HBO's High-Class Problems: $100M 'Vinyl' Disappoints Amid 'Westworld,' David Fincher Woes

[EzekelRAGE]

HBO's $100M 'Vinyl' Disappoints Amid 'Westworld,' David Fincher Woes
There is a lot more at the link about the other business dealing of HBO and how Time Warner may eventually want to sale them. Analysts say HBO could go for like $30B or something. I just took out some quotes.

Meanwhile, HBO's big swings can be mind-bendingly expensive. The two-hour Vinyl opener is said to have cost about $30 million and the first season $100 million. HBO executives still are optimistic that Vinyl will recover from its disappointing launch, which pitted it against the midseason return of The Walking Dead. As for projects that haven't made it to air yet, HBO has gone through false starts before; it dumped the pilot for Game of Thrones before a reset that has been successful in every sense of the word. But given the names involved, HBO's troubled projects can be especially noisy.

HBO spent $100 Million on the whole season of Vinyl, with $30M of it going to the premiere. Dafuq they doing?
Martin and Jagger must be taxing the hell outta them.


Then this shyt

Last summer, Fincher's Videosyncrasy — a half-hour about a music video PA (as Fincher was) — was halted with four episodes shot. After directing the first two, Fincher turned his focus to Utopia, a thriller about graphic novel fans. Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn wrote scripts for the series, and a cast led by Rooney Mara was deep into rehearsals when HBO pulled the plug in August. The network reportedly balked at Fincher's insistence on a $100 million budget. HBO still hopes Fincher will return to Videosyncrasy and plans to make Utopia with another director. Meanwhile, Fincher has returned to his House of Cards home, Netflix, to develop a new drama.

If anyone has seen the UK Utopia you know it's a great tv show and wouldve been a 100x more unique/exciting than Vinyl. (Watched premiere, not really feeling it ). At the very least, it would appeal to a much wider audience than Vinyl. I think Utopia is one of the most visually stunning tv shows I ever saw. Hopefully the next director does good. IDK what Fincher wanted a $100M budget for though because the show doesnt take place 50 years in the past nor does it have dragons and stuff like a fantasy show.

Late last year, HBO stopped work on the pricey J.J. Abrams-produced Westworld, based on a 1970's sci-fi movie series. and with an enormous cast including Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris. Initially produced with Warners' TV production arm, HBO took back control after what sources call clashes with creator Jonathan Nolan, whose TV credit is the WBTV-produced Person of Interest on CBS. (HBO usually makes its own programming but works with Warners on The Leftovers.) Nolan is said to be every bit as controlling as his filmmaker brother Chris. Sources say cuts came in slowly, scripts started running behind, and it became apparent that episodes already shot needed tweaks requiring additional filming. Since stopping production, HBO persuaded Nolan to "put aside his ego," one source says, and has brought in two additional producers and two more writers. Production is set to resume in March.

"Westworld is wildly ambitious — on the page and on set," says Nolan. "In broadcast TV, it's been routine for us to write and shoot at the same time. This is a completely different animal. As we got closer to the final episodes, we realized we needed to take a break from shooting to catch up on writing. HBO and WBTV have been incredibly supportive throughout the process. It would have been literally impossible to make this show anywhere else."

Least WW still coming, just a shytload of delays.

 

[jay211]

Did you notice STEVEN MCQUEEN'S CODES of CONDUCT show got scrapped after it got ordered to series?

 

[EzekelRAGE]

Did you notice STEVEN MCQUEEN'S CODES of CONDUCT show got scrapped after it got ordered to series?

Just saw it, damn. Sad thing is, the whole series (6 episodes) probably didn't even cost as much as the Vinyl premiere. I would hope the series could find a home someplace else (HBO passed on Walking Dead/House of Cards(Outbid)/Mad Men), but it seems like this may be HBO's property, so Netflix or Amazon can't bid to get it or anything.

 

[BXKingPin82]

That Vinyl shyt look butt ass
I keep saying im watch when i get home and just end up fukkin around with youtube

 

[Tical]

Did you notice STEVEN MCQUEEN'S CODES of CONDUCT show got scrapped after it got ordered to series?

That was the biggest disappoontment in the whole article. Was really looking forward to that.

They fired the guy responsible for all these stop and starts, their Head of Drama Series a couple of weeks ago. Plus they announced last week that they're increasing their original production spending by 50% in 2016. So I think they'll be alright.

Article is wrong on Westworld though. They've got 7 episodes done already and restart production next month. It'll be out by the summer.

 

[EzekelRAGE]

Article is wrong on Westworld though. They've got 7 episodes done already and restart production next month. It'll be out by the summer.

It mentioned it already shot episodes and it will resume shooting again in March. Idk where the 2017 thing came from though.

 

[Makavalli]

Good. Fukk winter for rushing the boardwalk empire finale to start this shyt. I dvr'd the 1st episode but still yet to watch it.

 

[Tical]

It mentioned it already shot episodes and it will resume shooting again in March. Idk where the 2017 thing came from though.

JJ Abrams is exec producing and he said they're still on target for Summer release.

3 episodes is only like 6 weeks of shooting.

 

[AnonymityX1000]

Yeah Vinyl is for a niche audience, no way that show is going to get a huge audience. I love Marty but this is kinda esoteric the way they are approaching the subject.

 

[ciubaca]

fukk, Netflix, Showtime AMC even fox have better shows than HBO at this point. All they have is GOT
Westworld looks tho

 

[pete clemenza]

Wow they're blowing money like crazy at HBO. Doesn't Game Of Thrones cost like $10 million per episode? At least that show is a hit but blowing millions into the hundreds on unproven material is

 

[Adam3000]

Spend 100 million on garbage ass Vinyl but balk at 100 million on goat Utopia, brehs

 

[EzekelRAGE]

Wow they're blowing money like crazy at HBO. Doesn't Game Of Thrones cost like $10 million per episode? At least that show is a hit but blowing millions into the hundreds on unproven material is

That may be close, in 2012, it was reported to cost $6M an episode, www.eonline.com/news/318306/holy-flaming-warships-how-expensive-is-game-of-thrones-anyway.
So contract renogs, a little more on the dragons, I can see it maybe being $10M an epi.

So, with all that shyt in GoT you have to account for. Costumes/Sets/etc, WTF are the spending that money on in Vinyl?

 

[jay211]

Lowkey that show THE GET DOWN cost a fukk load of money for Netflix too. Baz Luhrman had Netflix blow a bankroll to make that.

 

[Roman Brady]

Did you notice STEVEN MCQUEEN'S CODES of CONDUCT show got scrapped after it got ordered to series?

How exactly does that happen to a dude fresh off winning an Oscar? If he has less melanin they'd at least go through with it and save him such embarrassment