James Buckley says that the tailored movies he makes for his fans are a “godsend.”
The star of The Inbetweeners, who joined Cameo in March 2020, was the first non-US star to make $1 million (£930,000) last year, and he worked hard to get there.
The 35-year-old actor and YouTuber has now made about “40,000 clips,” each of which cost £40. This led to the big pay day.
Appearing on the Big Fish Podcast, he told host Spencer Matthews: ‘I kept saying. “This is going to be really, really embarrassing – my tiny fragile ego. I’m not the most confident person, this is going to send me to dark places.
‘”I’m going to sign up for this thing and nobody is going to want a video from me”, and it turned out everyone did!’
James was adamant he ‘didn’t want to take the p**s’ with his prices, so he decided to go with an affordable £40 per video.
‘I have done tens of thousands. Tens and tens of thousands, maybe thirty, forty thousand, something like that,’ he revealed, proving his plan paid off.
He added: ‘It was a godsend financially. But I never wanted to take the ps. I’m in the business of making people happy. I don’t want to rip people off.’
James has made it clear that he doesn’t want to go back to The Inbetweeners, but he’s happy to play his rude character Jay Cartwright in the videos when people want him to roast their friends.
In his birthday shout-outs, he also says a lot of “ooooh fwiends” and invites people to the caravan club for a good old party.
After James became Cameo’s first UK millionaire, the site’s founder, Martin Blenclowe, said that he had reached financial independence by setting a “accessible price” and that he takes the work through the site “very seriously.”
Someone said before that he answered 37 requests for movies every day in 2021.
Martin previously said: ‘James was incredibly popular from the start, but he’s stayed committed to his fans, always keeping an accessible price (even during his busiest periods) and giving his all to make each Cameo special.
‘In return, he’s gained the financial freedom and overwhelming fan support to pursue the projects he’s most passionate about like 2:22 – A Ghost Story, the West End play and his family’s YouTube channel, At Home With The Buckleys.’
