Michael Alden
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2005
- Messages
- 825
A source in the industry has confirmed something that I had heard previously. Universal's in-house transfer costs are so outrageous that it makes it near impossible for them to make any profit on all but the highest selling sets. Get this, a single episode transfer from film costs them $5000. That means a single season series with 26 episodes costs them $130,000 right off the bat. Before DVD authoring, packaging, etc. At those prices it's no wonder they are the kings of one and done. With that type of idiotic setup they probably have to sell 50,000 sets just to break even. So when people ask why such and such isn't coming out, take a look at how the studios structure their setups and that will give you a good indication. And it's unconfirmed but I believe Warner has a similar screwy setup although the price I hear they have is even higher ($7000 an episode). That's why anything even close to being considered borderline will never see the light of day from those 2 companies.