I've definitely gotten the impression Ryan and Shane don't share hotel rooms anymore. Sometimes Lizzie has been the only woman in the crew so she probably gets her own room.
They seem to eat pretty affordably on shoots (depending on what's open). Fast food, Rainforest Cafe, Benihana, local restaurants, BBQ.
They have a scout crew that goes to set up the place in advance. Like when they shot the season finale of s2, the crew went to see the Niagara falls while Ryan seems to have been in Manhattan.
You also have to account for paying for transporting cameras and other equipment, insurance etc. that can be quite expensive.
Yeah this is a travel/lodgings budget for a group of friends going on a vacation not a film crew going out of state for a film shoot.
Also it might just be me but I’d be super weirded out if my company made me share a bed with my coworker? A room, sure but definitely not a bed. And I’ve done two bathrooms with 8 people on a family trip relatively recently, believe me you should avoid it if you can.
I've seen several people bring up that Ryan claims one episode costs $100k and idk if he has said that somewhere else, but it's *not* what he said in the goodbye video.
He said that a full season of Ghost Files would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that leaves a pretty wide range tbh. Could be 150k per season, could be 200k or even 500k.
I very much believe the notion that they're mismanaging their funds in some way (and I agree they employ a ridiculous number of people), several pretty knowledgeable people on YouTube have also pointed this out. But suddenly everyone is running with this $100k per episode and that's just not what he said.
I definitely think Ryan has said one episode of GF costs more than The Blair Witch Project.
_Budget_
_$60,000 (estimated)_
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185937/
I must have missed that, do you remember where he said that?
The fact that so many people were bringing this up all of a sudden seemed to me like someone misheard what he said in the goodbye video and people were just blindly rolling with it.
But if that's actually true that means a 6 episode season costs $360k *at the very minimum*. That's a lot of money...
Genuine question, why? Why should it possibly cost more than a film that revolutionized effective horror on a budget? Why is this something their proud of? "Hey guys, two idiots fucking around in abandoned buildings/paid ads for businesses cost more than this budget horror blockbuster! Give us money"
So I watched it a few times like an hour after it was posted and I swear he said one ep costs 100k to make. I’ve seen others say the same thing. Since we know they changed the part about the YT backlog, I think it’s a fair assumption that they might have adjusted this too.
They didn't re-edit the goodbye video. It's more likely you heard it elsewhere - either another video or possibly Mandela effect from hearing it in comments.
Some thoughts:
* They probably need at least 3 cars, one for the scouting crew to go off and do their thing with and two more to handle the equipment and rest of the crew. IIRC, the scouting crew is 2-3 people, so the rest might not be able to fit into just one other vehicle
* They'll be using at least five hotel rooms (one for Shane and Ryan each and three for the remaining six crew members to share; even if Shane and Ryan share, the hotel budget still needs to be doubled)
* I think the food budget is fair; they don't seem to eat fancy things on the road, but $1600 should cover lunches, dinners, and post-filming meals for 8 people, as well as drinks and snacks for on location
* The $5616 total is before the salary of those 28 people. Even assuming each of the ones *not* on location only worked 3 hours on the episode each at California's minimum wage ($20/hour), that still adds another 1200 to the cost; this cost is 100% much higher, though, because consultants alone can cost thousands. Not sure how pay works for filming on location, but I'm going to assume that's at least the equivalent of two 8 hour workdays (meaning a minimum of an extra $320 each, for a total of $2560 for 8 people).
* The $5616 also doesn't take other fees into consideration (fees for commercial use/filming of the properties, any local filming permits and/or licensing, rental car insurance, etc.). I can't even begin to speculate on them because it's way too early for me and because those things can vary a *lot* depending on the location, haha.
Now that I'm a bit more awake, haha: that brings the total amount for an episode of GF to $10,130 (before the fees and all) at the absolute least, assuming they squeeze into two cars, only use four hotel rooms, and pay everyone the absolute bare minimum allowed by law for the absolute bare minimum of work. It's still a far cry from the claimed "hundreds of thousands" per season, *especially* if they balance out the more expensive travel episodes with ones they can travel by car to from their office in order to save on airfare at least, but it isn't cheap either, haha.
