- assets buy-in
- render rig
- voice acting
- patreon share
- taxes
...
I can ensure you, these alleged 720k are melting faster than a snowman in Mexico.
Also divided by the years he's working on each episode, which are quite a lot by now.
Still a decent income for sure, but definitly not 720k.
Hmm, you are confusing budget (what I was referring to) with income (you are referring to) - they are linked, but they are not the same - plus, I explicitly indicated the estimate of 720k is over three years for a movie (e.g. "Borders") based on information from this forum, so it is not about spreading it over n years (even because the amount received through Patreon increases over time, more years, more money).
Anyway, to follow in you line...
I have an idea of the costs for assets buy-in, render rig, I seem to remember even the Patreon share - for that kind of amount, they are a minimal part, despite Patreon percentage being substantial (I remember some 10%).
Assets buy-in and render rig are a fixed cost, whether you make a video over three years or in one year - so, on a budget of e.g. 7k they can be a huge percentange, on 720k, they are minimal.
The quality is good, I praise it myself, but we are not talkig about good Hollywood-level, so, it goes for the cost of the rig and hardware, I doubt DL uses audio and colour grading consoles at 20k each (he does not need them for the result).
With my desktop , I can do simple Iray preview almost in real time, and when doing video editing I can reencode in less time than the duration of the original video (the video software uses fully the GPUs) and it cost much less than 1% of that.
I know the cost of assets well, I have lots of them, even if for Daz, while I suspect he uses Blender, I am pretty sure the Rey model he uses is one that you can find on smut base for free (not a critcism, I like it, and why pay if he can use a free resource ?).
Video editing software, assuming he uses any, can get DaVinci Resolve, it's relatively cheap and used even by Hollywood (or you can even use the free version, does not have some functions and does not use all the GPUs in the computer, but for a single person without multi-GPU and/or a big media library, is enough).
Though I guess if he uses anything, it will be another free NLE.
The only two elements you are listing that could be indeed associated with huge cuts independenty from the amount, would be the voice acting, and the taxes.
But contrary to the popular belief, at least unless you take an recognisable "A level Hollywood star", voice actors are not paid huge amounts, and it links also to the quantity (i.e. how much they have to say, or dub) and quality (actors capable of real voice acting or not) - I liked "borders" very much, but the dialogue was not very long, so, I doubt the actress was paid a big amount.
The only thing left then is taxes. Indeed in some countries taxes can be even more than 60% on an high level occasional income (though in some countries, artists are taxed at around 15%).
To be seen if the income is even declared
, and if it gets to that level, it can make only sense to create a company/Ltd/sole trader (various forms depending on the country), which means cost (including Patreon's costs, "rig", assets) would be deductable and not taxable.
I assume you are living in a country where salaries (and cost of living) are very high - even if if you forgot all of the above and assumed he would get, e.g. 30% as real net income in the end, it would mean 216k USD over three years, which means around 72k USD net a year.
In many (I would dare to say most) countries in the World, that is a big net salary - not the CEO of a big company, granted, but still, much more than most artists have to live by.
But at the end, I admit it is a bit pointless for us to have this conversation
.
What matters is whether 1500 or so USD, even if over three years, are worth a smut video, even if one hour long, or not - I recognise the quality of the work and result, and would be willing to part some money to acknowledge it, but that kind of amount, sorry, no, too much.
Have fun !
