Katzenberg reveals US$75 million Breaking Bad pay-per-view offer

Jeffrey Katzenberg told MIPCOM delegates today that he offered the producers of Breaking Bad US$75 million to make an additional three episodes of the show.

DreamWorks cofounder and CEO Katzenberg revealed he had called the show’s producers and offered them US$25 million per episode to make three more instalments.

His offer was made ahead of him knowing the conclusion to the hit AMC drama, which is penned by Vince Gilligan and is about a teacher turned meth dealer.

The producers asked Katzenberg about his intentions should they make more episodes, but ultimately declined the Hollywood mogul’s offer. Had they have accepted, he explained, he planned to cut each one hour into ten six-minute segments and release it on a pay-per-view basis.

“I said to the producers, if you make 180 minutes, three episodes, that continue beyond where the show ends, I will pay US$25 million per episode,” he said in a keynote address in Cannes.

He went on to say that at a US$0.99 price point and with a six minute episode released every day, “six, seven or eight million” consumers would have been buying the show.

Had Katzenberg been successful and had there been that level of take up the pay-per-view plan would have recouped between US$178 and US$237 million.

The series came to an end on AMC a few weeks ago, with the finale registering its best-ever ratings and  delivering 10.3 million viewers and 6.7 million in the18-to-49 demo.

Breaking Bad