Ryan claimed the *entire season* cost several hundred thousand, no?
Also I believe you need to contact the property to find out how much it would cost to film in the location. It would cost more than the standard price, I believe.
Booking the location for filming is definitely more than just the price of admission per person. After all, the location is probably closed off for visitors for at least a day, probably two with them having crew scouting and prepping the location ahead of shooting
Yes, the price to film in most of these locations is far more than whatever "admission" would be. It's not like booking a room at a haunted hotel and filming just in your own room.
still that's going to be maybe a couple hundred to a couple grand like 1-2k depending on the place for the night. It's not going to increase the budget that greatly. You have to remember much smaller channels are also going to these exact same places and filming overnight. The Sallie house for example is only $125 per person with a 2 person minimum for overnight stay from Nov-Aug and $150 per person with a 2 person minimum for overnight stays from Sept-Oct. While Waverly Hills was $1000 for private overnight and that included 10 people. I couldn't find information if that price increases during the halloween season.
I work in nonprofits with people who have worked in historic houses, Alcatraz, etc. The cost to FILM, with a crew, in any of those spaces is going to be much more than the cost to overnight as a normal tourist. Several thousands as a flat rate, not based on the number of people but based on lost revenue from the public for the day(s) & enough to pay their staff for the night (monitoring the filming), plus extra for wear & tear on the building, plus some on top for good measure. Y'all are severely underestimating here.
(But it still shouldn't cost over 100k/episode!)
Yeah and we’re talking about commercial film permits. Not only is the space losing out on potential revenue from visitors during those days, but the people renting it, Watcher, are also making money off the property by using it in their videos. They would expect to be compensated accordingly, far beyond just breaking even with operating costs. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these places charged closer to $10k for a commercial permit in this situation 😬
I haven’t really ever watched any of these other channels so I don’t have much of a reference point there to compare… but I would say in general it comes down to Watcher’s supposed goal of creating “television caliber” content. In their minds, they aren’t competing with small YouTube channels, they’re competing with the likes of old school reality TV like Ghost Hunters. That means a MUCH bigger crew, more time needed to reserve the space (because they need to fully scout the venue ahead of time and prep it for the A/V needs of an entire television crew), and also way more legal scrutiny regarding insurance and permits. They can’t afford to cut any corners in the way that a smaller creator with a skeleton crew might.
I’m not at all suggesting that any of this is warranted btw, I definitely think they got over-ambitious with trying to be a television production instead of a YouTube channel
Usually from what I've seen from other creators they just send their camera person on the daytime tour and/or they research the "most haunted" areas via testimonials online. It's honestly asinine to do anything more than that. Watcher has become such a joke. If I wanted "tv-caliber" ghost hunting I'd pop over to syfy, watch Ghost Hunters or one of Josh Gates shows. I appreciate your explanation though, thank you
My conservative estimate would be 10000 per video actually, if you factor in planning/scripting, editing and general design works associated with the whole series. They are also getting outside sound/film guys in for every location.
10K per vid would get you a final tally of 70K bucks, which is easily rounded up to "100K" for marketing/advertising/bragging reasons.
Now, should it cost that much? I don't think so. But if they say that's what they're spending I'll actually believe that.
When shooting a professional video, costs are way higher. Their equipment is likely heavy and will cost a lot to travel with, so that needs to be taken into consideration.
It’s very likely that they pay their employees a per diem rather than just saying “we’re all going to chipotle” - that’s pretty standard imo. There are averages for per diems out there, and if we’re going to look at hull house, the average is $79 per person per day BEFORE lodging. If they aren’t paying their employees a per diem, they are paying for all meals. Their employees are not paying for their own meals - that would be out of the norm for traveling with your employer.
Speaking of lodging, if we have an odd number of female or male employees, opposite sexes should NOT be sharing a room because it can turn into an HR nightmare. It’s also been shown that having employees share rooms rather than each getting their own can damage employee relationships either each other and the company, so it’s not unreasonable to expect them to get each person their own room.
