![jtotheizzoe:
thebrainscoop:
How much does it cost to make one episode of The Brain Scoop?
Someone left this question on our Facebook page once I mentioned that we are accepting donations in order to help support the channel, and I have been puzzling over it ever since. This type of thing is largely impossible to quantify, in my opinion; there are too many variables. I’ve made an attempt to break it down, however, using only the number of people profiting from the show (three; myself, Michael, and Hank), and weekly ad sales earnings based off of views on YouTube.
One week this month we made $173.28 from ad sales - the next week we made $404.51. That’s a big difference. So, the average between those two weeks is about $288. Divided by 3 people is $96/week per person. Divided by 2 episodes/week is $48, per person, per episode. Let’s assume we spend 10 hours on one episode — this includes my research time, writing, editing the script, filming it, watching footage, and editing it together for an easy episode (this is a very low estimate of time cost per episode, for the record).
We are each making $4.80/hour per episode.
But wait! That is just the (rough estimated) amount of time spent filming and editing. What about the time spent on social media? This is a large part of my job and takes up a significant amount of time as well - between Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and answering emails I estimate that I spend an additional 5-6 hours a day reading, responding, and doing whatever else to help foster this community we’ve established. If you include 20 hours/week filming and editing, and 35 hours/week spent on social media/emails/interviews/articles, that’s 55 hours/week for $96; I’m making less than $2/hr.
But what about videos we don’t earn anything from? It took us around 7 hours one day to skin the wolf, and another 5 the next. 12 hours of work time for filming alone - not to mention the days we spent editing footage to make it a 15-minute episode [there was probably an additional 20-25 hours editing time], and since it has become age-restricted we have earned virtually nothing from a video that took perhaps 30 or more hours to create.
This is why we appreciate your donations so much. I don’t enjoy asking for money, but I feel that it is important for our viewers to understand how much time and effort goes into producing one episode. There are many more variables we could factor in: meeting times, chats about merchandise, other investment costs - but I think you get the idea. This is my only source of income while I juggle six credits of graduate school work on top of everything.
I love our show and I would not stop creating content unless something completely out of my control forced me to quit.. like, if I died. It has certainly become one of the most important aspects of my life and I don’t want you to think I am complaining that I’m not making a living: even if I earned nothing I would still do everything in my power to continue producing episodes. We aren’t about to stop.. but your support certainly makes it easier for us to carry on.
[Photo by Kristen Franklin]
Channels like these rely on YOU, not only to share and watch, but to literally help get them made. Emily is doing great stuff, hopefully we can help her keep doing so.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/890cdea0b6745c7b15792a86a729f99b/tumblr_mkdt0gO1rb1r4wpt9o1_500.jpg)
How much does it cost to make one episode of The Brain Scoop?
Someone left this question on our Facebook page once I mentioned that we are accepting donations in order to help support the channel, and I have been puzzling over it ever since. This type of thing is largely impossible to quantify, in my opinion; there are too many variables. I’ve made an attempt to break it down, however, using only the number of people profiting from the show (three; myself, Michael, and Hank), and weekly ad sales earnings based off of views on YouTube.
One week this month we made $173.28 from ad sales - the next week we made $404.51. That’s a big difference. So, the average between those two weeks is about $288. Divided by 3 people is $96/week per person. Divided by 2 episodes/week is $48, per person, per episode. Let’s assume we spend 10 hours on one episode — this includes my research time, writing, editing the script, filming it, watching footage, and editing it together for an easy episode (this is a very low estimate of time cost per episode, for the record).
We are each making $4.80/hour per episode.
But wait! That is just the (rough estimated) amount of time spent filming and editing. What about the time spent on social media? This is a large part of my job and takes up a significant amount of time as well - between Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and answering emails I estimate that I spend an additional 5-6 hours a day reading, responding, and doing whatever else to help foster this community we’ve established. If you include 20 hours/week filming and editing, and 35 hours/week spent on social media/emails/interviews/articles, that’s 55 hours/week for $96; I’m making less than $2/hr.
But what about videos we don’t earn anything from? It took us around 7 hours one day to skin the wolf, and another 5 the next. 12 hours of work time for filming alone - not to mention the days we spent editing footage to make it a 15-minute episode [there was probably an additional 20-25 hours editing time], and since it has become age-restricted we have earned virtually nothing from a video that took perhaps 30 or more hours to create.
