WEBVTT - The Rooster Teeth Story: The End? 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.720 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.880 I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and How the 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:22.639 tech are You. So we're continuing to document the history 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.200 of Rooster Teeth, an online media company that has had 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.120 an enormous influence on web culture over the twenty one 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.280 years of its existence. And not to bury the lead, 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.720 but now that company is shutting down as Warner Brothers 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:39.159 Discovery continues to crack down on expenses and it appears 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.400 that Rooster Teeth hasn't been profitable in quite some time, 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.360 despite trying a lot of different things. Now, if all 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:48.200 of this is news to you, I recommend you check 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.440 out the first two parts of the series, which have 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.559 just recently published. And we are going to pick up 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:57.440 in twenty seventeen and work our way up to today, 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.680 and this will be the third and final episode. I 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.080 am pleased to say I don't have a part four 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:06.959 the following, so let's go back to our history. So 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.720 in twenty seventeen, co founder Jeff Ramsey, who had taken 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.560 on additional leadership roles within the creative side of the 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.600 company announced that he was going to take a lengthy sabbatical. Now, 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.720 Jeff has since spoken very frankly about how he was 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:25.959 facing enormous pressure at work while also dealing with personal issues, 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.880 including a desire to become sober, and this was a 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:31.920 really big move from a guy who was a founding 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:35.680 member of Drunk Gamers. Thankfully, Rooster Teeth showed support for 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.800 him during this journey, and Jeff would actually return later 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:42.800 that year. In fact, he still appeared in numerous videos 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.800 despite quote unquote being on sabbatical. It became something of 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.200 a running joke. His departure was one indicator that the 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:52.640 work at Rooster Teeth was not slacking off and was 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.920 in fact requiring more and more of the individuals working 0:01:55.920 --> 0:02:00.360 there at all levels. Also in twenty seventeen, Rooster Teeth 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:03.600 announced the creation of a podcast network called the Roost. 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:08.760 This department quote connects influential podcasts with brands that understand 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.480 them end quote. So it's a company that handles things 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:15.000 like sponsorship deals and ad sales for podcasts. Now, I 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.560 can tell you, as a professional podcaster, having someone dedicated 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.960 to doing this job is the difference between making podcasts 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:24.800 a hobby and making a living from it. It is 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.560 a lot of work to land those kinds of ad 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.880 deals and sponsorship deals, and the Roost would serve as 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.359 a company that would do that on behalf of podcasters, 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.840 not just Rooster Teeth podcasters, but others as well. The 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.520 Roost is notably one of the properties that Warner Brothers 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.840 Discovery mentioned by name when talking about looking for potential buyers. 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.520 While the individual shows that Rooster Teeth are kind of 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:50.080 up in the air, the Roost is something Warner Brothers 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:52.880 Discovery hopes it can sell to an interested party, But 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:56.560 that does not necessarily mean the actual Rooster Teeth podcasts 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.680 will go on, but rather the infrastructure of a dedicated 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.679 sale team in marketing team. That's kind of what's being 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.120 discussed now. I only say that because I saw a 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:08.200 lot of discussion about how the podcasts are up for sale, 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.160 and while that may also be true, that's a different 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.399 thing than the Roost itself. And I know at least 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.399 a couple of the podcasts the hosts are hopeful they'll 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.880 be able to continue. On a recent Anma, which is 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.919 a podcast that's hosted by co founders Gustavo Sorola and 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.400 Jeff Ramsey. There was mention of a desire to keep 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:32.040 that podcast going past the shutdown of Rooster Teeth itself, 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.160 but they also stress this is not a guarantee. These 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:37.320 things are still being worked out, and I'm sure the 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.880 same is true for lots of the other podcasts and 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:42.760 other shows that are currently produced by Rooster Teeth. But again, 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:44.960 the roost is more about the teams that can market 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:48.440 and sell podcasts rather than the teams that actually make 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:52.480 the content. Also, in twenty seventeen, Rooster Teeth released Laser 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:56.960 