Despite the rough concept, sources involved or familiar with the project say TLC is paying between $800,000 and $1.2 million per episode for the show. A TLC representative declined to comment on the deal’s terms. Burnett, who records show contributed to the Clinton and Obama Presidential campaigns but not to McCain’s, where Palin was tapped as the Vice-Presidential nominee, did not return a call for comment.
Of course not all that money goes to Palin and Burnett: the bulk of it goes to production costs, which television industry executives and talent agents say should run between $500,000 and $600,000 per episode for a show of this nature. Using $1 million per episode—the midpoint of the rumored price range—as a baseline leaves between $400,000 and $500,000 for Palin and Burnett to split. Assuming an equal partnership between producer and talent , that equates to between $200,000 and $250,000 per episode, or between $1.6 million and $2 million, for the entire series for each.
Even at the low end of the price range, the deal is still a rich one for TLC, whose stable of programs like “Cakeboss” and “Little People Big World” typically cost less than $300,000 per episode to produce.
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