WEBVTT - New Media Success Stories 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:18.000 tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:20.840 Welcome to text stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:23.320 I'm an editor at how stuff works dot Com. Sitting 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.400 across from me, not cracking up nearly as much as 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:28.200 I'd hoped at that introduction, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:33.920 We're actors. We're the opposite of people, since you actually 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.040 are an actor. Yes, I I don't know if you 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:40.239 could speak to the veracity of that. Yeah, No, that's accurate. 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.600 The things that people do in private to keep away 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:50.760 from private eyes, we do in public on a stage 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:56.800 for all to see. Okay, then that's paraphrasing. Yeah, but anyway, well, yeah, 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:00.360 because what we're talking about today is people who are 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.320 I hate to use this phrase because it's been overused 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:08.839 Internet famous. They are celebrities. You really like that, don't 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.959 I love it? Because I am one. Okay from a 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.959 very tiny, tiny way of If you you have to 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.399 generously give me the benefit of the doubt to call 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:22.760 me a celebrity, well, some some of us are less 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.720 comfortable with that. But other people have used the Internet 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:28.520 to go out and try to make a name for 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:34.759 themselves and possibly become Internet famous or actually even real 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.560 time you know, real world famous out on the on 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:40.240 the big screen, in the little screen and on the 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.920 radio and all what all else. So we decided that 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.080 would be kind of interesting to talk about that because 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.880 you know, uh it, I know that none of our 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.040 audience is surprised now this. We're in this generation of 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:56.720 people that is very comfortable with the Internet. Um and 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:58.920 I mean that for all age ranges. Now my my 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:01.360 eight six year old dad as as comfortable with internet. 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.720 So you know, but yeah, we're all we're all pretty 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.920 familiar with this. It's it's not hard to make a 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:11.799 name for yourself on for good or ill for good 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:16.959 or ill on venues like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flicker and 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:22.040 all the other similar sites. Um and you know, so 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.240 that the thing is, there are a lot of people 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:26.520 out there, how do you go about doing it? And 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.040 we we picked some people that we thought it would 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.760 be kind of interesting to look into, um and talk 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:37.440 about how they managed to make themselves into mindoring in 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.160 some in a lot of cases major celebrities. Yeah, because 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.120 when you look at the traditional routes to getting success, 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.840 especially in the arts anything as a musician, as an actor, 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:52.680 as a writer. Uh, you know, going the old media route, 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.720 there's a pretty high barrier to intrigue. Well, there are 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:58.160 a lot, a whole lot of talented people out there. 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.040 It's it's obvious in just checking in with some of 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:03.920 these sites, um that I mentioned a few minutes ago, 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:06.760 that you there are a lot of talented people out 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.560 there who may or may not be signed to a 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:14.600 major recording or writing uh contract, and uh you know, 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.440 the these uh, these tools give us an opportunity to 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.720 check in with with some of them and see what 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.079 they're about doing. Yeah, there there are tons of people. Well, 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.919 let's put it this way. If you were only able 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:31.240 to consume content by listening to the radio, by watching television, 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:33.880 by going to movies that kind of thing, you would 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.560 see a certain range of artists and uh and of 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.600 various disciplines. Yes, right, you would see a certain range 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.360 of music video directors. You'd see a certain range of 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:49.280 musicians and singers and bands that sort of thing, actors, writers, 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.480 that kind of thing. But there'd be a large number 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.000 of people you would never see because they just didn't 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.640 have whatever it was like, whether it was luck or 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:01.080 the right opportunity, they didn't know the right person. They 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:06.440 have the talent, but not the venue to reach an audience. Well, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:10.160 the web really helped take care of that problem. The 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.400 web kind of created an equal ground for people to 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:17.000 reach an audience. You didn't have to sign a contract 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.800 with a major label in order to get your your 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.760 content on the web, So you didn't have to you 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:26.680 didn't have to answer to anyone else, You didn't have 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:29.880 to meet that person's expectations. Because what happens if you know, 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:34.040 I'm a movie studio executive and you, Chris, we're going 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:39.120 to do a hypothetical here, hypothetic you're such a good actor. Confused, 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.320 I don't want to green light it. There you go, 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:47.840 that's my movie studio executive. Um. And but let's say 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.400 I'm a movie studio executive and Chris comes and he 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.120 pitches an idea to me for a movie or a 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:57.720 television show. And uh, in which, look at this, here's 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.520 your problem. You're pitching a TV show to a movie executive. Um. 