Team two, which obviously was a sequel to Laser Team, 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.440 their first feature film. Now, like the first film, Laser 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.840 Team two would find distribution through YouTube Bread, the paid 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:08.600 for subscription service on YouTube. I have not seen Laser 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.080 Team two, but I just checked YouTube and sure enough, 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:15.920 the movie is on there. The YouTube doesn't include things 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.560 like the number of people who have watched a video 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.720 on this particular film. I did see that there were 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:27.120 only a few hundred likes on the video, so I 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:30.320 don't know if this mostly passed under the radar. I 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.719 didn't even find very many reviews for the movie, so 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.479 it seems to me like Laser Team two did not 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.080 have the same kind of impact that the first film had. 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.960 In twenty eighteen, the company added another online media company 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.680 to their ranks called Sugar Pine seven. Now that's a 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.960 channel that was created by Steven Septik, Clayton James, and 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:54.279 James DeAngelis, and Sugar Pine seven produced comedic videos, including 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:58.440 an improvised comedy vlog series called Alternative Lifestyle. It actually 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:02.160 spawned from a different media company also getting shut down. 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.520 This other media company was called Source Fed. And just 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:08.440 a quick tangent because as we'll see, there's some parallels 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.480 with source fed and with Rooster Teeth, all right. So 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:15.520 Phil DeFranco, who was already a popular YouTuber at the time, 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.360 launched source fed back in twenty eleven, and its purpose 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.960 was to produce short, informative videos on a daily basis. 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.560 So he got money from YouTube to fund the founding 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.640 of Source fed, and he hired on some folks who 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:30.599 would go on to do a ton of online content 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:36.480 like Trisha Hirschberger, Meg Turney, Joe burretta Lee Newton, among others. 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:41.240 In twenty thirteen, another media company called Revision three acquired 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.400 Source Fed from Phil DeFranco. He took on a leadership 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:46.799 role at REV three, but his duties took him further 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:51.040 away from Source Fed itself. Revision three was owned by 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.560 a larger media company because there's always a bigger fish, 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:58.479 and that was Discovery Communications, which had acquired REV three 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:01.000 back in twenty twelve, So by the time we get 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:05.479 to twenty seventeen, Discovery was changing its digital media strategy. 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.120 At one point, the company I worked for, How Stuff Works, 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.440 was actually owned by Discovery Communications. However, we were sold 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:17.960 off in twenty fourteen. Discovery sold Revision three to another 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:21.960 media company called Group nine Media, and not long after that, 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.479 the Source Fed channel would get shut down, and that 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:29.040 is what prompted several former Source Fed employees to launch 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.360 sugar Pine seven. And not too much longer after that, 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.960 the opportunity came to merge with Rooster Teeth, and it 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:37.600 must have seemed like a really good idea at the 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.680 time because here was this company that had forged a 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:45.080 successful path for online content even before YouTube existed, so 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:49.240 it probably seemed like a no brainer to partner with them. However, 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:53.000 this relationship wouldn't last very long because Sugar Pine seven 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.760 would actually leave the Rooster Teeth network in May of 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.440 twenty nineteen, Sugar Pine seven would also stop most of 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.679 their production, with the exception of a podcast called Beyond 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.960 the Pine and fun tangential fact about the whole Source 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.760 Fed thing. Meg Turney, who had appeared as one of 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:14.800 the original on camera personalities for Source Fed, would leave 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:17.640 Source Fed in order to go work for Rooster Teeth, 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.760 though she would actually leave Rooster Teeth a couple of 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.080 years later in order to pursue an independent career. In 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:28.440 early twenty eighteen, Ezra Cooperstein, who had been the president 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.560 and COO of Full Screen, became president of Rooster Teeth. Now, 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:36.520 Cooperstein had been in the online media game for a while. 