Some of the cheap-small budget German,Russian, Italian and Brazillian movies I saw, I find it hard to believe they even sold enough copies to cover their production cost. Assuming that they find extremely cheap prostitutes and guy who pay to star in such movie. still i don't even think some of them even manage to sell 100 copies. So I wonder do they really make any profit? if yes then how much? and if not then why and who finances such movies? or is it like some big pawn shop owner like player in each country who will pay such small fishes dirt cheap for each clip they bring and then he will join the clips together and make a movie out of it like horney italian MILFs #34052 ??
These movies are either self funded or through an angel type investor, but that often leads into problems because films often go over budget and off schedule for one reason or another. For example with Hocus Pocus XXX we originally were going to spend $30,000 to make the movie. $30,000 quickly turned into $40,000. Then there was a problem with one thing or another and that turned into $44,000 almost immediately. Then throw in some problems with editing and duplication and fixes for the box cover and you easily find yourself at $50,000. Now keep in mind, this is all before the movie was ever released and this movie wasn't studio funded. I had to come up with all this money myself. Then from there we had a few extra marketing quirks that led the budget for this one movie (given it did have a massive cast) into the $60,000 range. Getting an investor to agree to one amount then finding yourself going back to him (or her) over and over again throughout production until the budget finally swells to about double what it was originally is never easy. That's really why it is always just best to try and self fund your movie. Now as far as smaller films go - you can produce a decent gonzo flick with cheap, no name talent in places outside of LA for about $10k. Assuming you go on the cheap for everything you only have to sale about 1,5000 units wholesale to make your money back. The average crap movie like that can sale that in a year if they are with a big enough wholesale distribution house like Pulse Distribution. Now let us assume you go lucky and found some decent looking talent. You may be able to license it out for cable and hotel broadcast for a few extra thousand. Now let's say you team up with places like Content Bandit. Then they can license your movie out to membership websites for $200 (or so) a piece. That's another few thousand in your pocket. So what it worth it? Totally. That's why so many people do it. :P
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Bluto Deactivated User
511 Posts 3/09
Posted - Jun 29 2010 : 4:33PM
There is a huge market for cheap porn. I can remember watching people in Times Square buying 10/15 videos at a time of absolute dreck. Some guys get off watching people fuck, and it don't matter what they look like.
Does anyone have an idea how much it costs to produce porn in Russia or Brazil? If its very cheap, and I would get to direct, I could finance some movies. I would not mind becoming the new Ingmar Bergman or Steven Spielberg of porn :-) Edited by - alanbanal on 7/2/2010 5:12:24 AM
pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world 12377 Posts 9/07
Posted - Jul 2 2010 : 5:46AM
It seems highly likely that organized crime is involved in the production of porn in Russia, from what I've read it also seems common in Japan. I'm not sure about Brazil.
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Rosco Fuji Deactivated User
On the licking stick, Mr. Magic Dick! 3309 Posts 2/09
Posted - Jul 2 2010 : 12:40PM
Gotta ask, what exactly are you spending $40,000 on? Just going by what others have indicated on this site, talent seems to run about $750 - 1000 per girl. So 8 girls and 4 guys should cost around $10,000, rent a house for a couple of days, $2000, 5000 blank disks at Best Buy, $500, Box Cover production $4000, related crew about $4000. Still way short of $40,000.
I'm obviously not in the industry, but I think most of smaller budget films use more than two locations. Also some female and male talent make more than the numbers you used, although I think your generally about right. Nothing against Best Buy blank disks, but I'm guessing the studios use a more professional grade. The crew numbers seem low to me. I think there tends to be more people behind-the-scenes than we usually see. I don't always see the "costs" onscreen with the big mainstream films either, but I'm thinking there are hidden costs we may not be aware of.
Um, no. This is not the way, mate. Budget a minimum of five times this amount for professional authoring, glass masters and a minimum run (usually 1,500) of replicated DVD-5 discs. - Zen
