The Chuck Lorre Productions Logo. Photo Credit: Youtube.com
Broadcast television is historically the most popular domain rather than subscription cable and satellite services and online and mobile platforms. With just a simple purchase of a television, one can receive tower driven signals without charge. About 1,800 television stations existed in 2012. The Federal Communications Commission regulates each station and licenses out content (Turrow, 2014). So how exactly does this content that fills the box in your living room get made? Well, there are many production companies that the networks hire to produce their content.
CBS wins the prize for the most watched shows currently on television. “The Big Bang Theory” takes the cake with 23.4 million viewers in 2014 (Raymond, 2014). The simple format of the show is common for the network; the phenomenon is known as “The CBS Factor”. The multi camera format, simple setup, and the power of syndication are just a few reasons why The Big Bang Theory dominates.
The Man Behind It All
Founder of his self titled company, Chuck Lorre. Photo credit: Art Streiber/August
Chuck Lorre is the mastermind behind this successful television show. His company, Chuck Lorre Productions was founded in the 1990s and is in conjunction with Warner Brothers Television. The company films all its shows at the Warner Brothers Lot (4000 Warner Boulevard) in Burbank, California (“CBS Audience Services”, 2016). Some other shows that are made by this company include “Mom,” “Mike & Molly,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Dharma & Greg,” “Cybill,” and “Grace Under Fire” (Chucklorre.com, 2009). Lorre’s net worth is approximately $600 million (“Chuck Lorre Net Worth”, 2016).
Answers To Everyone
Chuck Lorre productions operates under Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo credit: Wikipedia
Chuck Lorre productions answers to Warner Brothers Studios. Warner Brothers then answers to CBS. Chuck Lorre Productions competes with tons of other Los Angeles and New York City production companies. The most popular competitors for this genre include Beacon Pictures for number three rated show “Castle,” Josephson Entertainment and Far Field Productions for the number four rated “Bones,” and Steven Levitan Productions for the number six rated “Modern Family” (“Shows”, 2016). Some of Chuck Lorre Productions’ biggest assets are Charlie Sheen, Ashton Kutcher, Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons, and Johnny Galecki.
Order Of Operations
This is a photo that accurately describes the happenings on “The Big Bang Theory” set. The actors prepare for the scene while the crew makes sure the set is up to standards while the audience is entertained by a comedian (pictured left). Photo credit: Youtube.com
Most shows made by Chuck Lorre Productions operate on a Monday-Friday schedule. However, the production schedules for “The Big Bang Theory” and “Mike & Molly” are compressed and staggered throughout the week. As mentioned before, all of Lorre’s shows are multi-camera sitcoms. This genre is distinguished by the way it is staged, how heavily it favors written content over improvisation, and most episodes are taped in front of a live studio audience. Twenty years ago, eight of the ten top-rated television shows in America were multi-camera sitcoms. By 2006, only one was in even the top twenty: Lorre’s “Two and a Half Men” (Bissell, 2010). During tapings of “The Big Bang Theory”, the audience sits at an angle and watches a good deal of the live show on television monitors. The crew, hidden from the audience, does the same. Everything has wheels on these sets because the crew has to be able to change scenes quickly to get through the day. A typical episode of “Big Bang” takes around four hours to film. The process is often slowed down by script revisions, actor banter, and guest appearances hyping up the audience.
Bringing In The Big Bucks
Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons, and Johnny Galecki are the highest paid actors on “The Big Bang Theory”; they all make $1 million per episode. Photo credit: kingoftheflatscreen.com
Big Bang is just one example how Chuck Lorre Productions makes the big bucks. The main actors in the show make a whopping salary of $1 million per episode (McGrath, 2015). If the company is willing to pay their actors this high, the company must be making some serious cash. Syndication is the key to Chuck Lorre Productions’ business model. Syndication is the licensing of mass media material to outlets on a market-by-market basis (Turrow, 2014). The station can schedule these episodes whenever they like and pay the studio to air them during a set period of time known as a ‘run’. Most runs usually last about two years before the company has to renew it. Per-episode payment for shows is known as a licensing fee. This fee, of course, varies from deal to deal (Sierra, 2014). TBS paid $1.5 million to broadcast The Big Bang Theory on its channel. “In the first 12 weeks of syndication, the show’s broadcast ratings rose 21 percent. This is likely due to TBS’s relentless promotion and generous scheduling—the cable network airs Big Bang in blocks five days a week” (Adalian, 2012).
