Is this the last ever series? It been longer than most - almost as if they have been finishing off all the programmes they started (so there are none to carry over to the next series). They have also been revisiting anything they can.
Andrew
Dunno.
Think there were only actually 4 new progs - unless I've missed one which would be difficult. ;-)
I'd say it's suffering from the current ITV malaise - not enough income to make decent progs.
Oddly, they finished the run with a repeat which wasn't even a revisit. I have to say that it looks like they aren't really trying any more.
Chris
McCleod didn't suggest that it was finishing for ever, when he was interviewed a few weeks back in ...... TV Times mag I think I saw it. I haven't been taking too much notice of the closing credits this series, but they usually say something like
"If you have a Grand Design that you would like to see included in the next series, go to Channel 4.com ... etc"
I think I've still got one recorded. I'll go look. Nope, I've deleted them all !
Arfa
Can't get much lower budget than that surely.
Would be nice if they turned their attention to innovative small builds.
NT
Oh yes you can. It's not a cheap prog to make.
and I imagine it has just about the longest payback period of pretty well anything being made for TV today.
I'd like to see that. I don't think we're that far away from self-build becoming popular.
Rob
Apart from CSI, obviously. ;-)
Rob coughed up some electrons that declared:
Wish they have something like that, with a strong educational angle for people like me ;-)
I do so agree. Even the most experienced DIYer - or even tradesman - could learn or be reminded about techniques from a half decent approach to a prog like this. Grand Designs sometimes comes close - of all these sort of progs. The DIY ones are just rubbish.
What particularly causes it to be "not cheap" ? I would have thought that it required very little in terms of production crew, and post production processing. Cameraman, soundman, junior director, bit of editing time etc ? It's not as if the format has changed one iota since the very first one. The opening and closing credits have been the same for at least the last 4 series, and the music - opening, closing and incidental - has never changed. McCleod even writes his own scripts as I recall.
I'm sure as you are in that business, you know better than I. Just interested ...
Arfa
Well, there you go then Dave ! As someone who is in the production business, I'm sure you must know some ears that you could whisper the idea into, and I'm sure that there would be no shortage of volunteers to appear among the good folk tradesman on this group. Get Tommy Walsh to front it up ...
It would be like resurrecting the old Barry Bucknall DIY TV progs from the
50s !Arfa
Arfa
I think 6 site visits by a one man team would be cheap tv to make. But then there's Kev and the fact they have at least 3 different camera men and sound peeps for each show ...
They use aerial shots too which must be pricey.
Then there's all the post production staff ...
Having seen a news present say she's paid 92k (obscure one at that!) I wouldn't be surprised if Kev was on shedloads.
And therein lies part of the problem with society. Footballers get paid insane amounts of money to kick a ball about once a week for a few months a year. This caused everyone else to want more money and then everything spiralled and no one knows what their job is worth these days.
I reckon we should get rid of celebrityness and only have sensible news in the papers.
(I object greatly to presenters like Adrian Chiles walking on at the start of that post-apprentice show - like he's some big fancy pants man. He's not. He's a tv presenter who thinks he's god)
Is there nothing on you-tube?
For a start they use the same crew throughout. Which involves travel costs. A real el cheapo would use local people to save on that - where possible. And the number of visits to the site. Doing this on separate occasions pushes up the costs enormously. Far cheaper where a prog can be made in one continuous period. They also use top quality equipment and technicians. A real cheapo one would use semi pro equipment with just a cameraman. I'm not saying it costs anything like drama - which can be a million an hour. Just that it's not a bargain basement prog.
Sadly I've nothing to do with the program ideas side - just an oily rag techie...
Hardboard sales would go up, then?
Ah, OK. I wouldn't imagine for a moment that a company such as Channel 4 would commission or buy any programmes made with less than top-notch equipment and people. I can't remember who the production company are, but I would think that they are pretty small - and if they follow the trend of many of the small not-quite-mainstream production companies, McCleod is probably at least a director, if not part owner.
As far as the travel costs go, I wouldn't have expected that to come to more than the amount that they sell one episode for, for the entire crew, and entire series. For a few of tens of thousands, they could hire a luxury coach to haul themselves and their gear around this small island for the whole series, couldn't they ? Unless they are all staying in 5 star luxury, I wouldn't have expected the accommodation costs for a small crew to be that much, either. What's a Travel Lodge ? Forty quid a night ? Perfectly adequate accommodation for production crew, I would have thought ? Or is it all done differently to that ? Point taken that it is not "bargain basement" though, as some satelllite offerings are. Again, I'm sure you are in a better position to know, given that you are 'in the business' as it were. Interesting stuff ...
Arfa
Oh come now Dave - I'm sure you do yourself a grave injustice ! Are the directors and so on really so far above the rest of us 'on the ground' erks, that they don't associate ? I would have thought that in order to get the best from crews, they would have wanted to have known them, and kept them working for them as teams, as much as possible. No ?
Arfa
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