Animation budget

[Richard Bignell]

Feb 8, 2024 22:59:21 GMT George D said:

I'm surprised as that the BBC is funded by a mandatory tax/fee , that how it is spent is none of our business, but apparently us little people shouldn't ask such questions

I'm surprised that you're surprised. The BBC has never been under the control of or part of the government.

The mandated licence fee gives people the right to watch the BBC's broadcast output - and that's it. It certainly doesn't give them any right to pry into what individuals are being paid to do a job of work.

[George D]

Individual salaries I can understand. However most major commercial movies share the budgets, and how much is received in various sales such as theater, home video etc. I even saw something once with a dollar amount of how much Disney recieved from McDonald's for a happy meal placement.

Maybe I'm naive, but my thoughts is, as this is mandated on the public, they should have a right to know how their tax is spent. When things are kept in secret, often there is a reason.

[Richard Bignell]

Feb 9, 2024 14:25:27 GMT George D said:

Maybe I'm naive, but my thoughts is, as this is mandated on the public, they should have a right to know how their tax is spent. When things are kept in secret, often there is a reason.

The licence fee is mandated, but given that BBC Studios is the commercial arm of the BBC and receives absolutely no part of that income whatsoever, one thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

If they choose to keep things commercially confidential, that is their absolute right to do so.

[nathangeorge]

I suspect the animations, like a lot of Doctor Who produced over the last 60 years, has a comparatively small budget, relying instead on the skill, ambition, dedication and love of the industry professionals involved. How very Doctor Who.

[John Wall]

Feb 10, 2024 7:24:11 GMT nathangeorge said:

I suspect the animations, like a lot of Doctor Who produced over the last 60 years, has a comparatively small budget, relying instead on the skill, ambition, dedication and love of the industry professionals involved. How very Doctor Who.

The animations are done by commercial companies. That no one seems to have been able to make the sums add up to animate the two missing episodes of the Crusades - seemingly due to the number of characters/costumes - tells us something.

However, something like Power or Evil is a different matter. Daleks are DW’s biggest monsters, so will probably sell well, and you don’t have to worry about different costumes and facial expressions!

The financial arrangements with the animators probably vary. A commercial organisation needs to be profitable so that they can invest, pay dividends, etc. If work is thin the balance can tip towards the customer. In most cases, however, there’s likely to be a discount for a bulk purchase. If, hypothetically, it takes one week to animate one DW episode then placing an order for four, five or six should reduce the cost per episode as it’s guaranteed work for people which is good news. Going back to the demand the profit margin can reduce or even disappear if there isn’t much work as it can be important to keep people ready for the upturn - it may even be worth making a small loss. This happened in the construction industry in the early 2010s, after the financial crash, when prices became very competitive.

A lot of things depend on market conditions and understanding these is key to getting a good deal.

[Nicholas Fitzpatrick]

So a government institution then. But not under direct government control; same as most government corporations.

[Richard Bignell]

Feb 13, 2024 13:21:15 GMT Nicholas Fitzpatrick said:

So a government institution then.

No.

[joenuttall]

C.f. www.gov.uk/government/organisations/bbc - "BBC is a public corporation of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport."

What is a public corporation?

"Public Corporations: market bodies controlled by either Central Government or Local Government. These include any type of public entity that is a market body. Market bodies are defined as entities that gain over 50 per cent of their income from purely commercial activities"

You can argue whether the government-controlled licence fee counts as government funding (it is as close to government funding as you can get - it is not a license to watch BBC in the way that you'd buy a Netflix subscription but a license to watch live TV, and the government controls and sets the price of it) but it accounted for 71% of BBC income for 2021/2

Also it is mandated by royal charter to "be independent in all matters concerning the fulfilment of its Mission and the promotion of the Public Purposes, particularly as regards editorial and creative decisions, the times and manner in which its output and services are supplied, and in the management of its affairs."

So it is government controlled (and thus presumably government owned), and a majority of its income is controlled by the government. On the other hand it is supposed to be independent in many matters, and a large part of its income is not from the government.

[Nicholas Fitzpatrick]

Government institution does not equal government control.

[Richard Develyn]

Feb 18, 2024 20:49:51 GMT Nicholas Fitzpatrick said:

Government institution does not equal government control.

My belief is that the government tries very hard to control the BBC, and sometimes succeeds, sometimes fails. But I'd better not carry on with this or we'll be going way off-topic on missing doctor who episodes.