08-25-2010, 03:51 AM
Simon Cowell is the exception - he's a show creator/producer - not a "reality" person like in Big Brother.
http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=314&issue=114
very long (and good) article. one excerpt:
Quite apart from the cost of purchasing the rights to such a successful show, Big Brother has other large expenses. Continuous surveillance of contestants requires a production team of about ‘200 people…including 50 cameramen [sic] and 13 producers’. Celebrity Big Brother has the additional cost that, while the celebrities are not exactly A-list, they still expect substantial fees. Shilpa Shetty was allegedly paid somewhere between £200,000 and £300,000 simply for appearing in the show.
Survivor, which uses exotic locations and is produced up to the standards of primetime US network TV, is also extremely costly for a reality programme. The justification for this expense is that these programmes deliver extremely valuable audiences, which in turn earns broadcasters very large advertising fees.
http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=314&issue=114
very long (and good) article. one excerpt:
Quite apart from the cost of purchasing the rights to such a successful show, Big Brother has other large expenses. Continuous surveillance of contestants requires a production team of about ‘200 people…including 50 cameramen [sic] and 13 producers’. Celebrity Big Brother has the additional cost that, while the celebrities are not exactly A-list, they still expect substantial fees. Shilpa Shetty was allegedly paid somewhere between £200,000 and £300,000 simply for appearing in the show.
Survivor, which uses exotic locations and is produced up to the standards of primetime US network TV, is also extremely costly for a reality programme. The justification for this expense is that these programmes deliver extremely valuable audiences, which in turn earns broadcasters very large advertising fees.