February Update: Fashionably Early
Added 2020-02-16 04:43:53 +0000 UTCHey team! Figured I'd get February's update to you early, since there's a decent chance I'll be bottlenecked come the end of the month.
Protagony Continues
I super appreciate everybody's feedback on the rough cut of the first Protagony! I finished it before taking a long weekend in New York for a They Might Be Giants concert and some time with friends. ("Friends" may or may not have included Mike Rugnetta.) The trip gave me some distance from the video, and coming back to Boston and rewatching it and then reading all the feedback has given me a clearer view on it, and that's really valuable.
I agree with a lot of what you all said and think the chief issue is my self-imposed 5-minute time limit. Much as I thought it would be fun to work within that restriction, the solution to most of the problems with the video are simply "it's trying to say too much in too little time." When that's the problem, there are only two solutions: say less, or take more time.
I'm not one for cutting ideas I think are interesting, so I'm lifting the time restriction. It's still my goal that these videos be brief, and I don't want them to creep longer and longer like all my other series tend to do, so I may impose a time limit. But, first, I'm going to just revise, let the ideas breathe, and see how long things get.
I've already revised the script for the next Protagony along similar lines, and it pushed it from a little under 2 pages to a little under 3, and it feels much better. So the target going forward will probably be around there.
I've also begun writing the next Alt-Right Playbook! So, for the time being, I'm dipping in and out of all three videos: revising Protagony 1, editing Protagony 2, and writing The Alt-Right Playbook. It's kinda nice to keep things varied for a bit.
Passion Projects
I came to a realization recently, so I'm gonna float something by you. But just... ok, give me a little runway first...
One of the hardest parts of my job is shifting gears. I can get pretty singleminded when I'm working - it's caused some misalignment in my work/life balance - so when it comes time to switch from writing to illustrating, or from illustrating to editing, the transition is often very difficult. The first day of editing is usually a wash; I just bang my head against the timeline for hours on a hope and a prayer that I will get something done before the end of the day that will make it easier to start in the morning. Sometimes it takes two or three days of this before I shake off the writing or drawing phase and get into my editing groove.
And it dawned on me why my various passion/bonus projects keep stalling out: I don't think I can do creative work in the margins.
I've mentioned my side projects before: I owe you a podcast, I've been planning this fiction thing for a long time, and I recently started brainstorming a screenplay. And my plan has been to just peck away slowly at them on weekends and in free hours here and there. It seemed like a healthy way to explore other interests without taking too much attention from the channel.
But it hasn't been going well, and I think... I think I just don't work like that. It takes me a full day, if not more, to shift from writing to editing, and I'm trying to shift to a completely different project and back every weekend.
It's not that all work is infeasible, it's mostly the proper creative stuff. Things like note-taking, research, planning, outlining, and such aren't too difficult. But writing a story or a script or doing an interview take a kind of focus that I don't jump into and out of quickly.
If I wanted to really tackle any of these projects, I would need to properly devote attention to them. And, upon realizing this, I felt kind of defeated, because I can't afford to clear the schedule when none of these are YouTube projects and YouTube is what pays the bills.
But... I had an idea. And I want to float it to you.
Innuendo Studios Sabbatical?!?!
Okay, this is a weird idea, but hear me out:
First of all, this wouldn't be any time soon. I would want to get caught up on the videos I owe you and finish the main body of The Alt-Right Playbook, of which there are 5-6 videos remaining, depending on how the scripts shake out. I've ironed out a schedule where, if I don't blow any deadlines (which I often do...) I could have the main series complete before the election in November. There's still a lot of additional stuff, like "how to fight the Alt-Right" videos and some kind of conclusion and maybe another Endnote or two. But having the main body done by November is my hope.
Second, y'all wouldn't get charged for it. I would try raising enough money on another platform - GoFundMe, probably - to cover me for a few months and pause the Patreon during that time. I'd probably still write updates and whatnot, and anyone who wants to get in on that project can back the other campaign. But this is a Patreon for video essays, and I'm not gonna compel anyone to cover me going off on tangents.
Anyway... here's the pitch:
Maybe around the beginning of 2021, I would take four months off YouTube. I'd spend one month working on the podcast, one month writing the fiction project, and two months working on a script treatment for the screenplay. Each project would have its own private blog that people who back it on GoFundMe (or whatever) can access. I'd share all the work there, posting drafts, plot outlines, research notes, the whole shebang. They'd be chockablock with spoilers, too, so people'd have to decide whether they want to be surprised. But I'd pretty much take people on a tour of the nuts and bolts of doing things that I've never really done before.
