I started this activity in a neighboring thread and want to clarify my position and some agreement reached with the author of the thread.
Our forum community requires modernization of server and software infrastructure - it costs money.
Most moderators/administrators on this forum work on a “volunteer basis” for free - this will eventually have a bad effect on motivation and it needs to be maintained. With gifts/merchandise/gatherings with treats, etc. - it costs money.
The number of users is growing, we often see the banner about site overload. The ability to add performance momentarily - this costs money.
Provide any visitor free download any number of any scripts - it costs money.
Allow any scriptwriter to share their scripts here for free - this costs money.
A huge number of scripters and some device manufacturers just use this free community for selfish purposes - publishing paid scripts, selling hardware and advertising their sites.
If we want to remain an independent community and develop - we need money for that. Those who get some money from sales are suggested to simply donate in the amount of, for example, one or two sold scripts in the mandatory order, if he wants to publish his scripts in the paid section.
This poll does not affect regular visitors, does not affect altruistic guys who learn scripts here or publish their scripts for free, does not affect users who publish manuals/software here and help newbies and others.
Of course if you want our community to stay the way it is you can also donate voluntarily, but the situation is such that there are few people willing to do so and soon we will see our community die. SLR and a couple of other forums will remain, where the goals are completely different.
For me it’s a numbers game. I’ve posted what, maybe 7 scripts this year and count sales in numbers of tens. Something small largely symbolic, sure, but that’s kind of what I consider the patreon sub at this point. It depends on how it’s implemented. A monthly fee for access would probably put me into the negative, making it a definite no. A pay-per-post system of let’s say a fiver max I’d probably be cool with, but someone posting several scripts per week might be less impressed with the idea. A combined system of either pay-per-post or monthly access would probably be best for scripters of all sizes but might be a bitch to implement, I’ve got no idea. Also, in my opinion, posts advertising special sales and such should not be paywalled.
I didn’t vote simply because implementation is everything. I am all for the basic idea but it’s a bumpy road with some pretty steep pits to fall into.
You don’t make much from paid scripts as it is after all the fees, Gumroad especially, adding more fees would make it even less viable 40 min plus scripts take a long time to complete and a lot of effort
I think in this case, that if someone can post several scripts per week, there is something going on anyway.
Either its a lot of short or low effort clips. Which puts the balance off quite a bit. A 5min video with just 3mins of action is a lot faster to do than 30mins of video and 20mins of actions.
A 5min video takes less effort, but can also be cheaper, which makes the treshold of sales higher in order to offset the cost of posting. Its a thing that is going to be hard to balance.
And in no way it is a quality check. If video lenght matters, people might resolve to fillers or lower quality to offset it. So no benefits here either.
And especialy if we also consider multi axis scripts it can do quite a bit. even just 2 axisses take quite a bit of time to make, let alone 8. A 5min multi axis video can take more time than a 30min single axis video. Less action on an axis doesnt mean less effort. positioning and synching still takes similar time here.
I would say a single time payment to just get access to post in that category does better. It then doesnt matter in frequency of posting, its a single payment and after that has effectively infinite access. 10 5min videos, or 2 30min videos… it doesnt matter, same costs.
Sorry, my question was that if selling scripts isn’t very profitable, why bother doing it other than maybe some pocket change? Was it really worth complaining about? Just curious.
Just curious : can someone live by doing full time scripts all the days?
Personally I am scripting for free because this a leisure, mainly for my use, but enjoy sharing with this’community, but donate sometime to the forum because Il here often and use it sometime for my personal lists (ES Scripts Indexes), and have the feel the need to contribute (but nobody ask for)
On my side only sharing free scripts, so maybe I will not have the rights arguments. (In fact don’t know what to answer to the pools
I feel that asking the script “sellers” to pay is coming at it from the wrong angle. I’ve said before, demand outpaces supply, and putting further barriers on the supply providers is a negative thing.
The fact is, consumers of scripts are larger group of users than creators of scripts. We should look to that user group if we want to make an meaningful dent in raising funds.
I think that the Patreon model has a lot of promise, but is largely untapped. Creating further incentives for script consumers to join Patreon would be my goal if I was running things. Exclusive scripts, early access, video previews, etc. are all ways to increase the Patreon user base and generate more revenue.
I wasn’t complaining, I was just stating a fact, it can take many hours to create a 40 min script if someone spends a lot of time making a quality script they deserve some recompense, not just freeloaders, I do lots of scripts for free, if there wasn’t any paid scripts maybe some scenes would not be scripted at all?
This is what I want to go towards but there are issues with these possibilities.
Who provides the Exclusive scripts?
I’d like to probably do rev share with script creators but there’s no automated way to do that and im not in fintech.
Thanks.
A moment I was curious with Patreon and to monetize some of my works (just to gain some extras a month), but seems to be troublesome with the declaration of revenue for fiscality, and which will not be compatible with my employer if I declare this « creator » activity.
I stop this HS, sorry
Organize something like this, screenwriters will have the opportunity to earn money, and, for example, publish ready-made scripts on Patreon for other users
Just as a quick option, you can refine this idea
Honestly the site has done alot of me so i wouldnt be opposed to giving something back, but in terms of patreon what tier are we talking, what would you expect paid scripters to be giving? Because for example if you expected us to donate the highest tier of 85 then personally i would duck out as i quite literally could not afford it.
I would pay to have my patreon content advertised here or put on the top of the viewing list when you come to the forum. I make free and paid content on my patreon weekly for both, but it seems like everyone likes to complain to becoming a free member to gain access to all of my free work.