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.040 He was a co founder and CEO of a company 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.280 called Maker Studios that had launched back in two thousand 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.160 and nine. The idea behind Maker Studios was not that 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.160 different to that of Full Screen. Like it was a 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:52.000 company that would find YouTube channels and talent and recruit 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:55.800 them under the umbrella of Maker Studios, a multi channel network, 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:59.160 and try and help those individual channels grow and to 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.920 generate revenue in the process. So Disney acquired Maker Studios 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.720 in twenty fourteen. Because you know, sometimes a traditional media 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:10.400 company will buy a digital media company to kind of 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.080 leap frog all the tricky parts of building out a 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.440 digital division from scratch. That story does not always work 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.120 out so great for all the parties involved. Just as 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.240 Discovery had shut down Source Fed and just as they 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:24.720 had sold off Holstuff Works for a fraction of what 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.480 they bought us for, Disney would eventually shut down what 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:33.120 was Maker Studios. Anyway, Cooperstein had been there and had 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.040 already joined Full Screen in twenty eleven before all of 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:40.480 that had happened, So he had left Maker Studios well 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:44.720 before the Disney acquisition, and he became the president and 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:48.040 COO of Full Screen before he moved to head up 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.760 Rooster Teeth. As president of the company. He would remain 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.960 in that position only a relatively short while, however, he 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:57.679 stepped down on April twenty sixth, twenty nineteen. In a 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.400 letter to the community. Cooperstein said he made the decision 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.040 in order to spend more time with his family, as 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.480 he had been largely focused on his career for nearly 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:10.080 a decade. Matt Hullam, another one of the co founders 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:13.840 of Rooster Teeth, would stay on as CEO and then 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:17.679 Cooperstein's reports would just shift over to Hullam In the meantime. 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.240 All right, let's get back to twenty eighteen. The company 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:24.320 would continue launching tons of new series, some of which 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:28.040 were more successful than others. It also released a horror 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:32.719 film called Bloodfest, and it featured several Rooster Teeth personalities 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:37.160 within the film, some playing major characters, some little cameos. 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:39.920 Rooster Teeth premiered the film at south By Southwest in 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:44.199 twenty eighteen and then landed distribution through the company Cynadime. 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:48.240 Synadime would secure a one night screening event in movie 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:52.240 theaters through Fathom Events before then making the film available 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.720 on various digital services. Rooster Teeth would also get to 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.440 provide the film for first members the following year, so 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:02.120 one year after it came out, people who were subscribed 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.640 to rooster Teeth as first members could actually watch the 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:08.520 film on the rooster Teeth site. The movie received mixed reviews. 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:10.600 A lot of critics said that a lot of the 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.840 film's humor had been done by other horror comedies to 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.520 better effect. For what it's worth, I thought the film 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:18.960 was okay when I saw it. Mostly I was just 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.240 impressed that Rooster Teeth was continuing to produce feature length films. 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:26.720 Around this time, Rooster Teeth unveiled a new animated series 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:31.120 called Genlock, which is a science fiction narrative that boasted 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:35.640 some really big named voice talent that included actors like 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:41.000 Michael B. Jordan, Mazie Williams, Dakota Fanning, and David Tennant, 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:45.280 among others. The series officially launched in early twenty nineteen 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.720 with eight episodes, and a second season of eight episodes 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:51.600 would come out in twenty twenty one, premiering on what 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.960 was then called HBO Max. Like the video game division 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.880 of Rooster Teeth, a lot of critics who have been 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:02.440 predicting the downfall of the company for years would point 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.600 at Genlock as one of the potential reasons for Rooster 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:09.719 Teeth's decline. So critics lamented that the company had been 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:14.880 spending a lot of money on really big ticket blue 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:20.200 sky swing hard projects like Genlock and Bloodfest to the 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.320 other feature films, as well as a video game production 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:26.560 division that, if we're being fair, had a very rough 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:30.440 track record. So whether those critiques have merit or not, 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.320 I can't say I'm not privy to Rooster Teeth's budget 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:36.240 or anything. Like that, I can't see what the company 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.840 did and did not choose to spend money on, but 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.040 we would definitely hear later on that the company had 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.440 really struggled to become profitable in the wake of the 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:48.040 full Screen acquisition. Like, the thing that's been said is 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:51.160 that Rooster Teeth hasn't been profitable in a decade. And again, 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:53.920 if we trace that decade back from twenty twenty four 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.720 it takes us to twenty fourteen. That's the year full 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:00.400 Screen acquired Rooster Teeth. Now let's go back to what's 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:05.840 going on at a corporate level far above Rooster Teeth itself. So, 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.880 as I covered in the previous episode, AT and T 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.640 and the Churnin Group had formed the joint venture Otter 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.720 Media and Outer Media took a majority share in full Screen. 