<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>isn't the word we are looking for called "SYNDICATION">???<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Er, no. Syndication merely refers to sale of a show to a syndicate, which in turn re-sells the reruns as a package to individual stations. It is also applied (less accurately) to selling a rerun package directly to a cable network like Sci-Fi. Syndication has nothing to do with the underlying rights to the property.
And yes, the studio always owns the film or the TV show or whatever. While creators certainly deserve more than they generally get, this isn't as unfair as some people make it out to be. Warner Bros. spent around
one million dollars to produce each and every
B5 episode, and around three times as much for each TV movie. They wouldn't have done this if they didn't expect to make a tidy profit on the series in the future, and they help ensure that by owning the thing. Without the studio,
Babylon 5 (or
Titanic or
Pearl Harbor) is just a pile of typed paper.
Meanwhile Warner Bros. paid JMS a producer's fee and a fee for each of his scripts while the series was in production and he (theoretically) participates in the profits. (Of course, with the legendary Hollywood accounting methods, there rarely
are any profits - at least according to the studio books.)
In fairness, the studios flat-out
lose money on shows that get cancelled in less than three years, because there is almost no chance of selling them into syndication (the original
Trek and
Crusade being exceptions to this rule.) Since most series are produced at a deficit (the per episode cost exceeds the fee that the network pays -
B5 and
Crusade were exceptions) the only way the studio can make a dime on them is to sell the reruns during or after the network run.
So they have to make up the losses from the shows that can't be syndicated on the series that
do succeed. If they weren't doing that, they couldn't afford to stay in the TV business and pay for series like
Babylon 5.
The
only exception to all of this that I'm aware of is the
Star Wars series. Seeing no potential for toys (and little for SF in general) Fox allowed George Lucas to retain many of the ancillary rights to the
Star Wars property in return for a promise to keep the costs down. Lucas made so much on those toys that he was able to finance production of
The Empire Strikes Back himself, and only struck a distribution deal with Fox.
Empire and
Return made so much in turn that I think he was able to buy back all or most of the
Star Wars rights from the studio, so he pretty much controls the franchise at this point. (Which is the main reason that the original trilogy is not available on DVD - Fox would
love to put it out, but Lucasfilm has said, "No".)
Because he has so much control over the franchise, and because Lucasfilm Ltd. uses real-world accounting methods, folks who were promised "points" from the
Star Wars films were actually
paid their share of the profits, and the series has created more than one millionaire.
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
