GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

If Louie C.K. Video Can Make $1,000,000 Then Why Not Firefly?

POSTED BY: TWO
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 3, 2012 12:58
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/uWDgOu
VIEWED: 2667
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Tuesday, January 3, 2012 5:13 AM

TWO

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


A one-man comedy special is cheap & easy to make compared to a one-hour Firefly special, but the experience of comedian Louie C.K. can energize your Firefly daydreams.

Louie C.K. wrote on Dec. 21, 2011 https://buy.louisck.net/news
Quote:

So it's been about 12 days since the thing started and yesterday we hit the crazy number. One million dollars. That's a lot of money. Really too much money. I've never had a million dollars all of a sudden. and since we're all sharing this experience and since it's really your money, I wanted to let you know what I'm doing with it. People are paying attention to what's going on with this thing. So I guess I want to set an example of what you can do if you all of a sudden have a million dollars that people just gave to you directly because you told jokes.

So I'm breaking the million into four pieces.

The first 250k is going to pay back what the special cost to produce and the website to build.

The second 250k is going back to my staff and the people who work for me on the special and on my show. I'm giving them a big fat bonus.

The third 280k is going to a few different charities. . . .

That leaves me with 220k for myself. . . .


Cristina Clapp wrote an editorial about marketing the Louis C.K. video in Digital Video, Vol.20 No.1 Jan. 2012
Quote:

When he released his new stand-up special, Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theater, of course I bought it, not only because I like hilariousness and because I consider him one of us, but also because the distribution strategy is so unusual and promising. His idea was to make his special (which he directed and edited from footage of two performances recorded with six cameras) available for $5 as a download or as streamed content—region-free and DRM-free—from his site, www.louisck.com The special was filled with hilariousness and was well produced, and four days later, as I write this, it has been purchased more than 150,000 times.

“I think we can safely say that the experiment really worked,” Louis C.K. wrote in an e-mail to me. (And to everyone else who bought the special.) “If anybody stole it, it wasn’t many of you. Pretty much everybody bought it. And so now we all get to know that about people and stuff. I’m really glad I put this out here this way and I’ll certainly do it again.”

I absolutely understand that this is a “unicorn” kind of scenario for content distribution—I don’t think that everyone can produce material and expect 150,000 legal, paid downloads (with ever-increasing numbers), but I do feel that the audience/viewer/customer response demonstrates something. It’s exciting and inspiring and I want to see where it leads.



The Louis C.K. comedy special did not have the heavy financial burden that a Firefly special would have: 1) nine professional actors plus guest stars plus extras, 2) giant sound stage with spaceship, 3) FOX. It's always about the money, isn't it?

But we can dream that another Firefly episode could be made, can't we?

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Tuesday, January 3, 2012 5:17 AM

DREAMTROVE


Aim a little higher. Check out the per episode production costs of Firefly.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Tuesday, January 3, 2012 5:19 AM

TWO

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by dreamtrove:
Aim a little higher. Check out the per episode production costs of Firefly.

Obviously the Louis C.K. comedy special did not have the heavy financial burden that a Firefly special would have: 1) nine professional actors plus guest stars plus extras, 2) giant sound stage with spaceship, 3) greedy FOX. It's always about the money, isn't it? It has only been a month; in a year, Louis C.K. might sell $10,000,000. Now that is real money.

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity", where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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Tuesday, January 3, 2012 7:26 AM

SIMONWHO


This reminds me of an old Mel Brooks joke. He showed Young Frankenstein to his mother who said afterwards "It was wonderful, it'll take a million dollars" and he replied "That's a problem Ma because it cost two million to make."

$1m gross for a no-name comedy star is great but will scarcely cover a fraction of the costs of even a quick and dirty episode. Of course Joss could prove me horribly/wonderfully wrong.

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Tuesday, January 3, 2012 12:58 PM

TWO

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theater Outtake



The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity," where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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