How much to charge for one episode of Live from Daryl’s House?

[Mark Suszko]

I want to know what the clearance rights and fees for the songs cost per episode!

[Mike Cohen]

A co-worker told me about this show and I started collecting them in my DVR. It wasn’t until a few weeks back when Norm Abram from This Old House visited the Daryl Hall homestead in Connecticut (I think) to check out his expansive restored New England house and studio. I guess the 80’s were very very good to Mr Hall, as he has a beautifully restored house and a real affinity for history it turns out.

So I chose the episode with Smokey Robinson and I too am hooked. Turns out Daryl handed his demo to Smokey in NY in the 70’s and Smokey got it to a record exec, or something. Smokey seemed unaware that this happened, but laughed it off, and then sang the heck out of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zj7BIAPUmY

Yeah, as others have said, as with any project, you factor the cost of crew, equipment rental, post and profit. For a show of this caliber, if that is what you are going for, your costs increase as you need camera and sound folks to equal the talent on camera. This is not a “hire guys off craigslist” project.

Are you formulating a series or a one off, because some economies of scale come into a series.

Fun stuff.

Mike Cohen

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[Mike Cohen]

Here is the clip from This Old House

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afABYKB51ZI.

Would love to see a COW article about the making of this show which has been running for over 30 years.

Mike Cohen

[Alex Stanton]

Is this a Daryl Hall ego project and the musicians are working for free?

My inclination is to “somewhat” to the first part and “absolutely not” to the second.

The bourbon sponsor likely ponied up some cash, but remember that at least at this point, the show is syndicated on several TV channels, so they are likely getting some money back from that. But yes, I would suspect that at least initially, Hall was fronting the cash just to do it. But I could be wrong.

The project I am concepting/producing with the client is a series, yes, so some economy of scale will certainly come into play.

I’d be interested to hear Marco’s thoughts on the show, but he is likely NDA’d on the show, if I had to guess. Someone on Hall’s own forum, clearly associated with the show, recently posted about taking on a new director who wanted to use DSLRs from then on out. I didn’t see Marco’s name in the credits, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the new director or at least has something to do with the switch to DSLRs.

[Nick Griffin]

[Alex Stanton] “the show is syndicated on several TV channels”

OK, then that makes a lot more sense. I was under the mis-impression that this was another web-only show. There’s been a lot of buzz around them lately and the productions I’ve seen so far have almost always been fairly modest in terms of assets. Nothing about Daryl’s House looks cheap or down and dirty.

[Peter Moshay]

Hey All,
I do the audio/production for the https://www.LiveFromDarylsHouse.com show.
I can give you some real info about it.

1. Cameras & lighting has changed on a regular basis since the start. The first few shows were shot on $199 handy cams and no lighting, as of now we use Canon 7D or similar cameras and the last show we used the new Canon high end video SLR (all is rented on a monthly basis as we try to record 4 shows + in a month), Lighting is minimal due to heat and space, just what you see on camera.

2. Show is recorded in real time, when you see the artist walk up is usually the first time any of us meet them (unless we know them already)……. No rehearsals or sound checks.

3. No audience except the people working on the show and the guests personal assistants or manager, and Daryl’s parents & sister. The concept is not to “Preform a show” like you would normally do with an audience……. Just play as if you were working out songs for an album or a show in a jam situation.

4. Cost of the show has varied from 10k – 100k+, the guest is covered for travel expenses and we arrange transportation. The band & crew are paid (obviously). We also cover for the food segment expenses as they have to feed 20+ people. Rights & Clearances & legal are a major expense, so set prices, some normal, some are jacked up.

5. Edited in final cut pro.

6. Audio Recorded to Alesis HDR24XR recorders with great audio gear (ive logged much of it at https://www.GearSlutz.com). Mixed using Protools HDX & a SSL AWS900 console.

7. This is Daryls house he lives in, so all gear is set up the day before and torn down right after filming (usually around 6pm) we start filming usually at about 1pm. We leave some of the gear on site in a extra room in his house till next filming.

8. Im not 100% sure but i think the cameras we used before now were Sony XD Cams?

Glad to hear that some of you are enjoying the show, much more to come as we are gonna start filming again soon after a needed break. Expect changes in production as we love to try new stuff which is great when you are renting the video stuff. Lots of top notch amazing artists planned too. Im hoping the food will also continue getting better & better, its our carrot on the stick at the end of a day.
Thanks for the support as we are a grass roots born show and try to keep it commercial free on the web. The web is where we started and will continue as well as with TV which has expanded our viewership.
All The Best,
~ Peter Moshay

[Alex Stanton]

The show is amazing. Thanks for chiming in and congrats on producing such a great product. Love every episode and look forward to it getting even better!

[Mike Cohen]

@Peter – thanks for the inside scoop.
@Debra Kaufman – this would make for a great magazine article
(and maybe one on This Old House too)

Check out the Live from Abbey Road series – clips on youtube – they do some interesting things on that show shooting bands with many cameras

Mike Cohen