Production Costs

Intel Corp. surprised analysts with lower-than-expected earnings Tuesday--its second straight quarterly disappointment as the world's largest semiconductor maker sold fewer chips than expected and prices for its products declined. Third-quarter net income fell 6.5% to $1.46 billion, or 42 cents a share, compared with 44 cents a year earlier. Intel's decline in sales was caused partly by extraordinary manufacturing co1937011488of its bruising price war with rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Fans of "The X-Files" have grown accustomed to season-ending cliffhangers, but the biggest mystery now involves the future of the Fox network series beyond the coming season. Although series star David Duchovny and creator and executive producer Chris Carter have given indications that this is likely the show's final season, there has been speculation all along that Fox wouldn't want its most popular series to vanish from its prime-time schedule.

Los Angeles commercial producer Cindy Akins is shooting four television spots in Canada this month, lured by lower labor costs and a favorable exchange rate--the same factors that are driving film and TV production across the border. The advertising business often doesn't enter into discussions of how economics are driving movie and TV production to Canada. A recent study, jointly commissioned by the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America, estimated that in the last year, $2.

Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) was named Thursday to head a new study on runaway production in the entertainment industry. As part of the House Entertainment Industry Task Force, McKeon's group will explore options like tax breaks and other subsidies to prevent productions from leaving the U.S. for cheaper markets. Canada, Mexico and other countries offer such incentives.

Hoping to staunch the flow of U.S. film and television productions to other countries, especially Canada, thousands of entertainment industry workers and professionals are expected to descend on the state Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday to urge lawmakers to implement tax breaks aimed at keeping domestic movie and TV shoots from fleeing the state.

"Amanda America," a Civil War-era television movie set in the Deep South, is being shot in Toronto in the Great White North. A TV movie about New York Yankee Manager Joe Torre was also filmed in Toronto. The recent feature film "A Walk on the Moon," set against the 1969 Woodstock music festival, was shot in Montreal rather than Upstate New York where the event actually took place.

Ratings for the major television networks are shrinking while programming costs rise. Viewers have defected in droves, especially over the summer, when reruns struggle to keep audiences from straying to cable or videos. What, short of popping Prozac or securing all the strings on one's golden parachute, is a TV executive to do?

Here are typical costs associated with producing a major Hollywood studio movie. The figures come from interviews with studio executives, filmmakers, trade union officials and vendors conducted for this story.

Cockroaches rent for $25 a day. Blowing up a car costs $500 to $1,000 just for explosives. A top cinematographer earns $25,000 a week. An A-list movie star goes for $20 million a picture. Toss in $5,000 a week for the star's meals, $4,500 a week for his hairstylist, $3,000 for his masseuse and $40,000 every time he hops aboard a private Gulfstream jet to take a break from filming and you get some idea of why the cost of studio-made movies is spiraling out of control in Hollywood.

When Emilio Bole asked a local subcontractor how much she would charge to sew a bridal gown based on a sample brought from China, the answer meant the end of business as usual at Bole's Simi Valley company. The price was far higher than what it would cost to have the work done overseas. In fact, the U.S. sewing price alone came to a whopping 50% of the cost to have the entire dressmaking process handled in China, including fabric, patterns, sewing and shipping, Bole said.