Even Apple Is Cutting Costs on Its Series and Films — Report

Tony Maglio
3-min read

Apple is trying to sever itself from overpaying for its Apple TV+ series and films.

Apple, the world’s richest (and only $3 trillion) company, is now practicing frugality as it pertains to entertainment content, Bloomberg reported. If only they’d do the same for the price of our iPhones.

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For Apple, cost-cutting, the latest push toward profitability (or for the profitable, higher margins) in streaming, is a Pro Display XDR-sized about-face. To launch Apple TV+ the company courted huge talent, and did so with a seemingly unlimited budget.

Apple TV+ debuted on November 1, 2019 with “The Morning Show” starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell, “See” with Jason Momoa, and a deal with Oprah Winfrey to turn her book club into a streaming series. It would soon court the likes of Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, and Brad Pitt, to name a few. And, at a certain point at least, the “Ted Lasso” cast couldn’t have come cheap.

Something’s gotta pay for all of that — and it certainly was not the box-office performance of Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Scott’s “Napoleon,” or Matthew Vaughn’s “Argylle.”

It is the devices, like iPhone and iPad, that pick up the tab for Apple’s vanity projects. It is the films and series that are supposed to sell more of those devices. Buy a new iPhone and binge “The Morning Show” for free over the next three months. Won’t you be surprised when they reach outerspace.

Carell’s character never got there — he’s (spoiler alert) dead in an Italian ditch. But even minus a true A-lister, the drama’s Season 4 ensemble salary has ballooned to $50 million, Bloomberg said. Under a new cost-conscious Apple, that may have to come back down to Earth.

These days, Apple “has declined to buy some of the shows that sellers say the company would have accepted just a couple years ago,” Bloomberg reported. It is also ordering fewer projects straight to series.

A spokesperson for Apple TV+ did not respond to IndieWire’s request for comment on this story.

Apple management is paying “less up front for shows and is quicker to cancel ones that aren’t working,” Bloomberg wrote. A chart showed that Apple Original series from 2019 have averaged a run of nearly four seasons. It’s half that now (RIP “The Afterparty” and “Schimagadoon!”). The company is also trying to get third-party studios to take on more of the financial burden when things go over budget. And they almost always go over budget.

Efforts to cut those overages are “turning up in plans” for the upcoming seasons of “Severance” and “Foundation,” Bloomberg wrote. One way the efforts are manifesting is in production delays — but even those aren’t enough.

With all of its delays — some due to COVID — the first season of “Severance” ran $40 million over budget, and Season 2 episodes have cost more than $20 million apiece. Both shows were delayed by the 2023 writers and actors strikes, but “Foundation” needed a further timeout to balance the books.

At least “Severance” brings in Emmys. Future seasons of “Severance” hinge on studio Fifth Season’s — and director/producer Ben Stiller’s — ability to “bring down the cost.” Sounds like layoffs at Lumen.

The good news is, as it pertains to Apple, nobody knows anything. Since Apple TV+ (and its other Apple One services for that matter) is such a small-potatoes product, Apple barely shares any performance data. We have no idea have many subscribers Apple TV+ has (OK, we have some idea) and no internal viewership metrics. We have Nielsen, which tells us “Ted Lasso” is a smash hit — but even that measurement omits streaming on certain key devices. Plus, we could have told you that one.

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