Blue Star Episode 2 Budget (Patreon)

So, I am a huge fan of transparency. I personally believe all businesses should be completely transparent with how much money they are making and how much they are spending. And I personally want to do the same - I want people to know where their money is going.

I would like to post this publicly, but every time I make a post on my Tumblr about money, it makes a HUGE shitstorm. And I frankly just don't want to deal with that.

But I decided that, since you all are already supporting me, you are presumably okay with my getting money for this work, and you would likely like to see where your money is going. And so I decided to post the budget here.

A brief go-over of what is detailed here:

1.) Roll-over - Roll-over is a system I am implementing now, where the surplus of one project's budget bleeds over into supporting the next project. So, for example, if these numbers don't change, then the next project (Dirty, Filthy Humans ; Bounty Booty is actually already taken care of financially) will have a budget equal to what I make this September plus that $445. Blue Star's surplus becomes Dirty, Filthy Humans' roll-over.

2.) Differing rates for voices - This is an unfortunate reality, but not all voices are valued equally, especially in the porn industry. When it comes right down to it, when people watch Blue Star Episode 2, they want to hear Jack getting fucked - not Kavil getting fucked. Additionally, male voices are just a lot more common than female voices are in porn, and while Ivan does an absolutely amazing job, the fact remains that men are just more willing to voice porn than women are, statistically speaking. And then finally, women tend to have a far more taxing performance than men do in porn, even just voicing.

3.) After-credits full-stack - So this isn't actually a concrete $160. I'm about 90% confident it will go through, but the person I hired for it isn't confident on their lip-syncing ability (which is $30 of that). 

4.) Detail + Lip being italicized - This one is a huge maybe. I have contacted someone about it, and they are interested, but they are not confident that they will be able to do it in time and to my satisfaction. They are currently thinking it over. However, I still want to hire someone to help with it, because I really don't want to be stuck lip-syncing and detailing the whole thing again. That was utter hell.

Comments on the budget:

Under the old scheme of Patreon, where charges were only pulled at the end of the month, this was considered scumming and was a huge problem. But now, with the charge-up-front modal, it's significantly less of a deal - I still get the money, even if they are pledged for a total of 10 minutes.

In total, nearly $900 worth of first-time pledges came in over the course of August, and most of them seemed to be hit-and-quit. Which is cool.

However, as you can see here, the consequence is it throws in quite a bit of an under-budget issue. I'm not comfortable just yet with bringing in a full-stack animator to do anything more than small pieces, like the after-credits scene.

As a result, I am thinking that, if the support comes in as strong again as it did this time, I might raise my rates across the board. My end goal is to be able to pay $50/min for voices across the board, and comparable improvements to animators. I started lower because I wasn't confident I would be able to support it, but the way things are going now, it may end up working out.

The roll-over is helpful because, as I have said before, I intend to go full-tilt on Hiveship, and the more finances for that, the better. I absolutely intend to bring in a full-stack animator, or maybe even two, to help me with that. And they won't do it gratis, that's for sure.

So that's where the budget is right now. I hope you all are satisfied with the transparency, and I want to thank everyone for your support!