Sanctuary - the math

Sanctuary, the new internet sci-fi series out of Canada.

Total running time 120 minutes 88 episodes released bi-weekly.

20 day digital shoot, crew of about 120, computer-generated sets.

C$ 4 million budget (US$ 3.6 million).

Cost per minute US$ 30,000.

Yikes!

User pay US$ 1.99 per episode, US$ 16 for the series.

If each single episode is bought by just over 28,000 viewers they’ll see their money back.

PromQueen’s series of daily episodes probably comes to an and about the same time as Sanctuary delivers their last bi-weekly episode.

I hope both succeed (it would be good for web-based fiction in general) with their so very different business models.

But I’m not betting on it.