Author Topic: $600,000/hour ?  (Read 2567 times)

Offline citizenmilton

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$600,000/hour ?
« on: June 29, 2015, 11:35:33 AM »
In the NYT business article posted today about the convention, there's a number that jumped out at me. They claim that CCI charges studios $600,000/hour to use the projectors in Hall H.

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That sounds hard to believe, but many of the raw numbers associated w/SDCC are staggering at times. Can anyone confirm this number as accurate? Any ideas why it's so large? The article phrases it as "wraparound movie screens" which I think is misleading unless there's been a retrofit in Hall H I'm unaware of. Last time I went to Hall H was 2013. But, the screens don't actually wrap around in a continuous manner like in a sports stadium, they're just a lot of hanging screens.

The reason why the number strikes me as odd would be, for example, Alan Tudyk's "Con Man" project. They raised, what, $3-4 million for that project? It's hard to believe they'd spend 1/6th or 1/8th of their entire budget for one hour in Hall H?

I'm assuming the reporting is correct and it's just a surprising number.

Offline Mel

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2015, 11:47:06 AM »
Well, not all panels use those wrap-around screens. Not many do, that I attended.

I'm going to assume it's not CCI that charges that money, it's the company that runs those services at the venue. I am not exactly sure which company runs the A/V at the CC, there are a couple of companies in San Diego that do it. MSI is the only one who comes to mind right now, but there's another one also.
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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #2 on: Today at 06:56:05 PM »

Offline semigeekgirl

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2015, 11:50:04 AM »
The quote is "this year, use of the wraparound movie screens inside the hall runs $600,000 for an hourlong presentation, according to studio executives."

But we have no idea what the studio is including in that. I would assume it's not just 'renting' the screens from CCI, but also paying someone to run them, and, probably, reformatting their footage to play well on those screens. If they're re-editing to fit the format, that gets expensive fast.

Offline Chris

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2015, 11:55:33 AM »
Unless I am reading it wrong, the same article is saying that SDCC pays $150k for convention center rental for the full 4 days.

I am very doubtful that it is $600k for one hour of screens.

Offline dianosaurus

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2015, 12:05:37 PM »
Oh see, I interpreted it as $600,000 for an hourlong presentation , so $600,000/full hour or $10,000/minute of screen time. So, a 5 minute trailer would be $50,000 which is still kind of crazy, but maybe a bit more manageable.

I figured having the live feed of the actors on panel would come with the cost of doing the panel, but in addition to that, if they wanted to do a trailer, sizzle reel, gag reel, whatever, it would incur the extra $600,000/hour cost. The article did state that "extras can add up in a hurry."

Offline Chris

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2015, 12:09:24 PM »
Random question:  How much are superbowl ads these days?

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2015, 12:11:31 PM »
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Random question:  How much are superbowl ads these days?

Average cost for a 30 second spot is $4 million.

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Offline epicaz

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #7 on: June 29, 2015, 12:28:21 PM »
That's rediculous

I'd assume they only mean 10k per minute of trailers/video presentations, rather than simply the panel as a whole (in how they film the panelists to project on the screens)

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #8 on: June 29, 2015, 12:30:07 PM »
I think you guys are misunderstanding. It is not $600,000 to use the basic screens. IOt is $600,000 to have the personnel/technical expertise to run the 'wraparound' screens in Hall H for a 1 hour panel. These screens are not used that often, but when they are, it is awesome!

Offline epicaz

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2015, 12:33:29 PM »
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I think you guys are misunderstanding. It is not $600,000 to use the basic screens. IOt is $600,000 to have the personnel/technical expertise to run the 'wraparound' screens in Hall H for a 1 hour panel. These screens are not used that often, but when they are, it is awesome!

Aha! Alright, I see now. I've never even heard of those screens... they do sound cool

are there pictures anywhere?

Offline frgx

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2015, 12:37:03 PM »
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I think you guys are misunderstanding. It is not $600,000 to use the basic screens. IOt is $600,000 to have the personnel/technical expertise to run the 'wraparound' screens in Hall H for a 1 hour panel. These screens are not used that often, but when they are, it is awesome!
I think only Warner Brothers uses the wrap-around screens during their movie panels. They pull back the curtains that are at the sides of the Main screen up front. I remember the first time they revealed the wrap-around screens. Like TJ said, it's pretty awesome.

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2015, 01:02:49 PM »
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are there pictures anywhere?

This article claims that only WB can use them. Pictures are included.

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You can see in the pics how the screens are on the left and right of the audience, not just in front.

Offline citizenmilton

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #12 on: June 29, 2015, 01:27:18 PM »
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This article claims that only WB can use them. Pictures are included.

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You can see in the pics how the screens are on the left and right of the audience, not just in front.

Thanks for posting! That clears it up. Had no idea that those existed. That would be cool to see, indeed.

Wish they could loan them out to Lucasfilm for The Force Awakens panel :)

Offline dancetomusic

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #13 on: June 29, 2015, 06:18:42 PM »
I love those wraparound screens.

I didn't even know they were a thing, and then I was in Hall H last year and WB unveiled them and I was just like :-O !!!
It was actually a highlight of the con for me, it was just so darn cool!

So totally worth the big money to wow the audience, in my opinion  ^-^

Offline Bert Su

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Re: $600,000/hour ?
« Reply #14 on: June 29, 2015, 07:01:55 PM »
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Unless I am reading it wrong, the same article is saying that SDCC pays $150k for convention center rental for the full 4 days.

I am very doubtful that it is $600k for one hour of screens.
That's a little over how many people attend. I wonder what Comic Con does with the other 99% of the money we spend on badges
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