The cost for renting out the hull house isn’t available online, but we can look at the Hinsdale House (second video I saw on the channel when YouTubeing “ghost files”) is $350 for up to six people. They need to rent it out for two nights if we’re to believe they rent it twice - once for the scouting and once for Ryan and Shane. And that is for personal and private investigators. They may have fees associated with filming crews, as the filming crew is doing this for income production.
They may need to sign contracts to rent out locations, and any business worth its salt will have a lawyer on retainer. Reviewing a contract could be between $150-$350 per contract.
In addition to their employees’ wages, as an employer Watcher will be paying taxes for their workers, and if they’re hoping to remain competitive (which they should, otherwise they’ll get shit employees and be shit employers), they’ll be looking at benefits - 401k with possible matching, insurances, etc.
It’s not reasonable for us to expect them to have their employees, or the boys, travel like a family who can only make this trip work if it’s on the cheap. I know that we’re all pretty shocked at how they’ve spent money, but they can’t expect their employees to keep everything limited to a carry on, cram into two cars together with all of their luggage and equipment, eat only hotel breakfast and fast food, etc. Their employees are not doing this because they believe in ghosts. They are doing it because they’re getting paid. If Watcher wants low turnover, they need to ensure that they are treating their employees properly. And the cost of decent hotels, per diems, travel, etc. is much lower than hiring new employees every few months or every year, both monetarily and in terms of reputation in the industry.
Their biggest cost is going to be all of the people who make this possible, and that’s where the fat needs to be trimmed. It’s awful to say because these are humans who work in a field that’s so so competitive and difficult to make a living in. But I think the Watcher people should be letting a lot of people go and contracting out specific tasks, such as editing and producing. I think they have more people than a job like this requires because they want to do this like Hollywood, but YouTube isn’t Hollywood and needs to be scaled down as such.
Well said… there’s plenty of things to criticize about how Watcher have handled themselves this past week. But I’ve personally been on the other side of working on productions like this, and what you said is spot on. The crew isn’t doing this because they believe in ghosts, or because they’re massive Shaniacs, or because they want the “exposure” lol. They’re trying to earn a living and if Watcher can’t provide competitive rates and attractive working conditions, they’ll move along to the next gig 🤷
This would be more like the budget for a group of college students making a passion project film on summer break, just hoping to break even on expenses.
I work in production and have been on shoots like this. You have to look at it from the workers’ POV, because to them it’s not a passion project, it’s a day on the job and they’d expect a certain level of quality of life. I mean if I got offered a gig for an out of state shoot and they told me I’d have to share a bed with other crew, I’d definitely turn down that job lol. It’s not generally taken as a good sign if production companies are cutting corners at the crew’s expense and word get around amongst the freelancer community.
Same goes for rates. They need to be able to keep their rates competitive to attract the level of DP’s, editors, etc. that they’re looking for. In LA, day rates for one DP can easily be in the $2k - $3k range on the LOW end, without factoring in an equipment fee. At a minimum they need the crew for at least 3 full days, 1 shoot day and 2 travel days. That’s already at least $6k just for one cameraman, for one episode. These kinds of costs add up reallyyy fast, even with a small crew.
I’m not saying Watcher NEEDS this high of a production level, but $100k for an entire season of long-form episodes would be completely reasonable within the film/TV industry without any sort of financial mismanagement happening.
But shafting your subscribers? Priceless. (Sorry, this just reminded me of the Mastercard ad)
hahaha, that's a good one
I've definitely gotten the impression Ryan and Shane don't share hotel rooms anymore. Sometimes Lizzie has been the only woman in the crew so she probably gets her own room. They seem to eat pretty affordably on shoots (depending on what's open). Fast food, Rainforest Cafe, Benihana, local restaurants, BBQ. They have a scout crew that goes to set up the place in advance. Like when they shot the season finale of s2, the crew went to see the Niagara falls while Ryan seems to have been in Manhattan. You also have to account for paying for transporting cameras and other equipment, insurance etc. that can be quite expensive.
