How long to complete an episode?

[finalrune]

thought I'd join in the conversation though I'm far from the most prolific producer here...

my first year in AD I came out with 2 hrs of programmng, 1.5 hrs the next year, and .5 hours this year the irony is that the post-production time on my latest show was far less than the others, because it was entirely recorded in the field so I didn't need to do a lot of post-pro work like adding footsteps, clinking glasses, seagull sounds, etc...

the flip side of that is that my standards have grown exponentially, I was working with a much larger cast, and I really wanted to nurture this story and not rush it out like I have with shows in the past.

so I don't have a formula for how long it took, but I wrote the script originally in November 06, rewrote it twice this winter, and revised it extensively up until casting it in June... yet, after ~ 4 hours of recording time the production part was done!! and about a month of off-and-on post-production.

what I'm getting at is, your mileage will vary ;-) as I think everyone's already talking about, you can sink an infinite number of hours in a story if you want, and if you make a few right choices in pre-production it'll save you dozens of hours later on. and we all have different goals/capacities when it comes to producing. I have sooooo much going on in my normal life that I feel pretty proud that I got ANY thing out this year!

Best,
Fred

[Echo Fiction]

If you're doing this as your day job (eg-- Big Finish) I'd say you could knock out an episode in maybe a month by yourself or two weeks with some help.

If you're solo and doing it in your spare time, it's all up in the air. Usually, I've found the following to cause delays: (1) casting issues, (2) VA's not yet turning in their lines for whatever reason (3) music (4) finding or buying that perfect sound effect, and finally (5) life tends to get in the way.

Five can happen a lot. To instantly remedy items 1 through 4, get yourself a budget. Of course, this is assuming you'll have revenue generating from previous shows to do so... (hint, hint)