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:02.279 But no, let's say you're pitching your idea to me 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:04.920 and I'm either having a bad day, or I just 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.400 don't get the concept. I don't see how it can 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.160 be successful. And it's not that the concept is bad, 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.960 it's just that I'm a human being. I have my 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.440 own set of biases and preferences, and so I say 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.960 no to that. And then Chris walks off a broken 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:24.839 and humiliated man. So typical Thursday. And anyway, we uh, 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:26.599 we didn't get to a point where, you know, Chris, 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:30.159 Chris has been demoralized. He has less impetus to go 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:31.720 out and try and push for it again. And if 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:33.880 you get a series of rejections, which, by the way, 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:36.599 if you're an actor or artist, life is a series 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:40.120 of rejections, um, you know it can it can really 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.200 take the wind out of your sales. But then let's 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.160 say that Chris decides, Hey, you know what, this thing 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:50.360 I have would work as a web video series. So 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:52.520 what I'm going to do is for less money than 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.480 it would take to do a television show or a movie, 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:59.360 I'm going to get together the best possible people I 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:02.480 can of the budget I have, which granted, is still 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.640 not going to be insignificant for many of these projects. 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:07.800 In a lot of cases, it's a big risk and 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:09.680 you are pouring a lot of money into it. It's 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.360 just it's a lot of money on a different scale, right. 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.120 There might be a few thousand dollars, which is still 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.279 a lot of money for most of us, as opposed 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.839 to several million dollars for television or hundred million dollars 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:23.560 for a movie or you know, and albums also, I 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.760 mean record companies, the same sort of thing. But go 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:28.960 about the web and then you know, you as long 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.159 as you register a space or you use something like 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:35.159 YouTube to uh to upload your content too, you've got 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:37.240 the platform there. You don't have to jump through any 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.279 hoops with the television companies or the movie studios. Um, 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:43.880 It's it's still a challenging road, but it has a 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:49.360 much lower level of entry than the traditional media. So 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:52.120 let's let's actually use some examples and talk about some 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:55.960 people who use the Internet to kind of launch their careers. Okay, Now, 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.279 I wanted to point out too that in some ways 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:04.360 this is scary to the major entertainment properties because well, 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.440 it's it's sort of a good and a bad thing though, 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.880 because on the bad side, Um, since I started off 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:15.360 with that, you know, you go great, you know, how 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:17.600 am I supposed to a lot of a lot of 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.680 the executives I've seen quoted say, well, you know, our 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:24.000 company is a way of weeding out the people who 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.760 are you know, the most talented and putting them in 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.720 the spotlight, and and that those who are of lesser 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:34.000 talent we reject, and that that means than anything that 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.440 we do has you know, we've already vetted this for 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.000 the consumer. And then then there's some there is some 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.360 truth in that, I would say, because I've you know, 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.400 everybody knows somebody who has is you know that thing 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:47.800 like oh, look I I wrote a book, or you know, 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.000 check out my band and you go, yeah, that's great, man, 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:56.080 check out my public excess television show exactly exactly. But 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.600 then you every once in a while you run into 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:03.720 somebody you go, wow, you're really God, how the heck 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.360 did you not get famous already? And that is why 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:11.560 the big media properties have tuned in and are starting 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:14.200 to find people. And that's what brings us to our podcast. 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:15.960 It is some of these some of the people were 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.440 going to talk about are people who went, you know, 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.840 the major executives have gone, uh uh, Mr Johnson, we 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.000 need to sign this kid up. So so let's talk 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.080 about some of them. Okay, let's talk I wanted to 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.160 talk a bit about let's talk about a guy who 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:35.320 really as is kind of the definitive Internet celebrity as 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.800 far as geek music goes. Okay, so we're talking about 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:43.760 a certain Jonathan Colton. I yes, now, the code monkey, 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.920 the code Now. I have to uh, I have to 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:50.480 admit that I my first interaction where I didn't I 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.280 haven't had an interaction. My first uh knowledge of Mr 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:57.360 Colton came from a certain person that we met one day, 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:03.600 a friend of the stuff you should know, uh Mr Hodgeman. Yes, 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.840 John Hodgman and and and Jonathan Colton are friends. And 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.760 the first time I encountered him was when uh Mr 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.760 Colton was playing back up on the Hoboes song. Right 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.360 would you call it a song? Uh? There's music to it. 