The CW Floats $1M An Episode License Fee For Drama Series As Studios Wait For Clarity On New Business Model
deadline.comNot counting the series that are officially ending this season, the oldest scripted series on the air at the CW is flagship All American, currently in its fifth season.
All other shows are three-years-old or younger. That is significant as series tend to get more expensive as they age. And, as the new owners of the CW, Texas-based Nexstar Media Group, have demonstrated, cutting costs is a key element of their plan to make the independent TV network profitable, which involves reducing the volume and price tag of original scripted series and ramping up cost-effective unscripted fare.
As part of the cost-cutting efforts, I hear Nexstar executives have been looking to restructure the agreements with the CW’s current scripted series suppliers, CBS Studios and Warner Bros.
Television, floating a target license fee for drama series of $1 million dollar per episode going forward. That is significantly lower than the current license fees the CW pays for its dramas, which I hear range from low-to-mid-one million to high one million dollars/close to $2M an episode. (I hear the CW had previously employed $1M an episode license fee years ago but the network had to step up as production costs started going up and competition for talent drove actor prices up.) I hear that idea has been met with resistance, with sources telling Deadline that it is not feasible to produce an hourlong series at that license fee, taking on additional deficit, under the current model of the CW getting first run and the studios trying to find domestic off-network and international buyers. “It is challenging,” one industry source said.
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