In case you're unaware, Felicia Day is the creative genius and talented personality behind this year's web TV sensation "The Guild". The show follows the escapades of a group of World of Warcraft gamers, very funny stuff if you've ever been a gamer and certainly worth a vicarious look if you've not.
Tubefilter broke a story about a DVD deal that Day achieved with Amazon's Createspace. On first glance, the figures seem disheartening and unsustainable for content producers:
"What really fascinates me, however, is how little money the creators might actually be making. Each season’s DVD pre-sells for $12.99. Assuming the deal that Felicia and her team signed with CreateSpace is standard, here’s what they’re going to make:
- List Price: $12.99
- Amazon.com Cut: - $5.85 (45%)
- CreateSpace Fee: - $4.95
- Total Remainder: $2.20 (17% of list price)
That’s two-dollars and twenty cents of gross revenue per unit sold, and they still have to pay AFTRA pension and health, as well as talent royalties (if any) out of those dollars.
Contrast that to the major television and film studios, who are making almost two-thirds gross profit on every DVD they sell, and you’ll start to notice how important economies of scale are in the entertainment business."
[Edit: Tubefilter just added an update: "UPDATE: Credible sources in The Guild camp have informed us that both Felicia Day and Amazon.com are very happy with the DVD and VOD deals in place, and that the deal that was negotiated was not a standard CreateSpace agreement."]
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