MIPCOM: Why Jeffrey Katzenberg Offered 'Breaking Bad' Creators $75 Million for Three More Episodes
DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg offered the Breaking Bad creators $25 million an episode for three more episodes of the show. His only stipulation was that the additional episodes be delivered in 60-minute installments so they could be watched online via subscription.
His scheme, he told an audience gathered here for Wednesday's MIPCOM keynote, was to create "the greatest pay-per-view (event) in scripted television ever."
Of course, the $75 million offer for 180 additional minutes of the Vince Gilligan drama was a non-starter given the way the series ended.
But Katzenberg, who like millions of viewers arrived at the series late into its run on AMC, relayed the story to illustrate the point that distributors will continue to pay a premium for high-quality content, whether it lives on linear TV or online. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that millions of people would have downloaded those episodes."