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What happens when the axe falls?

What happens to cast, crew and prize money now that Everybody Dance Now is over?

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Spare a thought for the cast and crew of Everybody Dance Now who faced the grim news yesterday that their show was over.

Most of the young dancers were yet to take to the floor in the talent contest and have been rehearsing for weeks. Some of them were children.

Others had qualified for a Final worth $250,000. Rehearsals for the next episode were due to take place today.
So what happens now?

A source told TV Tonight that those who had won money in heats would be honoured, but the $250,000 would no longer be on offer and would likely fall under a contract clause covering producers should the network pull the pin.

‘Dance Masters’ Kelly Rowland and Jason Derulo will no doubt have watertight contracts given Rowland was reportedly on $2.2m and Derulo above $1m. These are likely to be honoured.

Sadly, the crew are now out of work. Given it was less than 24 hours’ notice the standard is to pay a day’s wages. But in the often unforgiving world of showbiz it’s small comfort when they had expected weeks of work.

At just three episodes, Everybody Dance Now will join an inglorious list of failed Reality TV programmes on TEN: The Renovators (although its ratings above 700,000 suddenly seem like a hit now), The Hothouse, The Resort and Yasmin’s Getting Married.

When TEN pulled the pin on Fijian-filmed series The Resort in 2004, then-‘general manager of programming’ David Mott said, “We’re really disappointed to be wrapping the show earlier than planned, however in this competitive environment we had no alternative.”

The more things change the more they stay the same.

24 Responses

  2. gregaus – it just makes anger at network execs *more* justified. They haven’t just delivered crappy second rate TV to the viewing masses, they’ve stuffed around crew and contestants too.

  4. I still don’t understand the current attraction for networks to pay the big bucks to ‘so so’ celebrities to come host/judge our reality shows, are we that short on talent in Australia? Have we exhausted our number of creative talent?

    How about finding the next generation of TV stars, rather then importing d-elebrities, that nobody bonds with with because they simply feel like there here for the money? I dont think the Aus TV public are that naive to stay tuned in to simply see some overpaid star.

  6. It’s a real shame that the people who would have worked their arse’s off to try and make this work, but who would have had the least to do with decisions about the format and how it was edited, are the ones now out of work (and with none of the several week’s notice that most workers enjoy). Yet, those actually responsible for getting it so wrong, at Fremantle and Network Ten, will still collect their fat pay-cheques at the end of the week.

    Perhaps, instead of launching during the last day of the olympics, Ten could have stuck it in the middle of a Masterchef finale. There have been so many bizarre ideas coming out of Ten lately. They appear to be so out of touch with their (potential) audience. Perhaps what we need is some more BS from Mott about a “fun, noisy show that everybody is talking about”.

  7. My thoughts are totally with the crew and dancers who worked so hard for it. I didn’t like the show but it was still much bolder and better than Big Brother and yet another bloody X-Factor.

  9. breakfast has a chance to get the ratings up esp over the summer the season, all they need is a Justin Bieber One Direction performance. lol. but yeah it surprised me that they kept breakfast and ditched the circle. breakfast has been refreshed 3 times all ready. the show has promise but i think they need to take the show to the streets and not film in a closed of studio.

  10. Really sad that Everybody Dance Now got axed.
    I thought the show and concept was great.
    I feel really sorry for the contestants who never got to perform and the crew members and hosts who lost their jobs.

  11. So, they immediately give this the axe but drag their heels in for Breakfast, which is dismal in every sense of the word?? What is going on Channel 10?

  13. Great piece David and timely. As a freelancer/consultant myself I know how tough it is to expect work and to suddenly have the rug pulled. Seems wrongful though to have judges receive watertight contracts (which of itself is fair enough) and the crew are lucky to get a day’s wage. Perhaps someone should set up a soup kitchen – seriously! – outside a broadcaster when this happens.

  14. David – Thank you for writing this article. I’ve seen a lot of nasty vitriol aimed at Ten and the show itself (some of it justified), but what few people take into consideration is the large number of people who have instantly lost a job. It’s not fair on them after putting in an extraordinary amount of hard work.

  16. Some of the reason highlighted on here simply reinforce my contempt for many tv execs who live in BS world and dribble verbal diarrhea whenever they make public comments/statements. Australia deserves better than these fools in such important decision making positions….

  17. I knew that Kelly and Jason would be paid well – but $2.2 million?

    And this probably doesn’t include the first class airfares, the 5 star penthouse, the limousine, personal assistants, security guards etc etc

    I agree with other posters that it is a real shame that the people who are being punished for executive incompetence are the very talented contestants and the hardworking crew who are now out of work.

    I sure hope that Ten execs have learnt something from this very expensive lesson – but something tells me they haven’t.

  18. Thanks for answering this, I posed the question about legal responsibility to contestants in another thread. Easiest money Kelly and Jason ever earned, that’s for sure. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of The Hothouse or The Resort, obviously I didn’t miss much.

  20. Gee, the crew would have suffered the most from this axing. Now I feel a little guilty for sticking the boot in. With the axing of The Circle and another 50 crew having lost their jobs earlier this year, I’m starting to see the human cost of mismanaging a network…

  22. Thank you David for letting us know.I was wondering what would happen to the performers.My thoughts were,I bet you Jason and Kellys contracts would be honoured,but of course,the performers would lose out and that’s what happened.Not fair really.

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