#csaffitz

[fratboykate]

CLAIRE STARTED HER OWN YT!!!!!!! The queen of the internet is back and CondeNast should absolutely be kicking itself right about now.

[middle-aged-women-enthusiast]

BABIES OF BA TESK KITCHEN

[fratboykate]

Claire's video is up, if your internet can make it happen

It absolutely can't. That's a pipe dream. Gotta wait till I'm back home for that.

Speaking of internet. I've been torrenting for legit like 2/3 of my life. Have NEVER had an issue before. Today I got a copyright notice from my ISP because I guess my VPN wasn't turned on by accident when I was downloading something and it was for..........UNDERWATER. OF ALL THE MOVIES I COULD GET MY FIRST STRIKE FOR, I DO IT FOR THE HALF-NAKED-FOR-TWO-HOURS-IN-THE-BOTTOM-OF-THE-OCEAN KRISTEN STEWART BORING ASS MOVIE? Embarrasing lol.

[fratboykate]

Claire practiced in the shower how to great people to her own channel. Other than that, we'll have to wait until Thursday and see

QUEEN SHIT!

[fratboykate]

The $400 was a complaint from someone who doesn't work there anymore. The outrage was because Sohla said the poc staff were asked to film videos without any additional payment.

I’m quite aware. But people keep bringing up the $400 and using it as proof of how “unfair” the salaries are. I also saw the post the person made and the tone was pretty accusatory. Everyone is acting as if that person was having pennies thrown at them when...that’s a pretty fucking fair rate for the work they were doing.

As far as “not getting additional payment”. Again.......we know how many views Claire and Brad get on any of their videos but lets still include one for comparison.

This was a quick search to compare numbers. Now let’s look at some ad revenue numbers:

2 thousand dollars in profit for every million views...BEFORE YouTube takes their 45% cut. Those videos that don’t even break a million views are pretty much making BA no money when you put the ad revenue up against the production costs and overheads the company has. There’s a very real possibility that they’re costing BA money instead of bringing in profit. Those videos also take maybe 3-4 hours to shoot tops. That’s if literally everything goes wrong. Something like that could easily be incorporated into anyone’s work day when it’s part of your regular responsibilities. Especially when taking into consideration that they’re not shooting every day.

The BA channel is kept afloat by GM, It’s Alive, and maybe Carla’s show but that’s because of the celebrity guests not because Carla has some massive loyal following. Mollie gets solid views but also her videos are INSANELY EXPENSIVE. We all know this. I wouldn’t be shocked if they were barely breaking even or lost money on her show.

The view counts and revenue speak for themselves. Not even looking at race, gender, or anything else here but cold hard numbers and I don’t see the business justification to pay anyone that isn’t Claire or Brad bonuses per video appearances. Even they don’t get them because I’m pretty sure both of them are on very different contracts now and not the typical salary the editors get. Again, y’all thinking about this stuff emotionally when you have to look at it from a financial perspective because this is first and foremost a business.

[fratboykate]

Have you followed the absolute bullshit treatment of POC at Bon Apetit? And the silence of the white staff is so damn disappointing.

I can’t believe y’all really making me talk about this but it’s too absurd not to at this point. I haven’t watched BA in months and I really don’t have any reason to defend any of these people, especially Rapo because y’all know I always despised him so I don’t need to state that I’m glad he’s fucking gone because I couldn’t stand his face but...........the silence of white staff??? Literally HUH? That whole thing took what...like 6 hours from start to finish yesterday? It couldn’t have been more than 6-8 hours between the time the picture surfaced and Rapo resigned. In that time EVERYONE from the BATK spoke up and pretty firmly for that matter. Not one “white” person was silent about it or about their support for the staffers that spoke up.

Also, I’m not going to get into it with titles and job responsibilities because I don’t care to get into that but the amount of posts that I’ve seen floating around since yesterday that claim Claire makes 20k/video is absolutely stupid. The notion that $400/video to shoot a 6-8 minute cooking video that probably took 3-4 hours to produce from start to finish is bad pay is also just idiotic. Here’s the thing, it’s a well known fact that there is no money in digital media. None. For a while in the last decade people thought there would be but every company that expanded their digital video presence has since shrunk it because digital is not the money pile some apparently think it is. Look at places like Vice or Vox for example. All downsized in the last year and other publications scrapped their video content completely. It’s also no secret that magazines/journalism subscriptions have slumped immensely in the last few years. Sure, you could get rich off making youtube videos but it’s SO VERY DIFFERENT when you’re a single person sitting in front of a camera at your house with little to no costs being sunk into making your videos while having sponsors than being a whole ass corporation in the publishing business.

