Sometimes when we watch one of our favorite series through Netflix, Disney +, Prime Video or one of these platforms, we are not aware of everything that its production entails. And we are not only talking about the months that the entire process can be extended, but how large the financial outlay can be. For this reason, we found it very interesting to make a compilation of the most expensive series in history , which is our topic today.
How much does it cost to produce a television series?
Being able to talk about the cost involved in developing a complete series is something quite complex, since different aspects interfere:
- Copyright costs : if the production of content by any company requires payment of rights, we can hold on to the chair because, on many occasions, these can be equivalent to 50% of the entire budget. A little further ahead we will see some examples.
- Pre-production costs : development of scripts, locations, sets, costumes and a very long etcetera that, for those who are in this process, seems endless.
- Salaries and costs during filming : both the equipment needed for the recordings, the locations if it is necessary to rent, the salaries of all the equipment and, above all, that of the actors if they have a high cache. To give you an idea, some of the actors and actresses of the series that we will see a little later have come to charge around 1 million dollars per chapter in which they acted.
- Post-production costs : hiring studios for editing, color correction or, if necessary, creating visual effects.
In short, this is just a simple outline of everything that the episodes of that series that we see through the screen entail on a monetary level. Hence, some of them have had budgets that exceeded 100 million dollars per season.
Budget of the most expensive series in history
That said, now that we have put you in a situation of the waste that you will see below, it is time to present you some of the series whose production has been the most expensive in history.
Sense8
The first series that appears within this our list is Sens8 and, oddly enough, it has been the “cheapest” of all those that we will see below. This series produced by Netflix became one of the largest outlays for the company, reaching $ 9 million per episode . And, so that we are going to lie to each other, perhaps the main reason for which it was canceled was this.
The Big Bang Theory
Another of the great series that we can see in this list is The Big Bang Theory , known to anyone with a minimum degree of “geek”. Initially the production of this series, as you can imagine if you have seen any of its chapters, was not as expensive as it later became. And, after seeing the popularity that it was reaching, the main actors of the series agreed to pressure the producer to raise their salary. After the negotiation, the price that the main actors earned for each episode was 1 million dollars, representing the highest cost of production that was around 9 million dollars per episode .
Westworld
What seems to be the new Game of Thrones in terms of popularity, it is also one of the series that has meant the highest cost in its production. And is that Westworld has a budget of around 10 million dollars per chapter .
Friends
If the previous series are known, the one we are talking about now should not need a presentation. By the way, do you remember the action that the actors of The Big Bang Theory performed when the popularity of their series increased? Well, the idea seems to have been taken from the cast of Friends . And it is that, although in the first seasons the salaries of the actors were not extremely high, after a little pressure, they got them to pay 1 million dollars to each one per chapter. So, after this, the budget for the last seasons of the series reached 10 million dollars per episode .
Blood brothers
Fortunately, Hermanos de Sangre was a war mini-series that did not last too long because for HBO, its producer, the expense was 12 million dollars per episode . In the end, the sets, effects, locations and the co-production with Steven Spielberg make the price quite expensive. Even so, HBO continues to maintain that it was worth it for the great positive reviews that the series received.
Emergencies
One of the greatest successes in television history in the United States was the Emergency Room (ER) series . This catapulted the career of the cast of main characters including George Clooney and Julianna Margulies. The resounding success was why NBC didn’t “hurt too much” to shell out about $ 13 million per episode .
The Crown
Another of the great series produced by Netflix has been The Crown. A material that the company has not found cheap to make. The BBC reported at the time that the first season had a budget of $ 130 million and, currently, we do not know exactly if this value has risen in the newer seasons. Which leads us to think that the cost would be 13 million per chapter or even more.
The Morning Show
The Morning Show series has certainly not been cheap for Apple to produce on its Apple TV + service either. The wonderful cast like Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon and the rest of the production have raised this to 15 million per episode aired. Will this production really pay off?
Game of Thrones
No one will be surprised that Game of Thrones is among the series that has had the highest cost to produce them. The plot, the locations, effects, the cache of the actors and the production demands increased throughout the 8 seasons that this series was broadcast. Initially, the first season had a budget of about 5 million per episode. Then the second hit 8 million per episode. All of this continued to grow to reach 15 million per episode for the last two seasons.
The Get Down
It may not have been as popular as expected, but the series dedicated to the history of rap and hip-hop in the late 1970s, called The Get Down , was quite expensive for Netflix. The initial budget started with 11 million per episode but, after different setbacks, this cost skyrocketed. Finally, it is estimated that the cost per episode issued reached 16 million dollars.
The Pacific
Currently, the person in charge of the most expensive series in history was HBO with The Pacific. A series that tells the story that ended the Second World War and that, on a visual level, is all wonderful. Scenes such as the landing of the military on Peleliu beach or the production of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks raised the cost of this very much, which reached 21.7 million dollars per episode .
The Lord of the rings
However, it seems that another candidate for the first place has been hitting hard. And it is not another of the series that is expected to see the light in a time dedicated to The Lord of the Rings . Only the disbursement of the rights for the novels of JRR Tolkien have meant a total of 250 million dollars. It is estimated that the budget of the series is about 500 million dollars, of which 125 would go to the production of the first season. This means that it would reach about 20 million per chapter , although it remains to be seen that the value increases at the time of its creation.