USA goes to war
'Survivor' guru on 'Combat Mission'
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Burnett, who is in production on "Survivor: The Australian Outback" in Australia, and USA have been negotiating the 15-episode deal for "Combat Missions" by long-distance for several weeks (Daily Variety, Oct. 24).
USA plans to preem the hourlong show in primetime sometime after Memorial Day 2001.
Skein will pit four-person teams made of exisiting and former members of elite combat units of the U.S. military, such as Green Berets, Recon Marines and Navy SEALS, in missions that test the limits of their abilities.
Participants will live on a secret military base, which will likely be in California. Hostage rescues, sniper attacks and urban assaults will all be part of the action. Skein will also highlight the drama occurring at the secret base and the real-life dramas of combat histories.
Sharing the wealth
While Burnett and Jim Miller, exec vp of original programming for USA Network, wouldn't elaborate on the terms of the deal, Burnett admitted: "I have no deal in television right now that does not have an ad revenue sharing element in it."
Miller said it's "incredibly significant dollars for USA."
Industry insiders indicated that Burnett could be getting as much as half of the ad revenue generated by the new show, and that USA is footing production costs to the tune of about $1 million per episode.
"The whole point of this is that we don't want to have our noses pressed up against a window looking at what other networks are doing in reality programming," Miller said. "We'll be in the arena in a big way."
Burnett said the talks for "Combat Missions" going to USA came out of a breakfast meeting with USA cable prexy Steven Chao about Burnett's "Eco-Challenge," which will start airing on USA next year as part of a multi-year deal made last year.
"The show is something I thought about for many years," said Burnett, who served in a specialized British parachuting unit himself. "We are making it so viewers feel like part of it, what's in the minds of the people doing these missions and that they're people with families, brave people who protect us all."
Burnett says he will use much the same production team on "Combat Missions" as he uses on "Survivor," for which he is scouting locations for a third edition.
He is repped by attorney Conrad Riggs.
Still high on space
Meanwhile, Burnett also remains committed to his other upcoming mission, "Destination Mir," whose prize is a trip to Russia's space station Mir, which may soon be dismantled.
Burnett said the series is still set up firmly at NBC, and that the financials won't change if the prize has to shift to a trip to the International Space Station or an orbit around the world, both of which he named as possibilities.
"I really want to do a space show and have never not done what I said wanted and was going to do," Burnett said. "I can't be a big baby at the first sight of a problem. I'm not going to run away."
(Josef Adalian contributed to this report.)
