Thinking about building a TV studio?
This has been a question for anyone in the broadcast industry at one point or another. Whether you are trying to start a studio in your basement, attempting to freshen up the look of your current set or doing a full-blown remodel, it always comes down to money $.
Big budget or not, there’s a lot you can do if you can get creative. It’s important to consider how the set is going to be used, what it’s going to be used for and how long it will be used in that way. In this article, I am going to discuss considerations costs associated with the furniture elements. (All the elements will create the look of your station that your end-users will see.) Renovations, lighting, sound, cameras, control room equipment, broadcast technology, and apps are all critical to the look, feel and performance of your station’s production, not something I will be covering in this post.
We are going to start with a blank set here, all the lighting is installed on the grid, cameras are purchased, everything is ready except you are shooting your shows, podcasts, interviews, news segments on a cardboard table with a curtain hanging behind you. All the best lighting and tech in the world can’t make that look professional, especially with 4K here and 8K around the corner, every detail of your set is going to be seen on camera.
While some of you may be handy and have a tool shed of essentials, you could probably stop at your local hardware store and engineer a beautiful background set or broadcast desk within a few months if you set your mind to it, and really wanted to dedicate all your time and energy into that specific project. Without factoring in the cost of your time, you could build a background set and desk in probably 3 months and under $5,000. And that is for something simple, not a ton of intricate details and minimal integrated lighting.
Realistically most of the folks who will be looking to build a TV Studio aren’t master creative builders with raw materials but are masters at their own art form of creating streaming content.
What Are the Costs?
So for those folks, welcome to the part of the blog you’ve been waiting to read. If you are looking for something quick and cheap, reaching out to fabricators and craftsmen who build set furniture as a profession will not be a successful use of your time. Anyone who builds and creates as a profession builds their pieces to last and with that, it costs money. If you are looking to spend under 2k after shipping you’ll find more luck searching for used desks in your area.
The following pricing is for the broadcast desks and does not include freight or installation (if required)
- Desks at their most elementary form will typically start at $3,000.
- Upgraded professional desks will run you anywhere from $5,000-$8,500.
- The more options you want, the fancier you prefer with acrylic tops, integrated LEDs and custom bases, you are looking at a starting price at $10,000 and go anywhere from there.
What Are the Tasks?
Regarding background sets, again if you want something for a low cost, you’re going to have to settle for something inexpensive such as curtains or stand-alone graphics behind the talent.
- You can have a simple and versatile metal base with an acrylic background look that covers just shy of 20 linear feet for $6,500 with the ability to change up your looks with gel lighting.
- You could upgrade that background with alternate looks so you are not stuck with one fixed looking set. Costs will fall between $7,000 – $11,000 depending on how creative you want to get
- For something with a little more pizazz and column lighting that covers 20′, a more realistic number is around $12,000- $20,000
- And again, the more options you want, the higher-end finishes you desire soffit lighting, LED columns, pallet wood, and stone finishes for a 20×20 space could put you anywhere from $40,000+.
Studio Design
If your final vision is greater than your annual budget, I urge you to think long term. You may want to consider building and purchasing your studio in modular portions and add-on to your Broadcast Studio as the years go on to complete your project without having to compromise your dream set.
Always keep in mind, the more unique it looks and harder it would be for your handyman friend to build, the more expensive it’s going to be. As I said at the beginning of this article though, with creativity you can create a lot of options for modular versatility in your studio set. Don’t let the overwhelming options out there block your creative flow for building the perfect TV Studio and sharing your content with the world!