How much does it cost?

[cletus]

For the past few years I have been wanting to get into producing tickling clips. Mostly it would be a way to live the tickling dream. Tickling hot ladies, getting paid to do it. But this post isn't about how much money could you make as I believe that if the material is good you will make money. What I'm curious to know is how much would getting started in this job require?

So clip producers and anyone else who is on this website with experience of running a business, how much does it cost to be a tickling clips producer?

Possible things that you may need: (would be nice to know if they actually are requirements)
-Copyright.
-Trademark.
-Or other legal protection of your product.
-Lawyer to keep you from getting in trouble with the law.
-Legal business license.

Things you would have to have.
-Advertising for finding the models. Could be free depending on where you do the advertising, but certain sites that hook photographers up with models are a tad expensive for a membership.
-The models themselves.
-Video recording equipment. I have heard from one producer that a camcorder can run into the thousands, but I wonder if a camcorder for about 500 bucks wouldn't do the trick with technology being much better than it was in say 2003.
-A place to shoot. From a book I bought off Amazon, another pornographer said that bringing the models back to your residence might not be a good idea if you get one of the types who thinks they can come to you for stuff like money, cigarettes, etc. Not only that, but if you live in the kind of apartment that I do, the police would probably be called on account of the fact that the tickling would produce a lot of loud noises. So do you buy a studio space, or a motel room?
-Computer software to edit the videos.
-Bondage furniture. In our case a bed could also work great.
-Bondage equipment such as rope or cuffs. I found a pair for pretty cheap for the wrists and the ankles. I think together both pairs did not cost more than 100 bucks.

So would I be close if I thought that barring any legal expenses, the cost to get up and running (say 3 models/shoots) would be about 2000 bucks?

 

[FLBowler]

Do you have another course of action for revue?

 

[cletus]

Uh what? You asking about if I have other ideas for making money? I'm confused.

 

[Phineas]

Couple of ways to save money;

Advertise for models on Craigslist. Actual fetish models ask for hundreds of dollars an hour. I've had pretty good luck hiring college students for $50 and gas money.

Video editing software: Windows Movie Maker (or iMovies, for you Mac folks) is free.

Camcorders: Decent video quality can be had for cheap. Don't think that because everyone shoots in super-ultra-hi-def where you can see every bead of sweat glistening on the tickler's forehead, you have to also.

Bondage gear: If you don't plan on doing elaborate bondage, you don't need gear. I use scarves. $32.00 for four at Target.

 

[the tickleshow]

I am hardly the expert on this subject as I have always considered The TickleShow "minor league", compared to the other, more polished producers out here.
Cost is what you make it. I advertise on Craigslist for free and on Backpage for a small fee. Ever since craigslist dropped their "adult" category, the backpage option is better for me.
If you are creative, you can shoot just about anywhere. Make sure your camera is good. I shoot everything in HD. A good HD camera is not as expensive as they used to be.
If you want to work with stocks and other bdsm equipment, that will cost you. I was a Massage Therapist, so I use my table.
Honestly, you can make videos for as little as you want. Getting people to buy your clips is a totally different challenge.
Good luck! I wish you well.

 

[cletus]

Okay curiosity is killing me. If a person markets a video say 15 minutes long for 10 bucks, can you ever expect to see 100 downloads? 1000?

 

[theteam]

Ive wanted to look at making a few videos before, but the main thing that puts me off is at how easy it is for people to purchase and then upload it to another site so others can have it for free. Piracy is what is killing off all the small to medium producers and until that problem gets solved I cant see much point in producing videos myself only to have them pirated and me lose money over it.

 

[the tickleshow]

Okay curiosity is killing me. If a person markets a video say 15 minutes long for 10 bucks, can you ever expect to see 100 downloads? 1000?

Depends on the video. I have made videos that I thought would sell and got little play. I've made others that made me think twice about even releasing them and they sell pretty well. It's tough to predict.

 

[stockytickler]

This isn't entirely unrelated, but keep an eye on your lighting situation. Punching up underexposed video makes for grainy, unpleasant video and you don't want to get all the way to the editing process to learn that no one can see anything. :\

Or hear anything. Tickling is one of those fetishes where good sound quality can really enhance the experience for everyone, so make sure to check your acoustics. 🙂

 

[The Last Laugh]

If a person markets a video say 15 minutes long for 10 bucks, can you ever expect to see 100 downloads? 1000?