Two And A Half Messes
Just one of Chuck Lorre’s many vanity cards that appear at the end of every episode he produces. Photo credit: reddit.com
Despite Chuck Lorre Productions’ wild success, the company also has had its fair share of problems. Lorre is famous for writing “Vanity Cards” which are little messages that he puts at the end of every show he produces that only show on screen briefly. He often makes controversial comments on these cards. During Charlie Sheen’s dramatic leave on Two and a Half Men in 2011, Lorre wrote many cards bashing Sheen. These cards were used as evidence in Sheens lawsuit to Chuck Lorre and Warner Brothers (“Exclusive: Charlie Sheen”, 2011). Sheen sued for $100 million for a breach of contract, following his removal from the show a month prior (Zakarin, 2011). The lawsuit alleges that Warner Brothers pushed Lorre to punish Sheen and that Sheen’s most recent contract entitles him to be paid whether or not the series films the full intended twenty four episodes for the season. Later that year, Sheen won the lawsuit for $25 million (Almendrara, 2011). Overall, the lawsuit put a damper on the company’s reputation.
Up And Over
(L to R) Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer are seen on the set of the series finale of ‘Two and a Half Men.’ Photo credit: nydailynews.com
So what’s next for this wildly successful company? Not much. Their most recent show “Mom” aired its first episode in 2013 and is still going strong. “The Big Bang Theory” is currently on season 9, and “Two And A Half Men” said its goodbyes on February 19, 2015 (“Two And A Half Men”, 2016). Overall, Chuck Lorre Productions dominates the television production game. The company makes boatloads of cash with clever writing and simple formats that aim to please and will for many years to come.
Works Cited
Adalian, J. (2012). Why Big Bang Theory Reruns Are One of the Most Powerful Forces on Cable. Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.vulture.com/2012/03/big-bang-theory-reruns-tbs.html
Almendrala, A. (2011, September 26). Charlie Sheen & Warner Brothers Settle Lawsuit. Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/26/charlie-sheen-cbs-studios-lawsuit_n_982297.html
Bissell, T. (2010, December 06). A Simple Medium – The New Yorker. Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/12/06/a-simple-medium
CBS AUDIENCE SERVICES. (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://audienceservices.cbs.com/feedback/cbs_production_companies.htm
Chuck Lorre Net Worth. (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/celeb/director/chuck-lorre-net-worth/
Chuck Lorre Productions. (2009). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.chucklorre.com/
EXCLUSIVE: Charlie Sheen: Lawyers Examining Chuck Lorre’s Vanity Cards As Legal Fight Looms, Tells ‘Men’ Creator ‘Oops!’ (2011). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/02/exclusive-charlie-sheen-lawyers-examining-chuck-lorres-vanity-cards-legal-fight/
McGrath, M. (2015, June 29). Big Bang? Big Bucks! Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2015/06/29/big-bang-big-bucks/#5aa81b3f24c2
Raymond, A. K. (2014). Why Are 23.4 Million People Watching The Big Bang Theory? Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.vulture.com/2014/05/big-bang-theory-ratings.html#
Sierra, C. (2014). How Does TV Syndication Really Work? Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://filmescape.com/how-does-tv-syndication-really-work
Shows. (2016). Retrieved February 09, 2016, from http://www.tv.com/shows/
Turow, J. (2014). Media Today: Mass Communication In A Converging World (5th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Two And A Half Men. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2016, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369179/
Zakarin, J. (2011, March 10). Charlie Sheen Sues Chuck Lorre, Warner Bros. For $100,000,000. Retrieved February 08, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/10/charlie-sheen-sues-chuck-lorre-warner-bros_n_834115.html