  Rethink formats

Licensing global formats is extremely expensive.  All you get in return is an expensive production where you may have minimised the risk.

For every high cost global format, we need to make three or four low cost game shows, where the style, format and production is home-grown, looks home-grown, feels home-grown and appeals to the audience because they feel at home in them.

Every time we buy a global format, we are insulting our own abilities to be innovative, creative and original.

27  Take extra care with talk shows

We know talk is cheap, but the reason so many talk shows fail is that too little selection and planning is done around the right host.  The host makes or breaks a talk show.

By the way, more than a few talk shows have come adrift when the producer has tried to squeeze blood out of a stone by having sponsored inserts.

The audience is not stupid.  They can spot product placement, advertorial and one-sided product plugs within nano-seconds.

28 Be tough

Take no objections from producers.  You will get plenty.  Foster those producers who are willing to team up with you, and partner in order to cut costs.

They will be a pleasure to work with.

Those who object from the start will always object and blame you for anything that goes wrong.  You just have to toughen up.