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:21.040 Early in twenty eighteen, Autermedia bought out the rest of 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.800 the investors of full Screen and outer Media took full 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.640 ownership of the company. Otter also took full ownership of 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.800 a sister media company called Elation at that same time. 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.560 Elation was the media company that was the owner of 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:40.240 Crunchy Role. At this point, Crunchy Role was organized under Elation. 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:44.640 Rooster Teeth had been organized under full Screen, so George Strompolis, 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:49.200 the founder and head of full Screen, stepped down from 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:54.240 the company. At this point, once AT and T bought 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.840 out the rest or really outter Media bought out the 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.960 rest of full Screen, and in the wake of him 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.800 stepping down and Automedia taking full possession of full Screen, 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:08.200 there were a ton of layoffs. Some reports suggested that 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:12.600 essentially all Full Screen employees were either let go or 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.240 organized to work for a different department. In addition, the 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:20.240 streaming service that full Screen oversaw shut down. Then you 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:22.880 might remember that I said in a previous episode that 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.320 in twenty sixteen, AT and T entered into talks to 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:30.400 acquire Time Warner. So that whole process did not go smoothly. 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.560 It was not a guaranteed deal. At one point, the 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:38.040 US Department of Justice actually opposed this acquisition, so there 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:41.000 was a concern that the acquisition would be harmful to 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.520 consumers and to competition in the marketplace. Now, the interesting 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:46.760 thing here was that the deal was seen as a 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:51.480 vertical acquisition rather than a horizontal one. So what does 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.040 that mean. Well, with a horizontal deal, you're talking about 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.200 two companies that are essentially in the same business, and 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:01.040 thus the two companies have a lot of overlap. Vertical 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:04.800 deals have less overlap, but they would mean that the 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:08.040 new organization, the combined organization, would cover a heck of 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.840 a lot more businesses, and so in a way, the 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:12.880 opposition to the deal was kind of a test to 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:17.120 see if US regulators could make a case against vertical mergers, 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.360 and it turned out that no, at least in this case, 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.200 they couldn't. And the merger finalized in June twenty eighteen. 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:28.600 So AT and T then rebrands Time Warner as Warner Media, 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.920 and then things would really start to shake up. We're 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:34.760 going to take a quick break. When I come back, 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:46.960 i'll explain what I mean. Okay, So we're back, and 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:49.240 before the break, I mentioned that AT and T had 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:53.160 purchased Time Warner and had rebranded it as Warner Media. 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.600 They then proceeded to try and tidy things up a 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:59.640 little bit, because despite the fact that this was a 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:04.680 vertic merger, there were departments that had some overlap that 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:09.720 was redundant. So, for example, you had full Screen, which 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:13.760 was an organization that had rooster teeth nested beneath it. 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:18.480 You had Elation, which had both Crunchy roll and A 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.560 and over the top streaming service called VRV underneath it. 