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:19.560 There's music to it. And he managed to play it 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.840 all the way through. It's like fifteen minutes long without 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:25.400 making a mistake. And I don't know that I've ever 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.400 played that long without a mistake. Uh, certainly not guitar. 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.160 I don't think I've seen Jonathan Coulton play fifteen minutes 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.480 without a mistake. Since then. But but you go back 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.400 and I said, who who is this Jonathan Colton guy? 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.360 And then I checked out his catalog and wow, yeah. 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.400 So what Jonathan Colton did was he was working as 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:48.760 a coder a programmer at one point and then decided, Um, 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:50.800 he made a he made a big decision. He decided 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:52.760 he was going to really make a go of it 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:56.320 to be a professional musician. And it was a scary thing. 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:59.320 I mean, he was He's a family man. He's not 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.520 just it's not just some single guy. He's a family man. Um. 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.680 But it was a scary notion too, to leave what 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.600 you know behind, to leave a steady job behind, and 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.760 to try and make it as a musician. Yes, it is. Yeah, 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.680 Chris is nodding at me knowingly. As a fellow musician, 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.880 he can he can attest to this personally. As an actor, 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:24.200 I can tell you that I never had the guts 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.920 to try and make it as an actor as that 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:31.400 as my primary occupation. In Atlanta, it's particularly difficult. But 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.040 no matter what what market you're in, Uh, it's tough. 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.280 It gets a little easier once you have a following, 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.120 but you have to have a pretty big following be 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.320 score it gets to be the comfort level gets to 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:48.360 be okay, well, I mean even even Scott Adams of Dilbert. Yeah, um, 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:50.640 not that he's a he doesn't fall into this category. 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.520 But he was drawing Dilbert and got syndicated before he 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:57.000 ever left his day job, um if I remember correctly. 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.160 So that's you know, and I think of him as 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:03.280 a miss a famous cartoonist now, but at the time 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:08.080 he created some security for himself before he jumped ship. 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.720 And that's not what Jonathan Coulton. So what Coulton decided 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:14.880 to do was he created a blog and he began 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.320 to he he did this pub um, this project called 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:22.360 Thing a Week. Yes, the idea I think a week was. 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.200 I mean, it was a very ambitious project. The the 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.200 idea of the project was that he would write, produce 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.880 and record a song each week for a year. So 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:36.200 for a full year he would produce a song and 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.120 then he would put it up on the blog and 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.920 allow people to listen to it for free. Yes uh, 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.520 and this produced He produced several songs that have since 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.520 become uh some of the standards that he plays at 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:52.080 his concerts. Colton has been playing for quite some time 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:53.760 now and He's released a lot of his music on 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.960 the internet, a lot of it under a license that 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.680 allows you to download the music for free. And you 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.280 can even use it as long as you're not using 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:07.080 it in a way to to make money yourself promoting 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.120 your own product. Yeah, you can use it like, you 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.440 can remix it, you can set it to videos, that 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.480 sort of thing for a lot of his music. Um 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:19.400 but he also was offering music for sale on his site, 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:22.319 and he even gave people the option. He said, if 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:24.960 you want to steal my music, go ahead and steal 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.800 my music. I'm giving you the opportunity to download it 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.160 for free if you want to. If you think my 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:33.520 music is worth paying for, then please purchase my music. 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.240 And people began to buy his music. They wanted him 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:38.720 to keep making music. And that was the thing that 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:41.800 they knew that if they did not pay him, that 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.200 they did not buy his music, then he would have 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:49.079 no recourse but to not do this anymore. Right right, Well, 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.240 he you know, at least not in the way that 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:56.400 he's doing it now, because basically it's it sort of 0:12:56.400 --> 0:13:00.560 reminds me of the old style um my als, where 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:06.319 you where artists had a patron the old composers centuries 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:09.360 ago who would have a king who would commission works 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.280 from them on a regular basis. Painters as well, Michaelangelow, 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.319 Leonardo da Vinci. These are guys who had patrons who 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:17.920 would give them room and board and pay them a 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:23.079 salary to create art. Yeah, and and now, um, artists 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:25.319 like Jonathan Colton can say, hey, you know, if it's 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.120 worth five bucks to you, send me a five and 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.680 I will. You know, I won't take a day job again, 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.640 and I will continue to write music more frequently so 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:36.840 and I can share this with more people, so you know, 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:40.200 it pays the web bill. Right. And Colton still does 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:42.720 the music thing. He still does tours, he'll he'll he 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.000 plays uh tours quite a bit. And I've seen him 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.760 play probably five or six times. Um and uh, and 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.280 you are his patron. I am. I am his patron. 