For *Star Trek* and *Mission: Impossible*, both budgeted at approximately $200,000 per episode, NBC and CBS respectively were paying license fees of approximately $160,000 to $193,000 per episode (accounts vary slightly on the precise figures). The gap between the network payment and the actual production cost — plus whatever cost overruns occurred, which on *Star Trek* were frequent — came out of Desilu’s reserves.
The production of a full season of *Star Trek* — the 29 episodes of the first season — therefore required Desilu to absorb a substantial deficit before the show had earned a single dollar in syndication. The studio’s ability to do this depended on its cash flow from facilities rental, from *The Lucy Show*, and from whatever other income it was generating.
Herb Solow’s account of the financial pressure during production is consistent: *Star Trek* consistently ran over budget. The science fiction production design — the sets, the props, the special effects — cost more than the conventional television budget could comfortably absorb. The post-production executive Bill Heath, believing he was protecting Ball’s financial interests, imposed strict restrictions on the visual effects budget that at one point nearly prevented the show from delivering episodes on time for broadcast.
These financial strains were real, and they accumulated. By the time the show was into its second season in 1967, the cumulative deficit from *Star Trek* production was a significant factor in Desilu’s financial position. The studio had also made other commitments that did not perform: *The Long Hunt of April Savage*, the third of the three series that the board had voted to cancel, was indeed canceled by ABC before regular production began, which relieved some pressure but did not solve the underlying problem.