Cost of a Web Series – Season Two

Posted July 25, 2013

Over a year ago we raised $273,725 on Kickstarter for Season One of Video Game High School. After releasing the show last July, we revealed exactly how much the show cost. 

This January, we went back to Kickstarter and asked for the exact amount we spent on Season 1. We figured if we were successful we could, at the very least, give the audience something on par with the first one. Instead we raised an amazing $808,341. 

This allowed us to accomplish three of our stretch goals – a set of 3 comics for backers, a 5.1 surround sound mix, and a live orchestrated score.

From the beginning, we wanted to shake things up with Season Two – we wanted to go bigger and better in every way; we wanted to create an independent webseries at a scale no other webseries has ever achieved.

Early on, we made the decision to shoot Season Two as a full-scale TV show. Instead of a web series with small episodes that combine to make a film, Season Two consists of six TV-length episodes ranging from 26-36 minutes long. The total running time is over an hour longer than VGHS Season One.

This meant we would need more than what we raised on Kickstarter. We were fortunate enough to be sponsored by Dodge, which made the drifting sequences possible, as well as other partners, non-Kickstarter donations, and assistance from YouTube who allowed us to shoot at their new stage space for free.

The final budget for Season Two was set 1.4 million dollars.  This was raised from a combination of Kickstarter, sponsorships, as well as our own wallets.

The final spend ended up at $1,339,558

While kickstarter fans are not investors in the traditional sense, they are still folks who have entrusted us with their earned money. As we feel a strong obligation to our incredibly supportive fanbase, we have broken down all our costs below:

We hope it is informative to those of you who donated, as well as enlightening to any current or future filmmakers looking to have a better understanding of filmmaking in this digital age and the costs associated with it.

PS: Due to contractual obligations and wishing to maintain privacy for our cast and crew, we are not disclosing how much we are paying each individual. Instead, we have lumped together costs into logical categories. If you have any questions, we’d be happy to provide more information, provided we can maintain the privacy of our friends.

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