And, after four months, I'd (hopefully) have some podcast episodes and a short story to send to my illustrators, so it would, in the long run, be #content for the main channel.
This is a fairly new idea, and I'm not entirely sure it's a good one. So I wanted to pitch it to all of you and see how you'd feel about it. It would mean a break from videos for a little while, but at least it would be a planned break, and you'd still have access to tons of my ramblings if you wanted it. :)
So what, ah... what do you think?
-I
Comments
I'm genuinely excited to see what would come out from you working on other fields. A short story or a screenplay from innuendo studios is something I'll gladly support
Daniel Osswald Claro
2020-04-30 15:04:21 +0000 UTCSame. You’re worth it.
2020-02-29 19:44:41 +0000 UTCI don't mind if you take my money during your sabbatical.
AaronRobertoMusic
2020-02-28 05:09:21 +0000 UTCI trust whatever you make will be something I can get behind. You are good at words and I'm down with you choosing different formats for those words. Even if I don't end up liking it, it will scratch the itch and in the meantime, you will come up with more video essay ideas :P
Pixie Plays
2020-02-25 01:02:49 +0000 UTCI'm also in this boat of, helping creators create rather than paying for a service. I also would not stop supporting the patreon if you chose to keep it active during your months of absence, though I can understand why you might feel weird about doing that.
2020-02-19 21:44:55 +0000 UTCI know you mentioned podcast first but have you considered November being the novel writing month thing they do? I mean just as a head start to your passion project. As for putting up a fund for a break... the downside of GoFundMe is they take a large cut. A ridiculously large cut plus there are other financial bullshit things with it. I think the direct donations option on PayPal allows you to keep more. I’m not sure. That’s worth looking into though. I mean, I’ll stay a patron of yours throughout the months but my meager amount of all I can afford right now isn’t going to do much. Could you do like a crazy twitch stream thing to raise funds? I know people usually do it for charity and I don’t know the cut for that. Just brainstorming throwing ideas out there. Capitalism sucks and I’d like to think if we all understood that and did what we could to help each other our until the system changes the world would be a slightly better place.
2020-02-17 22:11:42 +0000 UTCI would still support you even if you are going to focus on things that aren't on YouTube. Whichever way you want to do it, it sounds good and I totally get the need to focus on a project for a time instead of just giving it scraps.
Kait Hatch
2020-02-17 18:11:50 +0000 UTCI'll support you no matter what direction your creativity takes you.
2020-02-17 12:16:09 +0000 UTCare you kidding? of course you should take some time to work on creative / passion projects. everybody should do that.
matt
2020-02-17 07:23:01 +0000 UTCWe support you and want you to be happy. Do what you want. We're lucky to have each other, and if you love something, let it go. If it's meant to be, it'll come back to you.
2020-02-17 05:06:18 +0000 UTCI like the core of this--knowing where you work best, understanding your own process and taking time off to do "side" projects. Do you think a month for each of these is enough? And do you think doing them all one after the other is the best? How would you feel about taking off a month for one, doing more ARP stuff, then taking another month, etc. ? And honestly, as long as you're working on something that will (eventually) be out for the public/available to patrons, I think there is exactly zero problem with keeping your Patron on. So maybe it wouldn't work for the movie script, but I wouldn't mind at all to keep my (minor) contribution on while you worked on the podcast, for example, and I think most people would do the same. I've followed you since back in the Angry Jack days, so I fully trust whatever you're working on to be interesting, thoughtful and worth waiting for.
2020-02-17 04:06:05 +0000 UTCI work this way too and understand completely. I don’t think anyone else has said this, but seriously: I would be more than happy to continue contributing to Patreon while you are doing that. For me, patronage is as much about contributing for the work that I benefited from BEFORE becoming a patron, and that I will consume again after, and YouTube is free so I watched for months before and will rewatch again. I think you deserve to be compensated as if it were royalties and I am *more than happy* to do so. I understand if you feel uncomfortable and I am not able to speak for all patrons, but that is my perspective. I’m happy to see what you create regardless, whether or not it is My Kind Of Thing, and hope you are fulfilled making it!