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:54.720 I sat front row center for the last show that 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.319 I saw him in, and I got to exchange in 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.880 witty stage benter, which also known as heckling. But I 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:05.400 wasn't really heckling. It was more of a goofy little conversation. 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:07.559 I think next time I'll be quiet, because I'm not 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.840 nearly as funny as I think I am. Anyway, Uh, 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:13.560 Johnathan Colton seen quite a bit of success and he's 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:18.640 remained an independent artist. Um and still does release music 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.360 on his blog and you can still purchase things. Now 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.360 not all the songs are available for free anymore, but 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.160 many of them still are. And uh, and you can 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:31.160 still purchase his his music directly from him and um, yeah, 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.160 it's interesting in case you were wondering. He also is 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.480 the guy who wrote the song at the end of 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.120 the Portal game Still Alive, and he also wrote the 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.560 song that will be at the end of Portal two. Yes, 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:48.480 so uh. He actually he spilled the beans on that 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.120 on Twitter and then realized that maybe he shouldn't have. 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:54.760 But anyway, but now the word is out. Not that 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.000 that's a bad thing. I just drove up excitement because 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.640 everyone loved that song so much. So Jonathan Holton really 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.520 managed to leverage the web in a big way. And 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.480 he also he values the interaction with his fan base. 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.000 You know, he doesn't ignore them. He doesn't just set 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:11.920 his stuff up on the web and then say here 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:15.480 you go and then walks away. He maintains a nice, 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:20.120 healthy relationship with his fan base. And so that's really 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:25.000 helped cultivate very loyal fans who will go to as 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:27.280 many shows as they possibly can and buy all his music. 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:31.400 So he really he really nailed it. When you when 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.240 it comes to using the Internet as a platform to 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.960 market yourself and to get your work out there for 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:41.760 people to enjoy, it doesn't hurt that he's a bona 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:46.120 fide geek who really does love science and technology and 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:48.920 the sort of stuff that people who are really devoted 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:54.280 to the Internet the same kind of things they're interested in. Right, So, 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:55.680 who else do you want to talk about? I was 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.840 going to talk about Rooster Teeth productions. Yes we well 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.280 we've actually sort of talked about them before, Yes we have. 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.520 Rooster Teeth is the production company that produced the web 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.080 series Red Versus Blue, which of course is the mashinima series. 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.680 It uses the Halo game engine as a digital puppets 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:15.480 for the scripts that they wrote, which when when they 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.480 first started off, Red Versus Blue was really just kind 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.280 of a vehicle for jokes about how boring it is 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.120 to be in the military and how sometimes decisions in 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:30.040 the military seemed to defy all common sense. So it's 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.880 kind of a surreal satire in a way. It was 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:35.920 sort of on the level of Catch twenty two, but 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.080 with more curse words and uh and anyway and more 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:44.160 surreal humor. But Rooster Teeth created this model where these 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:48.040 guys who had worked in commercials and worked on another 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.520 website that was called Drunk Gamers back in the day 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.120 they used to do sketches and things like that. Um, 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.920 they got together and they started doing this series. And 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.520 the model that Rooster Teeth used was the two upload 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.800 videos to their website and then they invited people to 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.920 become sponsors. So you could become a sponsor for I 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:09.359 think it was twenty dollars when it started off, and 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.280 for twenty dollars you would get access to special videos 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.919 they would make that they would only make available to sponsors. 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:17.439 You'd also get to see the videos early, so I 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:19.919 think like two days before everyone else could see them. 