Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

[Sandikal]

When is the DVD coming out?

[sirana]

Ok <a href=http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/07/joss-whedon-on.html > this [/url] is an interesting interview. It's mostly about Joss upcoming show Dollhouse, but in the end there are a couple of Dr.Horrible questions with interesting answers.

- he is saying that the DVD will be out "in a few months"
- the show didn't make the money it needs to break even, yet and he hopes it could make it within a year
- the first episode was watched by 1 million viewers, all in all there were 2 million viewers

Does that number strike anybody else as really low? I mean I'm not sure if the comparison is fair, but on youtube there are hundreds (might be thousands) of videos with more than 1 million viewers.
Additionally since Joss described it as views and not as unique viewers there are even less people who actually saw it (I saw it 3-4 times).
So despite the raving reviews in every part of online journalism and the blogosphere it didn't even make a big splash on the web.


Joss said that the budget was in the low six figures, so let's assume it's 200.000 $.
He would need to sell 20.000 DVDs (assuming a DVD nets him 10$) and that is not counting what the DVD production actually costs.
Can he do that? If there were 250.000 watching the last episode which I think is reasonable, nearly every tenth of these people would have to buy the DVD or every fifth has to buy the show on iTunes (I'd guess he would make 5$ for the 3 episodes). This is not easy to pull of, even with his energetic and loyal fanbase.

What do you think?

[birdless]

Ok <a href=http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/07/joss-whedon-on.html > this [/url] is an interesting interview. It's mostly about Joss upcoming show Dollhouse, but in the end there are a couple of Dr.Horrible questions with interesting answers.

- he is saying that the DVD will be out "in a few months"
- the show didn't make the money it needs to break even, yet and he hopes it could make it within a year
- the first episode was watched by 1 million viewers, all in all there were 2 million viewers

Does that number strike anybody else as really low? I mean I'm not sure if the comparison is fair, but on youtube there are hundreds (might be thousands) of videos with more than 1 million viewers.
Additionally since Joss described it as views and not as unique viewers there are even less people who actually saw it (I saw it 3-4 times).
So despite the raving reviews in every part of online journalism and the blogosphere it didn't even make a big splash on the web.

Joss said that the budget was in the low six figures, so let's assume it's 200.000 $.
He would need to sell 20.000 DVDs (assuming a DVD nets him 10$) and that is not counting what the DVD production actually costs.
Can he do that? If there were 250.000 watching the last episode which I think is reasonable, nearly every tenth of these people would have to buy the DVD or every fifth has to buy the show on iTunes (I'd guess he would make 5$ for the 3 episodes). This is not easy to pull of, even with his energetic and loyal fanbase.

What do you think?

I'm not sure that the buzz was really out. I mean, barring the semi-early post that started this thread, i neither saw nor heard anything about this until Twenty-Sided (and i can't imagine that would be considered a major media promoter). In fact, i had forgotten it had even been mentioned here.

I'm curious about the "breaking even" statement. How exactly was this supposed to generate income at this point in the game? Simply the iTunes and Jinx connections? Does the click-thru to Digg, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter generate income?

[Sandikal]

I would think that any significant revenue will have to come from DVD sales.  And, it's going to need better promotion.  I passed by this thread at first because I thought it was just some geek thing that I didn't want to get into.  Then, I saw a thread posted about it in the non-scrapbooking forum of a scrapbooking message board I go to.  I didn't read that thread either Then, I saw the ad on iTunes.  It wasn't until then that I realized that it was Joss Whedon and that it starred Doogie Hauser.  My 25 year old daughter is going to love this.

[Talia]

I suspect word will spread in retrospect. Plenty of people saw it, and will pass the word on.

[sirana]

Ok, i got the shirt today, which is fast for international shipping (I ordered it on July 15th).

This is the shirt I got.

The shirt itself is a decent quality, 50% cotton, 50% polyester and made in the Dominican Republic. The brand is JERZEES.
To my eye the printing seems ok, definitly better than cafepress, but I'm not necessarily a good judge on these things...
Haven't washed it so I'll tell you how it handles the washer later.

[slic]

I'm with Sandical on this - I only went to the site for the first time this weekend past, and only because a friend of mine recommended it.
The title sounded too dorky to be any good.  And there are just too many people out there that think they can sing but can't.  I had no idea it was professionally written or would be so polished.
 
For this project to do well financially, all I think needs to be done is be advertised to the large Buffy fanbase that is out there, and mention that it's a Joss Whedon musical.  Anyone who saw "Once More with Feeling" would jump to see this.  Along with everything else the man really knows how to write lyrics..."with my freeze ray I would stop....the world" - just loved it!

And just to be clear "these are not the hammer" 

[Talia]

Ok, i got the shirt today, which is fast for international shipping (I ordered it on July 15th).

This is the shirt I got.

The shirt itself is a decent quality, 50% cotton, 50% polyester and made in the Dominican Republic. The brand is JERZEES.
To my eye the printing seems ok, definitly better than cafepress, but I'm not necessarily a good judge on these things...
Haven't washed it so I'll tell you how it handles the washer later.

Oh man, want. Tommorow's payday, I may  have to splurge.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Utterly brilliant.

In act II, when Dr. H tries to run out of the laundromat, Penny says "what about your clothes", and he declares "I don't love these"... I laughed so hard my kids thought I was having some kind of attack.

Of course, my daughter used to say that about everything when she was 4 or so, and hearing it come from a deadpan Neil Patrick Harris set off one of those weird parent synapses.

And that ending was perfect.  *goosebumps*

[Alasdair5000]

Incidentally, Whedon's just announced Act IV.