That seems rather optimistic to me. I've been selling tickling videos for the last 10 years, including clips for the last 8 years or so. Of the 400-450 clips I have for sale on my store, only about 10 or 12 have sold 100 copies or more (only one managed to reach 150, well ahead of all the others). And even then, those are all old clips, the most recent one being 5 years old. That's because the competition is a lot tougher now. Clips don't sell as well as they used to. In any case, not that many of my clips have sold 50 copies, even among my older ones. Obviously, I'll never, ever come even vaguely close to selling 1000 copies (!!!!!) of a clip. Or even 200 for that matter.

Of course, I've always been a minor player in this market. I guess some of the more popular, more prolific producers have managed to reach 1000 copies sold for a single clip. But if so, they're the exceptions. Most new producers are very unlikely to be that successful.

In any case, if you're thinking of producing tickling videos in the hopes of making a lot of money, well... Let's just say it's best if you have another source of income as a backup. Very few producers manage to make a living from this, and I get the feeling many find even breaking even is a challenge.

Oh, by the way, maybe the system has changed, but assuming you're thinking of selling on Clips4Sale.com, I think the minimum price for a 15-minute clip is $11.99. If so, you won't be able to sell it for $10. Personally, I find this lack of price flexibility on C4S to be rather annoying. I mean, since I'm selling my own clips, shouldn't I be allowed to sell them for any price I want? So what if I want to sell a 15-minute clip for $10, or even $5, for instance? But I'm afraid it doesn't work that way.

 

[rhiannon]

believe that if the material is good you will make money

Unfortunately, "good material" isn't the same for everybody. Tastes differ, and there are so many producers right now, that you might not even cover your expenses. Also keep in mind that m/f doesn't sell as good as f/f, so if you actually want to make money, the "tickling hot chicks getting paid for it" won't happen.

 

[TickleCuties]

That seems rather optimistic to me. I've been selling tickling videos for the last 10 years, including clips for the last 8 years or so. Of the 400-450 clips I have for sale on my store, only about 10 or 12 have sold 100 copies or more (only one managed to reach 150, well ahead of all the others). And even then, those are all old clips, the most recent one being 5 years old. That's because the competition is a lot tougher now. Clips don't sell as well as they used to. In any case, not that many of my clips have sold 50 copies, even among my older ones. Obviously, I'll never, ever come even vaguely close to selling 1000 copies (!!!!!) of a clip. Or even 200 for that matter.

Of course, I've always been a minor player in this market. I guess some of the more popular, more prolific producers have managed to reach 1000 copies sold for a single clip. But if so, they're the exceptions. Most new producers are very unlikely to be that successful.

In any case, if you're thinking of producing tickling videos in the hopes of making a lot of money, well... Let's just say it's best if you have another source of income as a backup. Very few producers manage to make a living from this, and I get the feeling many find even breaking even is a challenge.

Oh, by the way, maybe the system has changed, but assuming you're thinking of selling on Clips4Sale.com, I think the minimum price for a 15-minute clip is $11.99. If so, you won't be able to sell it for $10. Personally, I find this lack of price flexibility on C4S to be rather annoying. I mean, since I'm selling my own clips, shouldn't I be allowed to sell them for any price I want? So what if I want to sell a 15-minute clip for $10, or even $5, for instance? But I'm afraid it doesn't work that way.

Francois - your stuff was always amazing - you always had your own style, and your quality is high. I hope you keep producing! I'm only 2 months into it, myself - so I'm not looking at my current state as the "norm" in terms of finances - at this point, just a growing list of followers/subscribers, and getting some name/brand recognition is really my focus.

 

[WheresThe Clip?]

Of course the other way to look at it is, if you only get to break even (or even make a small loss), you are getting to tickle a lot of ladies with some legitimate cover, which you wouldn't otherwise do

 

[Phineas]

Of course the other way to look at it is, if you only get to break even (or even make a small loss), you are getting to tickle a lot of ladies with some legitimate cover, which you wouldn't otherwise do

If that's all you're looking to do, you can pull it off (pun intended) for a lot cheaper than that.