How much does it cost to animate a show like the Simpsons?

[Mr.Blue_Sky]

Just the actual animation itself, not including the voice talent’s salary.

[Mr.Blue_Sky]

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[Askia]

It’s no secret that animation costs here in the states are so prohibitively expensive that the only cost-effective way is to subcontract to nations with talented animators – Japan, the Philippines and the Koreas.

It is iffy finding out 2005 production costs for animators to produce a 22 minute episode, but this Indian site claims it can do quality animation for $50,000 US. It’s easily 6-7 times that here in the states.

"Crest to increase television presence" : AK Madhavan-Crest Communications'...

**Could you elaborate on why you feel no one has seen results in
India?**Animation costs for a half hour episode work out to around Rs [rupees] five million and no channel will pay that kind of money. The immediate returns on a hit soap are much higher. Actually, the Indian and Asian markets have not matured as yet so all of us are looking to the west to sell our products.

Wouldn’t the same logic apply there also? At least for a producer of animation shows?
There’s a huge difference in the West, which is why we say that markets there are matured. Take an example of a show like The Simpsons. A half-hour episode costs $1.8 million. But they still manage gross profits of $2 million a month for a show that is aired once a week.

The production costs seem a tad high, don’t they? It’s not as if the cartooning is very elaborate or anything.
That’s true but the real costs for a show like The Simpsons are from voice casting and scripting. The cartooning itself is nothing extraordinary.

Leave aside The Simpsons, which is in a different league, what are the average costs of making a half-hour episode in the US?
The cost breakup in the US is typically $200,000 to $400,000. The same quality of work in India can be achieved at $50,000. Basically, the principle applied in the Asian markets, and that includes India, is of sweatshops.

But even here , it is countries like the Philippines and Vietnam that are dominating. So where does India stand in all this?
That is the problem when you work within the sweatshop formula. There will always be someone who can provide the same thing at a lesser cost. We have to try and get out of this and create quality products for which there will always be takers.

That is what the world markets really need. The problem in India is that we lack schools that can churn out individuals with the required skill levels. At Crest, we are trying to get around that by conducting in-house training programmes on a regular basis.

That’s The Simpsons model using traditional animators. I’m trying to find out what happens when you use the *South Park * computer assisted model. Give me – oh – fifteen minutes.

[Askia]

Huh. I can’t seem to find any cites for just running the animation software. But given the fact that they can turn around some episodes in little more than a week (Terry Schiavo case) and are working with small teams of animators and can afford to do so stateside AND pay Matt and Trey – I’m guessing its pretty cheap.

[Mr.Blue_Sky]

On most animated shows, there’s plenty of “sets”. Do they reuse the drawings for these (like the Simpsons living room, for example) or redraw them for each episode?

[Askia]

There are lots of brief establishing shots of many of Springfield’s exterior buildings that get reused all the time (Mr. Burn’s mansion, Moe’s Bar, the power plant, Springfield Elementary, The Kwik-E-Mart, the Simpson house, the church, the burning dump, etc.), as well as some-oft repeated interiors (the Simpson living room couch, the kitchen, Bart’s room.) The only time we’re guaranteed new locales is when the SIMPSONS AE GOING TO… >i nsert exotic locale here. <