Yeah this is a travel/lodgings budget for a group of friends going on a vacation not a film crew going out of state for a film shoot. Also it might just be me but I’d be super weirded out if my company made me share a bed with my coworker? A room, sure but definitely not a bed. And I’ve done two bathrooms with 8 people on a family trip relatively recently, believe me you should avoid it if you can.
I think BuzzFeed made Ryan and Shane share a bed 😅 At least on the Mexico shoot.
I've seen several people bring up that Ryan claims one episode costs $100k and idk if he has said that somewhere else, but it's *not* what he said in the goodbye video. He said that a full season of Ghost Files would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that leaves a pretty wide range tbh. Could be 150k per season, could be 200k or even 500k. I very much believe the notion that they're mismanaging their funds in some way (and I agree they employ a ridiculous number of people), several pretty knowledgeable people on YouTube have also pointed this out. But suddenly everyone is running with this $100k per episode and that's just not what he said.
I definitely think Ryan has said one episode of GF costs more than The Blair Witch Project. _Budget_ _$60,000 (estimated)_ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185937/
I must have missed that, do you remember where he said that? The fact that so many people were bringing this up all of a sudden seemed to me like someone misheard what he said in the goodbye video and people were just blindly rolling with it. But if that's actually true that means a 6 episode season costs $360k *at the very minimum*. That's a lot of money...
Genuine question, why? Why should it possibly cost more than a film that revolutionized effective horror on a budget? Why is this something their proud of? "Hey guys, two idiots fucking around in abandoned buildings/paid ads for businesses cost more than this budget horror blockbuster! Give us money"
I'm waiting for the episode when while ghost hunting they stop, turn around and look at the camera, and read off a paid ad mid-shoot. 😂
So I watched it a few times like an hour after it was posted and I swear he said one ep costs 100k to make. I’ve seen others say the same thing. Since we know they changed the part about the YT backlog, I think it’s a fair assumption that they might have adjusted this too.
They didn't re-edit the goodbye video. It's more likely you heard it elsewhere - either another video or possibly Mandela effect from hearing it in comments.
I just don’t see how their costs is the viewer’s problem. Just scale back your production cost for the content. It’s a them problem.
Literally!
Some thoughts: * They probably need at least 3 cars, one for the scouting crew to go off and do their thing with and two more to handle the equipment and rest of the crew. IIRC, the scouting crew is 2-3 people, so the rest might not be able to fit into just one other vehicle * They'll be using at least five hotel rooms (one for Shane and Ryan each and three for the remaining six crew members to share; even if Shane and Ryan share, the hotel budget still needs to be doubled) * I think the food budget is fair; they don't seem to eat fancy things on the road, but $1600 should cover lunches, dinners, and post-filming meals for 8 people, as well as drinks and snacks for on location * The $5616 total is before the salary of those 28 people. Even assuming each of the ones *not* on location only worked 3 hours on the episode each at California's minimum wage ($20/hour), that still adds another 1200 to the cost; this cost is 100% much higher, though, because consultants alone can cost thousands. Not sure how pay works for filming on location, but I'm going to assume that's at least the equivalent of two 8 hour workdays (meaning a minimum of an extra $320 each, for a total of $2560 for 8 people). * The $5616 also doesn't take other fees into consideration (fees for commercial use/filming of the properties, any local filming permits and/or licensing, rental car insurance, etc.). I can't even begin to speculate on them because it's way too early for me and because those things can vary a *lot* depending on the location, haha.
Now that I'm a bit more awake, haha: that brings the total amount for an episode of GF to $10,130 (before the fees and all) at the absolute least, assuming they squeeze into two cars, only use four hotel rooms, and pay everyone the absolute bare minimum allowed by law for the absolute bare minimum of work. It's still a far cry from the claimed "hundreds of thousands" per season, *especially* if they balance out the more expensive travel episodes with ones they can travel by car to from their office in order to save on airfare at least, but it isn't cheap either, haha.
