BREAKING BAD Seeking Two Season End Game

Earlier: Breaking Bad To Break Away From AMC?

With AMC and Sony Pictures Television in the final stretch of negotiations for season five of Breaking Bad, it’s now being reported that the series could end with a two season final run.

With FX apparently (and appropriately) interested in those Breaking Bad feelers sent out by Sony (after they were irked by AMC’s offer of a 6-8 episode fifth season), it’s believed that an agreement can be reached between all sides. This would bring the show back to AMC for season 5 — a number that series creator Vince Gilligan has previously stated his preference for.

However, Deadline are reporting that Sony want more than the 13-episode fifth season that AMC have offered. Those close to the talks suggest that the final deal could be for 13-20 episodes, possibly spread over 2 seasons.

Aside from the exact episode deal, the other sticking point has been who will bear the cost of production for Breaking Bad going forward. Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva offers the following perspective:

In TV, starting with Season 5, the network take over 100% of a show’s production cost. In the early days of original series on basic cable, the networks didn’t know quite how to handle the tricky Season 4-Season 5 transition financially and tended to cancel shows after four seasons, like Lifetime’s Any Day Now. In the case of Breaking Bad, I hear AMC is asking Sony for some participation in the budget, which most recently was around $3.2 million an episode. AMC and Sony’s previous license negotiation last year was also lengthy and difficult. But this time around, a renewal appeared a much easier proposition, given the series’ double-digit ratings growth for the start of Season 4, including posting a series high with the season premiere.

We’ll have more on this shortly.

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Tagged as: amc, Breaking Bad, News, sony