Good Cheap Canadian Producers Are the Future of Web Video

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David Purchase and Ian Purchase known as The Purchase Brothers created this fantastic live action indie short that has had almost 2 million views on YouTube in less than a week. It’s about a pair of argumentative rebel soldiers flee from a futuristic, totalitarian city about to blow and it looks incredible. The best part is that they told NewTeeVee it only cost $500 – Canadian.

$500 bucks! I can’t wait to hire these guys. I’m going to pay them $700 US! These guys are great. What’s wrong with the rest of you wanting so much money? This is Champaign work on a Beer budget and it’s what marketers should expect to pay for this quality of work. I’m going to tell everyone how you can spend $500, get a great video AND get 2 Million views on YouTube!!!! I’m so excited how cheap web video is. It’s awesome!

I’m really happy that the Purchase Brothers have told the world (they even posted it in their notes on YouTube) that this video only cost $500 and that they made fools of the rest of you money hungry bastards charging thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars for this kind of work.

You should be ashamed of yourselves charging that kind of fee for work that is of less quality. These guys have really shown you. And, as this video gets more popular marketers and advertisers will be able to point to it as an example of something that only costs $500 – Canadian.

In fact all of you Independent producers that charge more than $1000 US should just quit now that the Purchase Brothers are willing to create this high level production for $500. Better yet, you should just work for free. You don’t need money. You don’t need food. You don’t need a place to live. You love what you do. Just do it for free and give it away. Marketers will love you.

  • http://afterjudgment.com Taryn O’Neill

    Hey Tim,

    We should ban all indie filmmakers from Canada!! Wait, Mike Davies and I are both from there so forget that. I’d like to know what exactly the $500 spent was referring to. I’m assuming they already have a camera if they are commercial directors as that $500 would just cover the rental of the cam. And I also assuming they already have their editing suite set up in their home/office but somehow I don’t see them adding their billable hours as editors and SFX peeps into the production cost. And as I was tweeting about two days ago with some writer/director peeps after watching the video (and it looks cool, don’t get me wrong!) they obviously didn’t pay for actors or a sound guy as both were sub-par (and I’m being polite because I’m Canadian). So was the $500 put towards a light package, Zombie masks and some Subway? As you are subtly pointing out, it’s great that the Purchase brothers could create such a virally successful SFX laden short but it’s a mistake for them to declare that it can be done on chump change. And they’ll argue that I’m sure when someone wants to hire them for the next gig.

  • http://www.storyforge.tv Steve Lettieri

    Ha ha ha ha. Good post Tim!

  • http://heathergold.com heather gold

    Hey Tim,

    Bear in mind they don’t have monthly health insurance costs. And I point that out as a proud Canadian-American.

    heather

    (I get yer point. Yes, it’s all about what you can just do now, which is great)

  • http://www.tubefilter.tv Brady Brim-DeForest

    Just this week I was hanging out with a whole gaggle of Canadians involved in web television production. I think you’re on to something here Tim.

  • http://www.tubefilter.tv Brady Brim-DeForest

    On a more serious note though, it should be remembered that the backgrounds were extracted from Halo – recreating them from scratch might be a tad bit more costly.

  • http://1timstreet.com 1TimStreet

    Ah Brady, You bring up a great point. Marketers should know that backgrounds from Halo or any other copyrighted game or movie are free for the taking. In fact why not “extract” your favorite music from iTunes as well as long as you keep the budget under $500 you will be able to compete in web video.

  • Rachel

    No Way this cost $500!! Micheal Bay better watch his back!! LOL! Very impressive!

  • Rob Lewis

    I’m so glad you spoke up about the $500 prodigy video. Everyone knows it doesn’t cost much to point a camera at something. But it really annoys me when all of the volunteer effort goes unaccounted for.

    Oh, and you had me going for a minute there. Good post.

  • Scott

    Successful troll was almost successful

  • Scott

    But good post

  • http://twitter.com/pritchard Mark Pritchard

    Way to throw out a stick of dynamite, Tim! Eventually web producers will have to figure out multiple ways to make money with their concepts (books, live events, etc)

  • http://1timstreet.com 1TimStreet

    You know Mark,

    This reminds me of the early days of interactive television. I was doing some crazy viral marketing for Game Show Network and another company was doing the interactivity for the same show that I was doing marketing. I got paid for my work. They offered to do their work for free.

    They soon went out of business and Game Show Network had to find another vendor to do their interactivity.

    Bottom line is that if you are a marketer make sure you are striking “Win Win” deals. Make sure that your vendors are getting something out of the deal so that they will be around to support you.

    If you are a vendor, or an independent producer don’t go around saying that you are doing stuff on the cheap unless you want to work for free for the rest of your life.

    Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t work for free or don’t do stuff for cheap. Everyone needs experience but eventually you will need to charge a living wadge or you will be working and getting paid doing something outside of the video industry.

    The other thing that you do when you say that something costs $500 is that you confuse uneducated buyers and that can screw up the marketplace.

  • http://www.jacketmedia.com Dan Klass

    It COST $500, but what would they CHARGE to produce something like that for someone else?

    I am producing something that isn’t COSTING me anything. Anything but a solid week or two of work and the electricity to run thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment.

    It COST $500, but what is it WORTH?

  • http://1timstreet.com 1TimStreet

    Ixnay on the eefray Anday

    It could be worth a lot if they have a good business development person, a good lawyer or a good agent.

    The big problem is fair use of the Halo footage and if a studio or network wants to deal with that liability but it could be worked around and could be a big money maker.

    I think studios and networks are looking for content that is created but not yet released. Having a track record of a million views or more is good for getting you in the door for a meeting but right now Hollywood wants to look up your skirt before they pay any money.

    If you have millions and millions of views that doesn’t do the studio any good. Those views are wasted to them.

    If you have a series that is emotionally compelling and in the can you might want to shop it before you put it out.

    If you need help shopping it. Let me know.

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