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.920 Then you had WarnerMedia, which had purchased the media company 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:31.120 Machinema back in twenty sixteen, which is interesting because Rooster 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:35.240 Teeth and Mashinema were brought together after being associated with 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.240 one another, mostly because Rooster T's early work was made 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:41.880 through the process of Mashinema, which is a lowercase M, 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:45.480 and Machinima the company was an uppercase M. They were 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.720 not one and the same. Rooster Teeth did do some 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.080 sort of collaborations and work with Masinema, but it was 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:55.760 pretty limited. They never really were corporate partners before, so 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.440 that meant that the company would hold a reorganization effort 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.600 over at AT and T slash WarnerMedia. So this is 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.560 at the high level, right. So then Rooster Teeth gets 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:10.000 shuffled away from full Screen to Nest under Elation. So 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.960 now Elation oversees VRV, Crunchy Role, and Rooster Teeth and 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:18.800 Mashinima was supposed to join those other companies in twenty nineteen, 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:23.520 but that wouldn't actually happen. In fact, let's do a 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.640 quick where are they now for these various entities. So 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:28.640 we know about Rooster Teeth. You know, it's in the 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.120 process of shutting down. It's likely going to close its 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:35.280 doors sometime around May of twenty twenty four. Crunchy Roll 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:39.080 would actually change corporate hands again. In twenty twenty one. 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:43.440 Sony would purchase crunchy Roll from WarnerMedia. There's this whole 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:46.320 crunchy Roll fundamation thing too, That's a very complicated story. 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:49.520 Also that streaming service VRV that also went with the 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.960 deal with crunchy Rolls. So both crunchy Role and VRV 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:56.480 would end up going over to Sony. As for Mashinema, 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.760 it would not find itself under elation with the other brands, 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:04.200 as had been the intent. Instead, it got organized under 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:09.760 full screen. Nearly every video under Mashinema rapidly disappeared from 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:13.520 its YouTube channel following this, either it was deleted or 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.080 they got switched to private. So while WarnerMedia sent messages 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:19.760 saying the company was working for a smooth transition, it 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.480 looked to the casual observer that Machinima was effectively being 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:26.880 erased from the web. Now. Part of that was likely 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.919 due to the fact that Machinima worked as a publication platform, 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.000 so it had original programming as well, and some of 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:36.240 those videos remained up although they weren't necessarily playable. But 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.720 a lot of the videos that were published on mashinima 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.720 actually came from third party content creators, So if I 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.160 had to make a guess, deleting or or setting those 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:50.240 videos to private those third party videos was a way 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:53.639 to remove the obligation to pay out revenue to former partners. 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:57.399 But again this is wild speculation on my part. The 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.159 way Masinima went out has subsequently prompted a lot of 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.240 Rooster Teeth fans to try and archive as much Rooster 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.679 Teeth content as they possibly can. Given the fact that 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:13.440 this precedent exists, Mashinema effectively came to an end. One 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:17.159 series from Mashinema Inside Gaming actually did shift over to 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:20.200 Rooster Teeth. But now Rooster Teeth is getting shut down, 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.160 so I guess, really Mishinima is coming to an end. 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.800 Then AT and T folded Otter Group in with its 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:30.680 new media company, WarnerMedia. So Otter Group was now organized 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.480 under the Watermedia side of the business. So if we 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.040 go with Rooster Teeth, that means Rooster Teeth at this 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:41.320 point was under Elation. Elation was under Otter Media. Otter 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.760 Media was part of WarnerMedia, which in turn was part 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:47.600 of AT and T, and the green grass grew all around, 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.119 and around, the green grass grew all around. This would 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:53.440 actually open up some opportunities for Rooster Teeth to work 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:57.080 with and incorporate some Warner owned properties into their own stuff, 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:00.560 like DC characters, but it also meant a lot more 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:05.000 corporate oversight and involvement or interference that didn't always align 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.520 with Rooster Teeth's startup culture. Also, Warner Media made some 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.560 dramatic cuts to Full Screen staff, with some reports saying 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:14.040 like essentially everyone who had ever worked for Full Screen 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:16.800 just got laid off. So I'm sure that really increased 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.040 tensions at companies like Rooster Teeth. To see this happening 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:22.600 to Mashinema and to Full Screen, I'm sure a lot 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:24.840 of people were wondering, when is it going to come 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:29.080 for us? So in twenty nineteen, a new leader joined 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.720 Rooster Teeth. His name is Jordan Levin and he has 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.680 a very long list of impressive work credits to his name. 