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:21.959 You could watch the episode, and at the end of 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:25.399 the first season, all the sponsors got a DVD of 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:28.000 all the episodes that were produced during that first season 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:32.000 of Red Versus Blue. Now, uh, that was how they 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.200 are initially began to fund Red Versus Blue. Since then, 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:39.160 they still Rooster Teeth gets gets revenue from a variety 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:44.400 of sources. They produce commercials for video game companies. They 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.199 they also sell advertising on the videos that they have, 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:51.359 so you might watch a pre roll add before a 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:56.720 Rooster Teeth video. They also have advertising on their website. Um, 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.879 and you know, they sell merchandise and they sell d 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.199 v ds of the shows that they've done. Plus they 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:05.240 still have the subscription based so you if you pay 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:09.560 that that subscription price, you do still get exclusive content 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.000 and you get to see stuff early. So that model 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:14.399 really worked for them. They've been around for I think 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.800 eight years now, maybe close to nine, and that's pretty 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:21.280 impressive that they've managed to make that work. So again, 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:23.800 this is a company that you know, they had some fun, 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.879 fun ideas, but they would probably never have made a 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.520 break into either the independent film circuit or the television 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:32.920 circuit based upon what they were doing. I mean, it 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:35.879 would be really hard to to get a foot in 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.520 on those doors. Instead, they went with using the web 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:43.000 as their delivery system. And since then now they have 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:47.200 shown their stuff at independent film festivals, they've they've shown 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:51.400 an entire season as a movie and uh and so 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.679 that again is a good internet success story. And and also, 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.320 like Jonathan Colton. They have a community of users. They 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:00.760 have a message board where people can comment. They can 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:03.960 comment on on the various videos, and they also have 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:06.239 interaction with their fans, like they even will go on 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.280 Xbox Live and play games with their fans. In fact, 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:14.040 they invented a um a type of gameplay for Halo 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.159 called griff Ball, and it's named after one of the 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:21.359 characters from Red Versus Blue. Yeah, yeah, whoever, whoever is 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:25.160 the person with the griff Ball in the game turns 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:27.680 the color that griff is in Red Versus Blue, which 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.760 is kind of a yellowish orange supposed to be orange. 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:35.159 I maintained that it still looks yellow, but anyway, So 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:37.880 Rooster Teeth Productions is has seen a lot of success 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:41.000 that way, and it's really impressive to to kind of 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.159 see where they came from and how a group of 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.000 guys who had this kind of silly idea managed to 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:51.600 turn it into a viable entertainment business. Now, um, we 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.959 were talking about the some of these folks. I started 0:19:56.000 --> 0:20:00.359 thinking about people that I saw getting picked up up 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:04.480 after working on online now um. One of the first 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:06.240 people that came to mind was a man to congan 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:10.399 Uh formerly of Rocket Boom. She and her partner had 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:15.040 started UM Rocket Boom, which was a little daily would 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:16.800 you call it a newscast kind of thing that was 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.320 shown on the web. It was newsy ish and UM. 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:24.560 They actually had a big, pretty well public falling out. UM. 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:29.480 She and her business partner disagreed on on how things 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.600 should be run, so she left UM, started a blog 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:37.480 and then eventually got picked up by ABC News UM 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:39.800 as an anchor and now has has left and is 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:44.560 doing other projects. UM. But that's kind of interesting to 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:47.840 to imagine that it's, you know, really you can start 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:50.239 your own show and just get picked up. I mean, 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:53.880 I think that's also what you could say about people 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:57.800 like The Lonely Island UM. And if you're not familiar, 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:02.080 they are a uh comedy group UM who have been 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:06.240 making videos since two thousand, according to their website, The 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.440 Lonely Island dot Com. UH, you may if you watch 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:12.199 American television, you may recognize at least one of them, 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:15.000 uh Andy Sanmdberg a Cuba Shafer. And I really hope 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:20.240 I'm not mispronouncing uh drama Taknis or Tacn's name. Someone 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.280 running and tell me that I mispronounced it. I mispronounced 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:28.240 it at least once. Um. Uh they're very very funny people, um, 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.399 and have been on Saturday Night Live as a result 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:34.719 of getting picked up, and probably more importantly, Andy Samberg 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.640 has been on Yo Gabba Gabba. Of course that's important, 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:42.480 that is important. UM. But yeah, I mean people you know, 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:47.320 you start creating things, uh you know, your comedy or 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:51.240 your music or your writing. And I mean there have 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.480 been many bloggers who have gotten book deals based on 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:58.920 their blogs, um, which I find impressive. But yeah, I 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:02.000 mean if it helps to to have a a have 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:05.399 to be able to cultivate a good audience, um, if 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:07.600 you're working to create a little buzz around it. Like 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:12.760 I also thought of a Lonely Girl fifteen remember that, um, 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:16.879 which there was a I hadn't actually watched the video, 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:22.120 but I became acquainted with the show, which aired on YouTube, 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:26.760 um from Wired magazine, and they did a show after 0:22:26.880 --> 0:22:30.439 the after it had been revealed that uh, this person 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:35.520 that yeah, that basically the Jessica Rose as a young actress, 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:42.399 um had been basically portraying herself as um, you know, 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:46.320