#csaffitz

It absolutely can't. That's a pipe dream. Gotta wait till I'm back home for that.

I’m quite aware. But people keep bringing up the $400 and using it as proof of how “unfair” the salaries are. I also saw the post the person made and the tone was pretty accusatory. Everyone is acting as if that person was having pennies thrown at them when...that’s a pretty fucking fair rate for the work they were doing.

As far as “not getting additional payment”. Again.......we know how many views Claire and Brad get on any of their videos but lets still include one for comparison.

This was a quick search to compare numbers. Now let’s look at some ad revenue numbers:

2 thousand dollars in profit for every million views...BEFORE YouTube takes their 45% cut. Those videos that don’t even break a million views are pretty much making BA no money when you put the ad revenue up against the production costs and overheads the company has. There’s a very real possibility that they’re costing BA money instead of bringing in profit. Those videos also take maybe 3-4 hours to shoot tops. That’s if literally everything goes wrong. Something like that could easily be incorporated into anyone’s work day when it’s part of your regular responsibilities. Especially when taking into consideration that they’re not shooting every day.

The BA channel is kept afloat by GM, It’s Alive, and maybe Carla’s show but that’s because of the celebrity guests not because Carla has some massive loyal following. Mollie gets solid views but also her videos are INSANELY EXPENSIVE. We all know this. I wouldn’t be shocked if they were barely breaking even or lost money on her show.

I can’t believe y’all really making me talk about this but it’s too absurd not to at this point. I haven’t watched BA in months and I really don’t have any reason to defend any of these people, especially Rapo because y’all know I always despised him so I don’t need to state that I’m glad he’s fucking gone because I couldn’t stand his face but...........the silence of white staff??? Literally HUH? That whole thing took what...like 6 hours from start to finish yesterday? It couldn’t have been more than 6-8 hours between the time the picture surfaced and Rapo resigned. In that time EVERYONE from the BATK spoke up and pretty firmly for that matter. Not one “white” person was silent about it or about their support for the staffers that spoke up.

Also, I’m not going to get into it with titles and job responsibilities because I don’t care to get into that but the amount of posts that I’ve seen floating around since yesterday that claim Claire makes 20k/video is absolutely stupid. The notion that $400/video to shoot a 6-8 minute cooking video that probably took 3-4 hours to produce from start to finish is bad pay is also just idiotic. Here’s the thing, it’s a well known fact that there is no money in digital media. None. For a while in the last decade people thought there would be but every company that expanded their digital video presence has since shrunk it because digital is not the money pile some apparently think it is. Look at places like Vice or Vox for example. All downsized in the last year and other publications scrapped their video content completely. It’s also no secret that magazines/journalism subscriptions have slumped immensely in the last few years. Sure, you could get rich off making youtube videos but it’s SO VERY DIFFERENT when you’re a single person sitting in front of a camera at your house with little to no costs being sunk into making your videos while having sponsors than being a whole ass corporation in the publishing business.

Let’s look at some numbers:

I think a pretty realistic number is to say that an episode of Gourmet Makes brings in about 20,000 in ad revenue. That’s a fair estimate. Could be more, could be less depending on the views but let’s stick with 20k because that’s a number I’ve heard thrown around more than once. You know what’s behind those 20k? Huge operational and production costs. How many people work behind the camera on those GM videos? Every time the camera reveals crew there’s at least 7-10 people. That crew is all getting paid. Claire is getting paid. Ingredients need to be bought. Equipment has an intrinsic cost. Do you think office space at the World Trade Center is cheap? The actual cost of making those videos from pre-production to post is probably close to the 20k they bring in. Especially when you’re considering the fact that GM episodes last longer than the few hours it takes to shoot every other BATK video. That’s a day rate for the crew every extra day. That’s thousands of dollars in costs every single time Claire fails and has to come back.

Let’s look at some more numbers. SAG (Screen Actors Guild) is the actor’s union. The actor’s union sets minimum day rates and scales for what talent should be paid. YouTube videos fall under “New Media” in the SAG contracts. Do you know what the day rate is for a union actor to work 12 hour days on a new media project that has a budget under 250k?

$125 dollars. For what is usually 12 hours of work. That’s what UNION actors are getting paid per day for New Media projects. $400 per video to shoot for a handful of hours is a pretty fucking fair rate. That’s the ballpark for the 12 hour day rate for many other department head positions on set and again...those people are expected to work 12 hours, often doing a fair amount of manual labor.

You also have to take into consideration that Brad and Claire literally carry that entire channel on their backs. Do they get paid more? Sure. But they also get the most views. Bar none. If the BATK was a fictional tv show they would be the lead actors. Leads and supporting/guest stars don’t get paid the same. Not even close. ESPECIALLY not when a Claire video is going to get 4 million views in a week and one of the other person’s videos is going to get 900k views in three weeks. That’s a massive difference in revenue being created. Their compensation is matching the money they make the company. Y’all seem to forget that at the end of the day all of this is a BUSINESS. You also forget it every time a “diverse” show gets cancelled too. Something can have all the diversity in the world but if people aren’t watching it or if it’s not making the company money they’re not paying for it. Period.

Of course I did. I'd been starving for three weeks. I spent all night last night refreshing Jenna's channel because I was bored out of my fucking mind and needed a distraction urgently lmao

Also...now that you mentioned 33. I keep forgetting to point this out because I think it's VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION that you all need to know if you already don't but look at this:

A fucking day apart! The power that September 1986 birthed is incomparable. September 1986 invented the internet. A before and after in world history. No other month alike.

....or literally the people who have been there the longest??? lol. Brad and Claire pretty much started the BA channel model as it exists today. Claire has been there since basically the beginning. Like...what??? Of course she has a bigger fanbase, more exposure, and a higher salary. Go back years and you’ll see Claire videos. She’s had a long ass time to build a following. Same with Brad and Carla and Andy and Chris. They’ve all been there from Day 1.