Let’s look at some numbers:

I think a pretty realistic number is to say that an episode of Gourmet Makes brings in about 20,000 in ad revenue. That’s a fair estimate. Could be more, could be less depending on the views but let’s stick with 20k because that’s a number I’ve heard thrown around more than once. You know what’s behind those 20k? Huge operational and production costs. How many people work behind the camera on those GM videos? Every time the camera reveals crew there’s at least 7-10 people. That crew is all getting paid. Claire is getting paid. Ingredients need to be bought. Equipment has an intrinsic cost. Do you think office space at the World Trade Center is cheap? The actual cost of making those videos from pre-production to post is probably close to the 20k they bring in. Especially when you’re considering the fact that GM episodes last longer than the few hours it takes to shoot every other BATK video. That’s a day rate for the crew every extra day. That’s thousands of dollars in costs every single time Claire fails and has to come back.

Let’s look at some more numbers. SAG (Screen Actors Guild) is the actor’s union. The actor’s union sets minimum day rates and scales for what talent should be paid. YouTube videos fall under “New Media” in the SAG contracts. Do you know what the day rate is for a union actor to work 12 hour days on a new media project that has a budget under 250k?

$125 dollars. For what is usually 12 hours of work. That’s what UNION actors are getting paid per day for New Media projects. $400 per video to shoot for a handful of hours is a pretty fucking fair rate. That’s the ballpark for the 12 hour day rate for many other department head positions on set and again...those people are expected to work 12 hours, often doing a fair amount of manual labor.

You also have to take into consideration that Brad and Claire literally carry that entire channel on their backs. Do they get paid more? Sure. But they also get the most views. Bar none. If the BATK was a fictional tv show they would be the lead actors. Leads and supporting/guest stars don’t get paid the same. Not even close. ESPECIALLY not when a Claire video is going to get 4 million views in a week and one of the other person’s videos is going to get 900k views in three weeks. That’s a massive difference in revenue being created. Their compensation is matching the money they make the company. Y’all seem to forget that at the end of the day all of this is a BUSINESS. You also forget it every time a “diverse” show gets cancelled too. Something can have all the diversity in the world but if people aren’t watching it or if it’s not making the company money they’re not paying for it. Period.

Look, I’m not saying BA doesn’t have a diversity problem because it clearly does, but what I am saying that it’s disingenuous to think that someone getting paid $400 per video for something that takes less than a half a day of work to produce is somehow exploitative. It’s not the crime y’all seem to think it is lol. Matter of fact, she said it was per video but let’s pretend it wasn’t. Let’s say she was getting $400/day and had to shoot more than one video that day. That’s still the equivalent of making $33/hr if you’re working 12 hour days. More if the days are shorter. In what planet is $33/hr not fair pay to make a recipe video??? Like...math guys. It’s your friend. Want more stats? A junior Editor at Vice in Los Angeles makes 30k a year. Quick googling tells me that Conde Nast in general pays their employees in similar positions about that much as well. Google tells me that the average Assistant/Associate Editor in the US makes 45k. She said she was making 50k a year. That’s seems to be above the standard. Y’all are grabbing pitchforks without using your brains first. Logic and Google are your friends. Use both of those before y’all open your mouths and start throwing around words that end in “-ism” and “-bic”.

[fratboykate]

Idk if you’ve had a chance to watch Jenna’s new video but she turns herself and julien into e-girls and omg she looks so cute at the end ☺️ I missed my favorite 33 year old lady

Of course I did. I'd been starving for three weeks. I spent all night last night refreshing Jenna's channel because I was bored out of my fucking mind and needed a distraction urgently lmao

Also...now that you mentioned 33. I keep forgetting to point this out because I think it's VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION that you all need to know if you already don't but look at this:

A fucking day apart! The power that September 1986 birthed is incomparable. September 1986 invented the internet. A before and after in world history. No other month alike.

My heart beats for two 33 year old ladies and two 33 year old ladies only. No one else.

[fratboykate]

What a surprise the white, most promoted chefs have more views.

....or literally the people who have been there the longest??? lol. Brad and Claire pretty much started the BA channel model as it exists today. Claire has been there since basically the beginning. Like...what??? Of course she has a bigger fanbase, more exposure, and a higher salary. Go back years and you’ll see Claire videos. She’s had a long ass time to build a following. Same with Brad and Carla and Andy and Chris. They’ve all been there from Day 1.

Why do y’all want to make this something it isn’t??? You can’t compare people who have been there for like 6+ years with someone who has been there for less than a year. I’m like...what??? This is so not the hill anyone should be dying on.