The Get Down hasn't even premiered yet, but it’s already breaking some pretty shocking records.
The upcoming show is Netflix’s most expensive series to date, coming in at around $120 million, Variety reports. The 12-episode season originally had a budget of $7.5 million per episode, but went way over that number, thanks to production drama and New York state tax incentives, according to Variety. For comparison, HBO's golden goose Game of Thrones cost $10 million per episode last season, with overall production cost coming out to about $100 million.
The Get Down is run by Oscar-nominated director Baz Luhrmann, whose filmmaking style is dominated by luxe aesthetics and grandiose appeal. It’s his first TV series, though he was initially brought on in a less-involved capacity to serve as an “uncle to the project,” he tells Variety.
“The mechanism that pre-existed to create TV shows didn’t really work for this show," he said. "At every step of the way there was no precedent for what we were doing. The standard process really didn’t work, so progressively, I was drawn more and more into the center of it.”
However, production was so hectic—show-runner and writer changes, stalled filming, cost concerns—that he considered quitting the project altogether. Around set, the show is allegedly nicknamed The Shut Down by writers, who had to endure numerous re-writes and tossed out scripts, according to Variety.
Netflix, meanwhile, is incredibly supportive of Luhrmann, and is known for throwing down hefty sums to draw in big names. When House of Cards began, the company reportedly plunked down $100 million for the first 26 episodes, in order to meet the demands of executive producer and director David Fincher. Stacking the cast with Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright? Well, that also tends to weigh down a budget.
Before The Get Down, Marco Polo had the distinct honor of being Netflix’s most expensive show. The series’s first season, which has 10 episodes, cost $90 million, according to the New York Times. But Netflix will soon top that with The Crown, an upcoming series about the rise and reign of Queen Elizabeth, which some reports say cost about $156 million to make—though Netflix has not confirmed the gargantuan price tag.
Until then, The Get Down is still the king of massive spending.
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/07/the-get-down-budget-netflix
The upcoming show is Netflix’s most expensive series to date, coming in at around $120 million, Variety reports. The 12-episode season originally had a budget of $7.5 million per episode, but went way over that number, thanks to production drama and New York state tax incentives, according to Variety. For comparison, HBO's golden goose Game of Thrones cost $10 million per episode last season, with overall production cost coming out to about $100 million.
The Get Down is run by Oscar-nominated director Baz Luhrmann, whose filmmaking style is dominated by luxe aesthetics and grandiose appeal. It’s his first TV series, though he was initially brought on in a less-involved capacity to serve as an “uncle to the project,” he tells Variety.
“The mechanism that pre-existed to create TV shows didn’t really work for this show," he said. "At every step of the way there was no precedent for what we were doing. The standard process really didn’t work, so progressively, I was drawn more and more into the center of it.”
However, production was so hectic—show-runner and writer changes, stalled filming, cost concerns—that he considered quitting the project altogether. Around set, the show is allegedly nicknamed The Shut Down by writers, who had to endure numerous re-writes and tossed out scripts, according to Variety.
Netflix, meanwhile, is incredibly supportive of Luhrmann, and is known for throwing down hefty sums to draw in big names. When House of Cards began, the company reportedly plunked down $100 million for the first 26 episodes, in order to meet the demands of executive producer and director David Fincher. Stacking the cast with Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright? Well, that also tends to weigh down a budget.
Before The Get Down, Marco Polo had the distinct honor of being Netflix’s most expensive show. The series’s first season, which has 10 episodes, cost $90 million, according to the New York Times. But Netflix will soon top that with The Crown, an upcoming series about the rise and reign of Queen Elizabeth, which some reports say cost about $156 million to make—though Netflix has not confirmed the gargantuan price tag.
Until then, The Get Down is still the king of massive spending.
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/07/the-get-down-budget-netflix