Everyone knows about the cost of trials. A September 2008 article published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies concluded that in most of the cases studied, settling would have saved the parties money.
But certainly some of those cases that go to trial cannot, will not, and should not settle. In deciding how to draw the line, lawyers should consider the cost in the 2008 study in conjunction with the cost of an analogous type of work: a documentary film. For example, the successful documentary about the collapse of Enron, The Smartest Guys in the Room, cost its producers (including billionaire Mark Cuban) about $700,000 to make, according to a December 2005 article in Fast Company magazine. This figure is, in broad terms, consistent with the experience of Hollywood producer Morgan Sackett, whose credentials include numerous documentaries as well as the television comedies Veep and Parks and Recreation. According to Sackett, “a budget of $500,000 to $1,500,000 is typical in documentaries, excluding costs for copyright licenses in some instances for music or film footage.”
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