'Nashville' By The Numbers
Wonder what it costs to make a big-budget television series like Nashville? Producer Loucas George shared a few details last month at the Nashville Business Breakfast, presented by the Nashville Business Journal and Lipscomb University.
Per month:
$200,000 on cast/crew housing
$80,000 on catering
$55,000 on fuel
$45,000 on vehicle rental
Per episode:
$460,000 to local vendors
Per season:
$1.6 million on camera equipment rental
George also revealed that $1 million was spent to build a sound stage facility that can be used for other projects as well as Nashville, and would boost the local film infrastructure.
New state incentives are working to recruit film and television productions, particularly those with smaller budgets. Previously, only projects with $1 million or higher budgets qualified, but changes lowered the minimum production value to $200,000.
According to the NBJ, estimates of Nashville’s direct spending in Tennessee total $44 million. Seventeen percent ($7.5 million) of that spending will be covered by a reimbursable grant if the show airs all 22 episodes.
The growing number of films shot entirely, or in part, in Tennessee include 1980’s Coal Miner’s Daughter, 1993’s The Thing Called Love (Sandra Bullock), 1999’s The Green Mile, 2001’s The Last Castle and the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line. More recently, Water For Elephants (Reese Witherspoon), Leatherheads (George Clooney), Hannah Montana: The Movie (Miley Cyrus), Country Strong (Gwyneth Paltrow) were filmed in Tennessee. Movies made in the Volunteer State that are set for release in 2013 include Nicole Kidman’s Stoker, the Harrison Ford flick 42, and The Identical starring Ashley Judd, Ray Liotta and Seth Green.