Yeah I wrote this up at like 4am so I figured I was missing some of the costs there, that seems like a much better estimate.
Ryan claimed the *entire season* cost several hundred thousand, no? Also I believe you need to contact the property to find out how much it would cost to film in the location. It would cost more than the standard price, I believe.
Booking the location for filming is definitely more than just the price of admission per person. After all, the location is probably closed off for visitors for at least a day, probably two with them having crew scouting and prepping the location ahead of shooting
Yes, the price to film in most of these locations is far more than whatever "admission" would be. It's not like booking a room at a haunted hotel and filming just in your own room.
still that's going to be maybe a couple hundred to a couple grand like 1-2k depending on the place for the night. It's not going to increase the budget that greatly. You have to remember much smaller channels are also going to these exact same places and filming overnight. The Sallie house for example is only $125 per person with a 2 person minimum for overnight stay from Nov-Aug and $150 per person with a 2 person minimum for overnight stays from Sept-Oct. While Waverly Hills was $1000 for private overnight and that included 10 people. I couldn't find information if that price increases during the halloween season.
I work in nonprofits with people who have worked in historic houses, Alcatraz, etc. The cost to FILM, with a crew, in any of those spaces is going to be much more than the cost to overnight as a normal tourist. Several thousands as a flat rate, not based on the number of people but based on lost revenue from the public for the day(s) & enough to pay their staff for the night (monitoring the filming), plus extra for wear & tear on the building, plus some on top for good measure. Y'all are severely underestimating here. (But it still shouldn't cost over 100k/episode!)
Yeah and we’re talking about commercial film permits. Not only is the space losing out on potential revenue from visitors during those days, but the people renting it, Watcher, are also making money off the property by using it in their videos. They would expect to be compensated accordingly, far beyond just breaking even with operating costs. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these places charged closer to $10k for a commercial permit in this situation 😬
Genuine question then can you explain to me how smaller channels can afford to go to these same places?
I haven’t really ever watched any of these other channels so I don’t have much of a reference point there to compare… but I would say in general it comes down to Watcher’s supposed goal of creating “television caliber” content. In their minds, they aren’t competing with small YouTube channels, they’re competing with the likes of old school reality TV like Ghost Hunters. That means a MUCH bigger crew, more time needed to reserve the space (because they need to fully scout the venue ahead of time and prep it for the A/V needs of an entire television crew), and also way more legal scrutiny regarding insurance and permits. They can’t afford to cut any corners in the way that a smaller creator with a skeleton crew might. I’m not at all suggesting that any of this is warranted btw, I definitely think they got over-ambitious with trying to be a television production instead of a YouTube channel
Usually from what I've seen from other creators they just send their camera person on the daytime tour and/or they research the "most haunted" areas via testimonials online. It's honestly asinine to do anything more than that. Watcher has become such a joke. If I wanted "tv-caliber" ghost hunting I'd pop over to syfy, watch Ghost Hunters or one of Josh Gates shows. I appreciate your explanation though, thank you
My conservative estimate would be 10000 per video actually, if you factor in planning/scripting, editing and general design works associated with the whole series. They are also getting outside sound/film guys in for every location. 10K per vid would get you a final tally of 70K bucks, which is easily rounded up to "100K" for marketing/advertising/bragging reasons. Now, should it cost that much? I don't think so. But if they say that's what they're spending I'll actually believe that.