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:38.080 He's worked for media companies that include the Walt Disney Company, 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:41.800 Warner Brothers. Of course, this was years before AT and 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:46.000 T acquired Warner the NFL. He was the chief content 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.960 Officer for the NFL. He worked for Xbox Entertainment. He 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:53.720 was also the CEO of Awesomeness TV. So he'd spent 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:57.800 really his whole career in media and entertainment and it 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:02.080 bridged both traditional media like television and film as well 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:05.720 as digital media. So he came on to Rooster Teeth 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.560 and became the new general manager. Other members who had 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.199 been part of the executive team, people like Matt Hullum 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:16.280 who had been serving as CEO, transitioned to creative roles, 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:18.679 so they were still leadership roles, but they were no 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:22.119 longer managerial. They were creative. So from what I've heard, 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:25.480 Jordan Levin is one of the big reasons that Rooster 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:28.080 Teeth stayed in operation for as long as it did. 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:30.879 That he managed to keep things going despite the tendency 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:33.840 of the various parent companies further up the chain to 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.160 cut losses. But he did face a massive challenge because 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.480 Rooster Teeth wasn't profitable and some of the flagship properties 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:45.040 were starting to flag in viewership. The numbers were going down, 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:47.879 so Toward the end of twenty nineteen, a couple of 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:52.160 founding members of the channel Funhouse, that being Bruce Green 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.440 and Lawrence Sontag, announced that they were leaving the channel. 0:20:56.840 --> 0:20:59.800 They both would later explain their reasons for leaving, with 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.080 on Tag in particular being very critical of the corporate 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:07.719 involvement that made creating content a difficult and frustrating experience 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:11.080 over at Funhouse. So he has repeatedly said that he 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:13.320 has a lot of respect for the creative folks over 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:16.199 at Rooster Teeth, but that on the corporate side, it 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:21.920 made working there a really difficult experience. So in September 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:26.240 of twenty nineteen, Rooster Teeth held a round of layoffs 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:30.440 that directly affected thirteen percent of the company. Now, before 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:32.320 the layoffs, the head count at the company was an 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.040 incredible four hundred and nineteen people. And I say incredible 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:38.840 because remember back in twenty eleven, there were just twenty 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:42.320 employees at Rooster Teeth, So you know, it's less than 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:45.040 a decade later and it's gone from twenty to four 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.280 hundred and nineteen. So the layoffs had a really big 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:51.760 impact on the folks who remained behind as well. Morale 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:57.480 was really suffering. However, the company still released tons of 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:02.840 shows and podcasts and other projects. Rooster Teeth launched face Jam, 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:05.960 which is a comedic show that ostensibly reviews fast food, 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:08.640 but really it showcases comedy more than anything else, which 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:12.360 is great. They launched a really fun podcast called Good 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.680 Morning from Hell. This was a limited run podcast. It 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:18.200 ran for a good long time, but it did conclude, 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:21.920 but it featured a great concept, which is that the 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:25.640 Devil's younger brother and his co host, Chris dea Maris 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:29.880 personality from Rooster Teeth, have a morning show and they 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:34.520 interview an assortment of historical figures and celebrities and mythological 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:36.919 creatures who have ended up in Hell for one reason 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:38.840 or another. And then there were a ton of other 0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:41.680 shows that launched as well, including a Dungeons and Dragons 0:22:41.720 --> 0:22:45.160 live play style show called Tales from the Stinky Dragon. Again, 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:47.480 to list all the shows that Rooster Teeth has put 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:51.080 out would be exhaustive. It would take a really long 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:53.800 time just to even name them all. But then we 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:57.359 get to twenty twenty, and then absolutely nothing happened, except, 0:22:57.400 --> 0:23:00.399 you know, there was a global pandemic that forced folks 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:03.959 to work from home Rooster Teeth shifted to largely depending 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:07.520 on remote work for production, and that obviously had a 0:23:07.640 --> 0:23:10.159 massive impact on the types of content the company was 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:13.400 able to create. Obviously, the company had to cancel live 0:23:13.400 --> 0:23:16.640 events planned for that year that included RTX as well 0:23:16.640 --> 0:23:19.280 as Let's Play live events. That was a big bummer, 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:22.880 and that year a bunch of terrible scandals would also 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:26.000 hit the company, which was an even bigger bummer. Now 0:23:26.040 --> 0:23:29.920 I mentioned already that during the Black Lives Matter movement, 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:33.719 Mika Burton, former employee over at Rooster Teeth, would actually 0:23:33.760 --> 0:23:37.119 speak up about why she left the company after she 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:41.040