Post by Adam H. KermanPost by DavidPost by Davidhttp://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/11/30/patton-oswalt-to-join-new-mystery-sci
ence-theater-3000/
Patton Oswalt To Join New Mystery Science Theater 3000
by Erik Amaya
They've passed $3.3 million, so there'll be at least 6 episodes.
They're also now the second-biggest video project after "Veronica Mars."
What the fuck are they going to spend $3.3 million on?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/bringbackmst3k/posts/1413188
"ANOTHER MESSAGE FROM JOEL
Question #1: Why do you need so much money?
Believe me, man. I hear you. If it really cost $2 million just to make
three episodes, we'd be spending almost $700K per show! And you're
right: by itself, an episode of MST3K doesn't cost nearly that much.
But the explanation is actually pretty simple:
A. We don't get to keep all of the money we raise on Kickstarter.
Out of the first $2,000,000, we have to pay about 8% that's
$160,000 in CAMPAIGN FEES to Kickstarter and the credit card processor.
Then we have to cover all of the REWARD AND SHIPPING COSTS to
design, produce, print, sort and ship all of the rewards we're offering
in exchange for your pledge. (Those t-shirts aren't free, you know!)
That costs about 27%, so that's another $540,000.
We're not charging you twice for shipping, I promise. Even though
Kickstarter asks you to add more for shipping after you pledge, they
count that money toward the total we've raised, but we still have to
spend that money on, you know... shipping!
So, out of the first $2,000,000 we raise, we have to spend
$700,000 just on the costs of this Kickstarter campaign!
B. Then, we have a lot of startup costs just to get the show into
production.
To shoot new episodes, there's a lot we'll need to do up front: creating
concept art and designs, building sets, making models, creating
costumes, adding new features to upgrade the robots, and all sorts of
other things. All of that work costs money, which is why that first
$2,000,000 includes $550,000 for STARTUP COSTS. The good part is that
every penny of that ends up on screen, where you can see it.
C. But... the more episodes we make, the less each episode costs!
We have to spend $550,000 up front, no matter how many episodes we make.
If we only make 3 episodes, these costs increase the budget for each
episode by $183K but if we make a full 12, they only increase it by
$46K each!
Anyway, once you take out the CAMPAIGN, REWARD and STARTUP COSTS,
there's a lot less than $2M left.
In fact, that leaves just $750,000 for THREE FEATURE-LENGTH EPISODES OF
MST3K, which I hope sounds a lot more reasonable than $2,000,000!
At the end of the day, our goal is to make each feature-length episode
of MST3K for around $250,000.
To put that in perspective, that means we're spending less to create 90
minutes of MST3K than even the lower-end reality shows spend to make 22
minutes! (Really makes ya think, don't it?)
And remember: that $250K isn't just to hire our writers, cast and crew,
or rent equipment and space. It also includes the cost of LICENSING
MOVIE RIGHTS, and that can get pretty expensive. Which brings me to the
last point:
D. If we want the best cheesy movies, we have to pay for them.
Right now, none of the movies I'd like to include in the next season are
in the public domain. That means we have to pay the owner of each movie
a substantial amount to include it on MST3K. That would be expensive no
matter what... and that's before the owners realize what we're planning
to do with them!
Now, I know that was a lot of detail. If you're as worn out from reading
about this as I am from writing about it, here's a wicked cool graphic
that sums the whole thing up:"
Click link to see charts
https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/899/859/e19abb9c5986d8a65fd1cc2ccfb6
4493_original.gif?v=1447365447&w=639&fit=max&q=92&s=cf8ae175e6c13d68a2a26
302e8f7f74a
--
New sig pending