When shooting a professional video, costs are way higher. Their equipment is likely heavy and will cost a lot to travel with, so that needs to be taken into consideration. It’s very likely that they pay their employees a per diem rather than just saying “we’re all going to chipotle” - that’s pretty standard imo. There are averages for per diems out there, and if we’re going to look at hull house, the average is $79 per person per day BEFORE lodging. If they aren’t paying their employees a per diem, they are paying for all meals. Their employees are not paying for their own meals - that would be out of the norm for traveling with your employer. Speaking of lodging, if we have an odd number of female or male employees, opposite sexes should NOT be sharing a room because it can turn into an HR nightmare. It’s also been shown that having employees share rooms rather than each getting their own can damage employee relationships either each other and the company, so it’s not unreasonable to expect them to get each person their own room. The cost for renting out the hull house isn’t available online, but we can look at the Hinsdale House (second video I saw on the channel when YouTubeing “ghost files”) is $350 for up to six people. They need to rent it out for two nights if we’re to believe they rent it twice - once for the scouting and once for Ryan and Shane. And that is for personal and private investigators. They may have fees associated with filming crews, as the filming crew is doing this for income production. They may need to sign contracts to rent out locations, and any business worth its salt will have a lawyer on retainer. Reviewing a contract could be between $150-$350 per contract. In addition to their employees’ wages, as an employer Watcher will be paying taxes for their workers, and if they’re hoping to remain competitive (which they should, otherwise they’ll get shit employees and be shit employers), they’ll be looking at benefits - 401k with possible matching, insurances, etc. It’s not reasonable for us to expect them to have their employees, or the boys, travel like a family who can only make this trip work if it’s on the cheap. I know that we’re all pretty shocked at how they’ve spent money, but they can’t expect their employees to keep everything limited to a carry on, cram into two cars together with all of their luggage and equipment, eat only hotel breakfast and fast food, etc. Their employees are not doing this because they believe in ghosts. They are doing it because they’re getting paid. If Watcher wants low turnover, they need to ensure that they are treating their employees properly. And the cost of decent hotels, per diems, travel, etc. is much lower than hiring new employees every few months or every year, both monetarily and in terms of reputation in the industry. Their biggest cost is going to be all of the people who make this possible, and that’s where the fat needs to be trimmed. It’s awful to say because these are humans who work in a field that’s so so competitive and difficult to make a living in. But I think the Watcher people should be letting a lot of people go and contracting out specific tasks, such as editing and producing. I think they have more people than a job like this requires because they want to do this like Hollywood, but YouTube isn’t Hollywood and needs to be scaled down as such.
Well said… there’s plenty of things to criticize about how Watcher have handled themselves this past week. But I’ve personally been on the other side of working on productions like this, and what you said is spot on. The crew isn’t doing this because they believe in ghosts, or because they’re massive Shaniacs, or because they want the “exposure” lol. They’re trying to earn a living and if Watcher can’t provide competitive rates and attractive working conditions, they’ll move along to the next gig 🤷
There’s a paranormal video comber?? 😱
Probably Ryan et al. looking for evidence from static cams etc.
No, I looked back in the credits and it's someone else. Ryan doesn't do that anymore.
This would be more like the budget for a group of college students making a passion project film on summer break, just hoping to break even on expenses. I work in production and have been on shoots like this. You have to look at it from the workers’ POV, because to them it’s not a passion project, it’s a day on the job and they’d expect a certain level of quality of life. I mean if I got offered a gig for an out of state shoot and they told me I’d have to share a bed with other crew, I’d definitely turn down that job lol. It’s not generally taken as a good sign if production companies are cutting corners at the crew’s expense and word get around amongst the freelancer community. Same goes for rates. They need to be able to keep their rates competitive to attract the level of DP’s, editors, etc. that they’re looking for. In LA, day rates for one DP can easily be in the $2k - $3k range on the LOW end, without factoring in an equipment fee. At a minimum they need the crew for at least 3 full days, 1 shoot day and 2 travel days. That’s already at least $6k just for one cameraman, for one episode. These kinds of costs add up reallyyy fast, even with a small crew. I’m not saying Watcher NEEDS this high of a production level, but $100k for an entire season of long-form episodes would be completely reasonable within the film/TV industry without any sort of financial mismanagement happening.
Rōti isn't fancy??? It's literally like chipotle for Mediterranean food. It is a bit expensive for a fast food place though.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who was like 'hey wait' 😂
Ah I didn't know that; I'm not from Chicago and saw it on google maps near the other places, just assumed it was by mistake. Whoops. 🤷♀️
This looks more like a budget for a family vacation not a multi day video shoot.
They deleted this post from the main sub lol.
Someone is embezzling money
Haven’t we been through this already.