Jenlifer Fronester
2020-02-16 18:16:08 +0000 UTCI'd love to supoort you on a GoFundMe so you can pursue your passion projects! You're great creator and I'd be excited to see anything you've got going on. :)
2020-02-16 17:21:44 +0000 UTCI can personally relate to the context switching problem. It's not uncommon. "Flow" is a real thing, and whatever one can do to keep interruptions to a minimum ultimately pays off. So I'm all for a "sabbatical". Do it. Impact to the YT algorithm was mentioned above and it is a consideration. I have two ideas about that. One is, fuck it. You'll always have this core audience and if you have to rebuild a new audience on top of that, you've done it before. Two is, use the channel for work-in-progress updates during the sabbatical. Turn it into an unscripted vlog with you as a talking head for minimal effort/distraction/interruption from the main work. That will keep the channel going, will be appreciated by the core audience, and fuck the rest. Two (a), if you really need to keep the main channel content pure and consistent, is to create a side channel for vlogging the new work.
PC Escobar
2020-02-16 16:05:49 +0000 UTCI think the sabbatical sounds like a great idea! Passion projects are important for mental health, at least for me. I wouldn't even mind the patreon still being active, as I view patreon as supporting a creator in all their endeavours, not funding a specific project. And while my support isn't much I would happily divert it to your other support source during any patreon pause. Take care of yourself! 💖
Jimi
2020-02-16 13:28:03 +0000 UTCFully support a sabbatical, creative or otherwise! I'm also happy to keep supporting here via Patreon or on another site. I've always considered supporting artists and creators here to be a general support for the person's work, not some kind of transactional thing where I'm paying for output. Sometimes you need to walk away and sometimes the work takes you different places. You still need to eat, pay rent, and enjoy your life. 💗
Kaylee Christine
2020-02-16 11:52:07 +0000 UTCI think taking some time aside to work on other projects is a great idea! I can't speak for others, but I wouldn't mind if you didn't pause your patreon during the sabbatical. I'm in this to support yourself and the work you do, not just your video work. Podcast, fiction, all that does not seem out of scope for me at all. If you do pause your patreon and set up a gofundme, I'll be there to support of course.
2020-02-16 10:54:17 +0000 UTCI'm really supportive of (anyone, creative or otherwise) experimenting with process in order to create the environment which gets the best out of them. It sounds as though you're tuning in to where you thrive and that's exciting. I think what you're asking is really reasonable, so you should go for it if you want to. Edit to add: I've only been a patron a few months, but in the time I have learned that you tend to set yourself stretching time goals. So I would challenge you about whether your 4 month time box is enough to get all that done. I would also say that I'm probably going to financially back whatever you do, so if it's not patreon and it's other platforms, that's multiple places for you to manage. I don't know if I'm in the majority of not.
Sarah Hall
2020-02-16 09:38:31 +0000 UTCSabbatical is a great idea! But, since you want to do things that you've never really done before, please consider asking fellow content-makers whether this four-month period is sufficient for such types of content. Plus, it would be nice to provide yourself with some extra-time in case of problems (I'm not calling you a serial latecomer, but life is a bitch and such plans can be easily interrupted)
2020-02-16 06:33:22 +0000 UTCThat sounds like a great idea and a welcome chance for you to focus on other projects.
Jamin Shih
2020-02-16 05:15:28 +0000 UTCI don't know how YouTube's algorithm would react to that experiment, but as a creative trying to experiment with process, it sounds like a really good plan. I don't have much money, but I'd try to chip in enough to cover my pledges for the months you'd be suspending Patreon if you went with it.
The Packbats
2020-02-16 04:59:23 +0000 UTCI at least would definitely listen to your podcast whenever you end up being in a position to make it. You do what works for you, we'll be here to support you ❤
An Exceedingly Large Moose
2020-02-16 04:57:36 +0000 UTCAlso, first!? (that's new for me...)
JinxedJoker
2020-02-16 04:55:24 +0000 UTCSounds like a neat idea. I don't know my interest level in those individual projects (we'll see when there's more detail?), but I wouldn't mind the pause if those are things you want to try out doing. Always happy to see you making content that compels you, and if it aligns with my own interest I'll gladly help fund it. Aside from that, manage your creativity in whatever way keeps you flourishing (or not getting horrendously ill, hopefully?). Cheers!
JinxedJoker
2020-02-16 04:54:04 +0000 UTC
