The Business of Heated Rivalry
Episode
27 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Productivity, Investing, Sales & Revenue
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Canadian Production Funding Structure: Canadian TV productions typically receive 20–30% of their budget from a broadcaster license fee, another 20–30% from combined provincial and federal tax credits, leaving producers to source the remaining 30–40% independently. This structure forces budget discipline but crucially allows producers to retain full IP ownership — a trade-off unavailable in the standard US studio system.
- ✓Pre-Production Script Completion: Heated Rivalry's creators wrote all six episodes before entering prep, then shot the entire season in 36 days by block-shooting it as one continuous film. US productions typically write scripts during production, which inflates costs and timelines. For series of 8–10 episodes, completing scripts before cameras roll is operationally achievable and financially significant.
- ✓10-Hour Shoot Day Discipline: Capping shoot days at roughly 10 hours rather than the industry-common 12–16 hours prevents costly overtime that effectively adds full production days to the budget. The creators note that departments most harmed by long days — hair, makeup, and wardrobe — are predominantly staffed by women, making shorter days both a financial and labor equity decision.
- ✓IP Ownership as Long-Term Revenue: By reinvesting their own producer fees into the final 10% of the budget gap, the creators retained full intellectual property rights. This enabled a merchandise line that became a substantial revenue stream. The principle mirrors the music industry's "own your publishing" model — creators who control IP benefit financially for decades rather than receiving a single upfront fee.
- ✓Directorial Efficiency Over Coverage: Heated Rivalry frequently holds on one character's face throughout a scene rather than shooting multiple angles and reaction shots. This reduces takes, limits required extras, and cuts post-production complexity. The director's view: if 25 takes are needed, the problem is the script, not the actor — excess coverage is a symptom of unresolved creative problems, not a solution.
What It Covers
Planet Money examines the Canadian television production model through the lens of Heated Rivalry, a queer hockey romance streaming on HBO that cost roughly $2.2M USD per episode — well below the $4–10M US industry standard — while becoming a surprise cultural phenomenon across North America.
Key Questions Answered
- •Canadian Production Funding Structure: Canadian TV productions typically receive 20–30% of their budget from a broadcaster license fee, another 20–30% from combined provincial and federal tax credits, leaving producers to source the remaining 30–40% independently. This structure forces budget discipline but crucially allows producers to retain full IP ownership — a trade-off unavailable in the standard US studio system.
- •Pre-Production Script Completion: Heated Rivalry's creators wrote all six episodes before entering prep, then shot the entire season in 36 days by block-shooting it as one continuous film. US productions typically write scripts during production, which inflates costs and timelines. For series of 8–10 episodes, completing scripts before cameras roll is operationally achievable and financially significant.
- •10-Hour Shoot Day Discipline: Capping shoot days at roughly 10 hours rather than the industry-common 12–16 hours prevents costly overtime that effectively adds full production days to the budget. The creators note that departments most harmed by long days — hair, makeup, and wardrobe — are predominantly staffed by women, making shorter days both a financial and labor equity decision.
- •IP Ownership as Long-Term Revenue: By reinvesting their own producer fees into the final 10% of the budget gap, the creators retained full intellectual property rights. This enabled a merchandise line that became a substantial revenue stream. The principle mirrors the music industry's "own your publishing" model — creators who control IP benefit financially for decades rather than receiving a single upfront fee.
- •Directorial Efficiency Over Coverage: Heated Rivalry frequently holds on one character's face throughout a scene rather than shooting multiple angles and reaction shots. This reduces takes, limits required extras, and cuts post-production complexity. The director's view: if 25 takes are needed, the problem is the script, not the actor — excess coverage is a symptom of unresolved creative problems, not a solution.
Notable Moment
The creators revealed they personally deferred nearly their entire producer fees to close the final 10% budget gap — essentially betting their own compensation on the show's success. That calculated risk, combined with retaining IP ownership, positioned them to profit from merchandise and future seasons for potentially decades.
Episode Transcript
This message comes from Apple Card. Earn 2% daily cash back on everything you buy when you use your Apple Card with Apple Pay, subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch. Terms and more at apple.co/benefits. This is Planet Money from NPR. The other day, I saw an item of clothing I was very tempted to buy. Possibly the most I would have ever paid for an item of clothing. It was a Montreal Metros hockey jersey, a $150. The Metros are a made up hockey team from the TV show Heated Rivalry. Official replica jerseys were on sale for a $150, but totally sold out. In fact, every single item on the official Heated Rivalry merch site is sold out, a sign, I suspect, that the TV show's creators were not expecting this level of success. Heated Rivalry is a Canadian television show based on a Canadian romance book series. It's streamed in The US by HBO. It's about a pair of professional men's hockey players, rising superstars, star crossed lovers, very steamy, TV MA rated, and it has been a giant hit. I started watching it with my wife. I think we did it in two tranches, and, we loved it. I love that in your house, you refer to binges as tranches. I feel like Tranches. Thank you. Yes. We're very fancy people. That's the perfect Kara Swisher. Yes. Kara Swisher, journalist, podcaster, media icon, I dare say. And Cara has sort of owned the subject area of technology and business for the last twenty five years. But today, she is here to talk heated rivalry and business. I think one of the things that really struck me of a couple of things is it it cost somewhere between 2 and, 2 and $3,600,000 per episode to make, which is really low. Yeah. On average, the show was made for a little under $3,000,000 per episode Canadian. So, like, $2,200,000 US. And what struck Cara was the way that this scrappy little production in Canada was able to stretch that budget without the show looking cheap, getting way more bang for its buck than what she's seen on American productions. If you've ever been on a Hollywood set, and I've been on a couple, I was on the morning show. I'm in an upcoming movie with someone named Meryl Streep coming up. Like, I've I've been in but there's a lot going on. Right? Like, they and they film in this way that to me seemed seemed somewhat inefficient. So, you know, directors may want lots of takes of the same scene, lots of coverage from different angles, reactions from everybody in the scene. Heated rivalry, on the other hand, will often stay on one character's face as a scene plays out, meaning they need fewer takes, fewer extras in the background. And the reason we're talking about all of this is because I have not been able …
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“Heated Rivalry, a queer hockey romance streaming on HBO that cost roughly $2.2M USD per episode — well below the $4–10M US industry standard — while becoming a surprise cultural phenomenon across North America.”
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