Leesa Dean: Adventures of a Web Series Newbie #84

Back to the Drawing Board
by Leesa Dean

So, heard back from the extremely long-shot opportunity for one of my projects and…it was a long-shot.  They didn’t buy it.  Le sigh.   Luckily, I’m one of those types who moves on from rejection pretty quickly, i.e., spent a night with friends drinking, grousing, complaining, occasionally weeping and moved on by the next day.  Ok, maybe not weeping.

My first inclination whenever I get rejected/turned down/kicked to the curb is to put together a plan b and/or c.  So I did.  And, truthfully, I actually am pretty excited about the prospects.   Because it’s the end of the year, going back into meetings is pretty much out, which is fine.  It gives me time to refine, rewrite, strategize about relaunch/promo and work on the three other projects I’m doing.

My grandmother always used to say, “One door closes, another one opens.”  And I’ve found that’s always been the case.  Or maybe that’s just my perspective.

Meanwhile, this was gonna be a big YouTube week but the main event I was planning on attending at their new NY facility was cancelled.  Since I haven’t been there yet, it was mildly disappointing but I am going to another event there next month.  Really looking forward to seeing the space in person.

Finally, I read an article in Tubefilter about Patreon, a newish crowdfunding site.  Patreon is different than Kickstarter or Indiegogo because fans/supporters can become “patrons” and give a monthly donation versus simply donating once to a project.

I’d heard of Patreon about six months ago when a pretty big web series creator (no names here) was out trolling on twitter trying to get people to help finance a new series they were working on.  They didn’t end up getting too many patrons (maybe 50), had only raised a couple of hundred dollars and didn’t nearly reach their monthly goal so it just didn’t seem worthwhile at the time.

Apparently, things have picked up and Patreon is now giving out over $1 million in monthly payouts to its creative partners (there are about 125,000 signed up).  Which is impressive.

When I re-looked over the site, most people aren’t making a huge amount of money per month, but they were, generally, making something.  Which is more than most web series creators make on YouTube.  I know I’ve written about it before but on YouTube, on average you make between $800-$1,000 per million views.  Million.  That’s a lot.  And most web series don’t get there.  The average person on YouTube who’s pulling in $100,000 a year is a vlogger and they output about three new shows per week.  Every week.

So, I put Patreon on the possibly to-do list.

Author: ChilltownTV

I'm primarily a writer. Sold a few series to tv networks and production companies but never had anything get on the air. So I taught myself how to animate and completed 3 digital series, launching two. The first, Chilltown has been named one of "Five Web Series That Should Be on Your Radar" by ABCNews/Univision and a "Show to Watch" by Tubefilter. The second, Lele's Ratchet Advice Show, garnered a fanatic cult following. As a result, I now do Lele's 60 Second Wrap Up, a weekly comedic entertainment report (which I write & perform) that airs on urban radio stations Rhythm 105.9fm and the Just Wake Up Morning Show on WWRNfm. View all posts by ChilltownTV