MasterClass Takes a Crash Course in Frugality
The online education startup once caused a buzz with its splashy productions and A-list instructors like Bob Iger and Shonda Rimes. Now it’s toning down the glamor of its courses, shortening them and slashing headcount to save money.
MasterClass had a problem with the shoot featuring its latest star instructor, Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger.
The startup was emerging as a poster child of the new media landscape, one that was bringing Hollywood-style production values and A-list celebrities to a category—online education—often associated with dry lectures and crummy camera work. For a course on business strategy and leadership that it released in late 2019, MasterClass wanted to shoot Iger in his natural habitat—his office at Disney’s headquarters, according to three people familiar with the project. But that space didn’t work logistically as a set, according to a Disney spokesperson.
Instead, MasterClass created a replica of Iger’s office in a conference room on Disney’s campus, spending around $100,000 on the set alone for his course, one of the people said (Disney didn’t charge MasterClass for renting the space). Between the crew, cameras and other equipment necessary for the production, the entire Iger shoot cost MasterClass around $850,000, that person said. That didn’t include the cost of hiring Iger to teach the class.