In Julien Bam’s latest YouTube video, dated August 17, 2023, he gives an amazing insight into the enormous financial effort behind his productions. For the first act of his new video Man in the Moon Act 1 alone, Julien Bam invested around half a million euros in gross expenditure.
Who is Julien Bam? Julien Bam, whose real name is Julien Zheng Zheng Kho Budorovits (34), is a well-known personality in the German YouTube scene. With 6 million subscribers on his main channel, he has established himself as an artist, entertainer and producer. His videos are characterized by elaborate staging, creative ideas and high production quality.
Every minute as expensive as a small car
What rotation is it? In his latest video on YouTube, Julien Bam reveals the astounding gross spend for the first act of a planned five-part series. He points out that every minute of this elaborate video costs as much as a small car. The production costs for this one act, which lasts about 30 minutes, amount to roughly an impressive 500,000 euros.
How are these costs made up?
The production of such a video is an extensive process that includes various aspects.
The script: First, the script is developed, which is worked on by a team of four people, including Julien Bam himself. The script serves as the basis for the entire production and defines the plot, dialogue and scenes. He says himself that the sum would be difficult to estimate, but he names 50,000 euros as the cost.
The locations: The locations are an outstanding cost item. Julien Bam decided to recreate an entire spaceship. This was equipped with 1500 square meters of wood paneling, which alone cost 18,000 euros. Including rent and other materials, the costs add up to a total of 143,000 euros.
The props: Despite the fact that Julien was able to use many props from previous filming, the spaceship also had to be equipped with new things. The design of the props, fees and material cost 27,000 euros.
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The costumes: These have to be developed, designed, tested and changed. Costumes and make-up artists devour another 24,000 euros.
The crew: The extensive crew, consisting of the director, drivers, camera, lighting technicians and many more, has been paid 91,500 euros so far. The crew also has to be taken care of and transported, which incurs additional costs of 20,000 euros for catering and 7,000 euros for travel expenses.
Preparation and execution: The preparation time for the production, including a dress rehearsal, amounts to 20,000 euros. Only then does the actual shooting begin.
Post production and music: Post-production, i.e. cutting and editing, cost 120,000 euros. According to Julien, this one is more complex than the last three main channel videos combined. The cost of the music production is unknown.
Julien Bam’s video “No One Expected These Costs…” sheds light on the significant costs involved in producing quality content.
The expenditure of around half a million euros alone for the first act of his project “Man in the Moon Act 1.” illustrate the considerable financial expenditure behind such ambitious productions.
These insights are extremely enlightening as they show that the reality behind the scenes is often much more complex than it first appears.
Finally, in his video, Julien Bam thanks all the contributors involved in the realization of such projects, as well as his loyal community that accompanies him in his creative journey.
You can read more insight into filming costs here: Rings of Power Season 1 on Amazon had mixed reception – Was more expensive than one of the best series on Netflix overall