ep cost

Is it true that an ep of Futurama costs about $500,000? If so, how much does a Simpsons ep cost? And why would they keep pre-empting it and promote it so badly yet renew for the last few years?

yea when i saw that i said no way

but if you think about with the voice actors costs and the writers, the animation, the computer time

and double that for managment

[email] wrote:

They could probably get people to donate computer time a la Seti@Home. I'd do it.

"Ol' Kentucky Shark" wrote in message news:sXuf9.22884$[email]...

promote

I heard a Disney executive claim that a full-length animated feature (about 90 minutes) costs $50 million, so a twenty minute Futurama episode for $500,000 sounds cheap.

I can't imagine why animation is so expensive: 1. There are no big stars demanding $1 million dollars per episode. Brilliant as they are, I doubt if voice artists command that sort of cash. For example, wasn't Maggie Roswell fired from the Simpsons when she asked for more money? 2. All the action takes place on a drawing board or inside a computer so there are no expensive locations, sets or special effects to pay for. (Didn't Lew Grade say, after his turkey "Raise the Titanic" nearly bankrupted him, "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic.") 3. There is no crew - stunt doubles, best boys, grips, transportation captains and all the rest. 4. The donkey work on the drawings is done in low-wage countries like South Korea. So where does all that money go? John

Big-cheese egotistical directors.

• Matt

Futurama costs $1.2 million per episode. It's pretty common these days for prime-time animated shows to cost close to 7 digit numbers.

The Simpsons costs...I believe $1.6 million an episode. $300,000 of it goes to the main 6 voice actors too. :/ But FOX of course will shell out for a show like that.

• CMiB