This is why we appreciate your donations so much. I don’t enjoy asking for money, but I feel that it is important for our viewers to understand how much time and effort goes into producing one episode. There are many more variables we could factor in: meeting times, chats about merchandise, other investment costs - but I think you get the idea. This is my only source of income while I juggle six credits of graduate school work on top of everything.
I love our show and I would not stop creating content unless something completely out of my control forced me to quit.. like, if I died. It has certainly become one of the most important aspects of my life and I don’t want you to think I am complaining that I’m not making a living: even if I earned nothing I would still do everything in my power to continue producing episodes. We aren’t about to stop.. but your support certainly makes it easier for us to carry on.
[Photo by Kristen Franklin]
Channels like these rely on YOU, not only to share and watch, but to literally help get them made. Emily is doing great stuff, hopefully we can help her keep doing so.
Ten Tips Guaranteed to Improve Your Startup Success - Anil Dash
Yeah. This is great.
The New Experience Economy: Activity as Currency
This article explores an interesting result of the rise of quote-unquote big data. It’s a really interesting read.
On Rape, Cages, and the Steubenville Verdict
“Elevating the experience of these boys above the experience of their victim is not okay. But, you know what is okay? Also feeling sorry for these boys. Not in the way that CNN did it. Not at the expense of the girl who was raped by these boys. But including these boys in our feelings of sadness is okay. I, unlike many people reacting to today’s verdict, am not just thrilled to death that two 16-year-old boys are going to jail. What they did was terrible. There is no excuse. They have to be two seriously fucked-up kids to have done what they did. But what I know for damn sure is that jail does not fix broken people. It only breaks them harder.”
This is a fantastic article. Mia draws attention to a very difficult issue in a gentle and thoughtful way that would be hard for the most narrowly focused victims’ rights advocate to ignore.
CNN has done so much fucking damage here. There is no doubt that the way they have framed the accused youth as young superstars fallen victim to their own misguided values was really shitty. Highlighting their promise adds salt to the very real wounds of victims who do not hear their voices reflected in our legal system.
Whats worse is that, in framing Ma’Lik and Trent in this way, they have made it near impossible to speak to the rights that these kids have and deserve in the system. The value of respecting and supporting offenders and their rights is hard enough as it is, but is certainly in all of our best interests. We don’t support capital punishment which means these kids will get out of jail eventually, and, given that they are so young, when they are released they will still have years of life to live in the community.
Who do we want them to be? Do we want to abuse and shame them into angry men with the issues they already face compounded by the stigma of this horrible act, or do we want them to feel like we value their lives enough to invest in the supports necessary to have them live out their lives among us in a healthy way? Either way, be clear, they will eventually be living among us.
I face challenge in my position as an offender rights advocate on the daily, without adding CNN’s fuel to that fire, and I will continue to do so. I hope you will too… in the mean time, fuck you CNN.
This is important. I haven’t had a chance to write anything about this, and I’m saddened to see friends that are otherwise critical thinkers being so vitriolic about this whole thing. This is a great response to that tendency, and it’s what I wish I’d written. Instead, this person did. Nice work.
Godspeed You Black Emperor Reviewed By Tough Critics On Soundcheck (by wnycradio).
I mostly wanted to post this for something Elizabeth said. She says it sounds like a Taylor Swift song. She’s right! It’s fuzzier and a little more challenging in texture, but it has the same sort of epic and swirly strings and stuff that modern pop music is all about. And that’s what makes it awesome. If only Godspeed You Black Emperor fans would see this, maybe they could enjoy Taylor Swift a little more.
Wide Eyes: Big ways the internet is changing our brains
THE INTERNET IS OUR EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE
We don’t have to remember phone numbers or addresses anymore. Instead, we can just hop on our email or Google to look it up. According to a study by Science Magazine, “the Internet has become a primary form of external or transactive memory, where…
A great overview of what some studies say about how brains are changing. It’s not a full accounting, and, in fact, some of these results could be read to contradict each other. But it’s a good read.
They show people what they want to see. People should want to see better things maybe?
Apple’s Diabolical Plan to Screw Your iPhone
Hardware choices ARE policy choices.
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