There was a Doctor Horrible panel at the San Diego Comic Con.  The only details I've found so far are at least one more episode is in the works, as is a contest which will involve people sending in their three minute audition tapes for the Evil League of Evil:)

[sirana]

The official soundtrack is on itunes as non-drm download. It costs 10 bucks which is about half a euro these days.

[MacArthurBug]

Incidentally, Whedon's just announced Act IV.

There was a Doctor Horrible panel at the San Diego Comic Con.  The only details I've found so far are at least one more episode is in the works, as is a contest which will involve people sending in their three minute audition tapes for the Evil League of Evil:)

Shiny! Must view.. act.. four...

did he say when it'll be out? OMG I'm such a total sad little fan girl it's pathetic but I woship at the alter of Whedon.

[sirana]

Incidentally, Whedon's just announced Act IV.

There was a Doctor Horrible panel at the San Diego Comic Con.  The only details I've found so far are at least one more episode is in the works, as is a contest which will involve people sending in their three minute audition tapes for the Evil League of Evil:)

Shiny! Must view.. act.. four...

did he say when it'll be out? OMG I'm such a total sad little fan girl it's pathetic but I woship at the alter of Whedon.

The announcement of Act IV was more like Whedon saying that he would like to make a fourth act. AFAIK they aren't actually working on it since they are busy organizing everything for the dvd.
But at least Dollhouse will come for sure (even if it is a long time till January 2009...)
Keep worshipping ;-)

[eytanz]

No, I saw the panel video, I think the announcement of act IV was pretty unambiguous. He didn't say when or what format act IV will take, but he did present it as "we're going to do this (but not right away)", rather than "we'd like to do this".

[sirana]

No, I saw the panel video, I think the announcement of act IV was pretty unambiguous. He didn't say when or what format act IV will take, but he did present it as "we're going to do this (but not right away)", rather than "we'd like to do this".

Sorry, my mistake then. But it is true that they are not working on it now, right?

[eytanz]

Well, they didn't give any more specific information. A fan asked a question about possibile plot ideas for a sequel, and their response was basically along the lines of "there will be a fourth act and we know what will happen in it, so we're not going to answer that". They didn't say anything about when the fourth act will happen, or what its production status is

[MacArthurBug]

Well- Dollhouse looks cool. I don't trust Fox as far as I can throw one of their fatcat directors over priced mahogany desks, but here's hoping we get something out of it. 

[Thaurismunths]

Well- Dollhouse looks cool. I don't trust Fox as far as I can throw one of their fatcat directors over priced mahogany desks, but here's hoping we get something out of it. 

I dunno about that.
On one hand it looks like a vehicle for FOX style T&A (not that there's anything wrong with T&A). On the other one hand it's Joss and he could make the IRS exciting and creative.

[Heradel]

Well- Dollhouse looks cool. I don't trust Fox as far as I can throw one of their fatcat directors over priced mahogany desks, but here's hoping we get something out of it. 

Agree, but put executives instead of directors.

[MacArthurBug]

Executives Is what I ment, but I'm bad at American, too bad I never learned any other languages..

Well- Dollhouse looks cool. I don't trust Fox as far as I can throw one of their fatcat directors over priced mahogany desks, but here's hoping we get something out of it. 

I dunno about that.
On one hand it looks like a vehicle for FOX style T&A (not that there's anything wrong with T&A). On the other one hand it's Joss and he could make the IRS exciting and creative.

...but I like T&A...

[Russell Nash]

On one hand it looks like a vehicle for FOX style T&A (not that there's anything wrong with T&A).

...but I like T&A...

You got my attention.

[Loz]

I notice there's already the 'Save Dollhouse' campaign on the Internet, though this was started before Fox reportedly saw the pilot Joss had produced and not liked it...

[sirana]

I notice there's already the 'Save Dollhouse' campaign on the Internet, though this was started before Fox reportedly saw the pilot Joss had produced and not liked it...

to be honest, I think the "Save Dollhouse" campaign is doing more harm than good. I mean I can understand everybody who feels as strongly about Firefly's cancellation as I do, but this is coming of way to desperate.
As for the "not liking the pilot"- part, here is a hilarious interview between Joss and "Rutherford D. Actualperson" concerning the new pilot.
Of course it could be that Joss is just beeing a good soldier, but to me it sounds honest.

[DKT]

I notice there's already the 'Save Dollhouse' campaign on the Internet, though this was started before Fox reportedly saw the pilot Joss had produced and not liked it...

to be honest, I think the "Save Dollhouse" campaign is doing more harm than good. I mean I can understand everybody who feels as strongly about Firefly's cancellation as I do, but this is coming of way to desperate.
As for the "not liking the pilot"- part, here is a hilarious interview between Joss and "Rutherford D. Actualperson" concerning the new pilot.
Of course it could be that Joss is just beeing a good soldier, but to me it sounds honest.

Yeah, some of my less geeky friends scratching their heads about the "Save Dollhouse" thing, thinking "This can't be a good sign." 

I still don't understand why he's back at Fox.  "What do they have?" one of my friends asked. "Lewd pictures of him or something?"

[eytanz]

In general, I think we're going to see a diminishing returns effect for the "save X!" campaigns. In particular, I think there are already signs that networks are actually starting to cancel shows earlier, simply to see whether they trigger a campaign. If they do, re-instate the show and the publicity probably makes it even more popular. No campaign, the show didn't have enough of a fanbase to matter. Win-win for the studios, lose for the shows (and fans of the shows) with smaller audiences, as campaigns have to be massive to stand out these days.