Acquired
02:13:24 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[02:13:24] S1: This is the best story. [02:13:25] S0: It's so good. They bring down the screen to show the on location shot. George walks into the ocean. Audience is kinda confused. There's been, like, a lot of buildup, but there... There's no joke here. So they all huddle. They come up with this idea for George to have the additional scene in the booth where he does a monologue. And then he finally produces the golf ball out of his pocket, which is, of course, tying in a plot from earlier in the episode where Kramer's hitting golf balls into the ocean, and that golf ball turns out to be lodged in a whale's blowhole in George's storyline, which is why the whale needed a marine biologist in the first place that George was pretending to be. So [02:13:57] S1: It's so good. [02:13:58] S0: Larry goes off after their huddle, and he writes a full page monologue on the spot, which Jason Alexander tells Larry, yeah. I can do that. I'm a Tony award winning actor. [02:14:09] S1: Yeah. [02:14:09] S0: Like, I'm a theater actor. Yeah. This is... Put me in, coach. Like, this is what I do. Give me a moment. [02:14:15] S1: It's already late at night here at this point [02:14:16] S0: in time. [02:14:17] S1: So, yeah, he memorizes it, performs it on the spot. It's incredible. [02:14:21] S0: It's the first time it's ever been read. There was no rehearsal when George goes, the sea was angry that day, my friends. [02:14:27] S1: Oh, so good.
02:14:27 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[02:14:27] S1: Oh, so good. [02:14:28] S0: It gets this giant laugh. And then, of course, when the laugh finally dies down after he produces the golf ball, Kramer looks at him and goes, that a titleist? Yep. Hole in one. So this happens, and then the next day, they come in for a table read. [02:14:48] S1: Yep. Is that insane? Nonstop. [02:14:52] S0: In parallel to this entire process is the preproduction where all the writers are, you know, some paired up in groups of two, but often just alone in their own offices, writing the next week's episode, the week after that, the week after that. And then [02:15:07] S1: And Larry and Jerry are working with them and getting it ready for table read. [02:15:10] S0: But, like, how are they working with them? Because they're also full time That's [02:15:13] S1: the point. Yeah. [02:15:14] S0: In a in a seven day work block to produce the current episode. It's crazy that... No wonder they're just kinda, like, looking over outlines of the next week and the week after and why it requires so much rewriting week of is because it really hasn't gotten, especially Jerry's attention yet. [02:15:31] S1: Yeah. The Seinfeld star is burning brighter and brighter and brighter and consuming everybody within it in the fusion reactor at its core. Yes. Which is a good time to flip back over to the business side of Seinfeld. Because also, right at this time, after the move to Thursday night, after the huge success, after the Internet starts to come online, Seinfeld hits syndication.
02:15:31 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[02:15:31] S1: Yeah. The Seinfeld star is burning brighter and brighter and brighter and consuming everybody within it in the fusion reactor at its core. Yes. Which is a good time to flip back over to the business side of Seinfeld. Because also, right at this time, after the move to Thursday night, after the huge success, after the Internet starts to come online, Seinfeld hits syndication. [02:16:05] S0: So Jerry's quote to the LA Times here is, we'll be in syndication next year, and that will probably help us further the same way it helped Cheers. Most people are still just now discovering our show. Most of the audience watching the show on Thursdays have not seen us before. They're new to us. There's 60 some odd episodes they haven't seen. [02:16:24] S1: Yep. Oh, boy. And were those 60 episodes gonna be worth a lot of money Yep. To the, ownership group that we discussed earlier in the episode. Because Seinfeld is basically the most perfect syndication show ever created. Because of the no hugging, no learning element, no character development, no relationship development, you can tune in anytime to any episode in any order. Doesn't matter. You're gonna get a full entertaining experience. [02:17:00] S0: And because these characters are just kind of vessels that you don't really need to invest in their storyline, they're just like mirrors of the worst part of ourselves. The situations provide the comedy. And so it's a very internationally relatable show too in a way that not all comedy has.
02:17:00 · Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal
[02:17:00] S0: And because these characters are just kind of vessels that you don't really need to invest in their storyline, they're just like mirrors of the worst part of ourselves. The situations provide the comedy. And so it's a very internationally relatable show too in a way that not all comedy has. [02:17:19] S1: Yep. Yep. Totally. So why now? And what exactly is this business of of syndication? There's sort of a magic unofficial number for TV shows back in this time of a 100 episodes. That was when you entered into syndication. [02:17:34] S0: And the 100 episode thing kinda stems from you have a large enough number of episodes to demonstrate that people liked the show, and there was familiarity with it or you wouldn't have continued, and that there's a big body you can license Yep. To someone to show it. Because they don't wanna buy your 10 episodes. That's not interesting. They wanna buy a big block of them. And so syndication, for those not familiar, is basically anytime a show gets licensed to another distribution option besides the primary first run TV network. And essentially, those options are international, off network Yep. Which this is the biggest one for the longest time. I did not understand how this worked. When NBC buys a show, they're buying it directly from Castle Rock. But once that enters syndication and the reruns are going constantly, that has nothing to do with NBC. Yes. That is just the local affiliates. And the local affiliates, you know, it starts with a k or a w. It's a four letter station that's broadcast over the air in your city.
02:17:34 · Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal
[02:17:34] S0: And the 100 episode thing kinda stems from you have a large enough number of episodes to demonstrate that people liked the show, and there was familiarity with it or you wouldn't have continued, and that there's a big body you can license Yep. To someone to show it. Because they don't wanna buy your 10 episodes. That's not interesting. They wanna buy a big block of them. And so syndication, for those not familiar, is basically anytime a show gets licensed to another distribution option besides the primary first run TV network. And essentially, those options are international, off network Yep. Which this is the biggest one for the longest time. I did not understand how this worked. When NBC buys a show, they're buying it directly from Castle Rock. But once that enters syndication and the reruns are going constantly, that has nothing to do with NBC. Yes. That is just the local affiliates. And the local affiliates, you know, it starts with a k or a w. It's a four letter station that's broadcast over the air in your city. [02:18:36] S1: Yep. And it might be a NBC or an ABC or a CBS or a Fox station. Right. But they only take the network's programming during prime time or sporting events, etcetera, etcetera. [02:18:46] S0: The rest of the time, they have to go find their own programming. So either they need to make it, or they need to go buy it directly. Mhmm. And there's, like, a thousand of them. And so this is where Sony actually does something. This is where the distributor matters. [02:19:01] S1: They earn their keep now.
02:19:01 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[02:19:01] S1: They earn their keep now. [02:19:03] S0: For off network syndication, what you're really trying to figure out is how many of these individually owned local TV stations are willing to buy my 100 episodes and at what rate. And so that is how off network works. Then there's off network cable, same thing, but to cable stations. Fortunately, there's many fewer cable stations than there are local TV affiliates. And then in the far future, but it didn't happen yet, is a subscription video on demand or streaming, which would become a very, very valuable part of syndication. But the interesting thing about the TV business is just how large off network syndication and streaming syndication could be relative to the original first run business. Because if you think about what what does it actually cost to make a Seinfeld episode in season one? Probably less than $500,000. Yeah. Probably less than $400,000. You're not paying the stars that much yet. Production costs aren't actually that high. And so then what's NBC gonna pay for it? $300,000? [02:20:05] S1: You know? 80% ish of whatever that number is.