‘Quantum Leap’ Western Episode Added $150,000 to the Budget Just for Dirt
NBC is exploring the past in Quantum Leap. The revival of the hit show sends Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) back in time just like Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) before him. The first episode went back to 1985, but Quantum Leap has more in store for fans. It’s not always easy, either. Showrunner Martin Gero said a western episode cost an extra $150,000 just for dirt.
Gero was on a Television Critics Association Zoom panel for Quantum Leap on Sept. 15. Previewing some of the past eras Ben will visit, Gero explained why dirt costs so much. Quantum Leap airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC.
‘Quantum Leap’ found out the price of dirt the hard way
Sam stayed within the ‘50s and ‘80s. The new Quantum Leap can go even further back, but Gero learned the hard way that making a western in 2022 wasn’t easy.
“The learning curve that you have on a regular show is just so different on this one because we’re basically making a pilot every episode,” Gero said. “Like, a perfect example is we’re doing a western in Episode 5, and I was, like, oh great. We have a western backlot. Like, we can just go shoot there. And then you find out, like, oh, it’s going to cost like $150,000 to, like, put dirt down.”
The first western is always the hardest
Gero acknowledged that if he was working on a full western series, concerns like dirt would be amortized week over week. Doing a special Quantum Leap western made it harder.
“And you’re like, ‘$150,000 in dirt? That can’t be right,’” Gero said. “And then you try to reduce the dirt budget. And then you get there and you’re like, oh, no. It is a lot of dirt. Like, it’s a lot of dirt. And then we have to then pick up the dirt and then move the dirt away. There’s a lot and so just kind of things like that where every episode, you’re like there’s a real stunner, and it’s like, oh, right, of course. If we had done 100 of these, we would know that. But every episode is kind of a pilot for us.”
‘Quantum Leap’ is the best of every genre
So far we know that the first episode of Quantum Leap was a bank heist and the preview for episode 2 shows it in space. Five will be a western so that’s already a lot of variety in the first season alone.
“It’s a writer’s dream for that exact same reason,” Gero said. “It’s not like we’re solving a different just a murder every week. The show is truly like a 52 pickup of television. It’s just like, what are the shows that we’ve always wanted to write? What are the movies that we love? What are the stories we want to tell? Everything has a place here on a show like this. That’s rad on a creative level.”
Dirt is only one of the problems the Quantum Leap crew must solve to bring Gero’s vision to life.
“On a production level, I mean, I cannot say enough about our incredible crew,” Gero said. “We’re shooting the show here in Los Angeles, California, on the Universal backlot, where you can ride the movies. And it’s very exciting for us to be able to shoot on these [sets].”
