6 Months IN

Thank you for stopping by my little corner of the internet. If this is the first time we are meeting, I hope that this is a breath of fresh air around an alternative way of creating. A way to save your money, and be more critical of the content you let your eyes feast upon. With that being said, I’d like to open up the curtain and share what I have learned over my first six months as a full-time content creator. A title I am still trying to find peace in calling myself.

Before we start, I am not trying to sell you a course on YouTube. This is just another perspective that I hope helps you on your journey. If you’d like to support, then a subscribe or a share will be more than enough. Let’s get started.

For a little context, I have been creating and consuming my whole life. The film and photography side of my brain has been in full force for close to 20 years. This includes distributed feature films and experiments only I will ever see. I have also started film and media programs here in Los Angeles over the past five years, and six months ago that school closed down after operating for 13 years.

This event nudged me into finally doing what I had been avoiding my whole career. Sharing my process with the world.

Some of the reasons for keeping this to myself came from distributors, but now that the world is changing, it feels more relevant than ever for those of us who have been doing this for a long time to open the gates, so to say. It’s time for us to stop the cycle of use on naive and eager creatives. We all remember what it was like to start at the bottom, and for me it doesn’t make sense to hold this knowledge away from anyone. I guess that’s what five years of teaching will do to you.

It’s time we all start telling the truth.

This can apply to whatever you want it to apply to, but either way the world is too dangerous for anything but the truth. This means changing your mind and considering “why” something might be happening. Over these six months I have had a lot of time to create and think, and as I am close to monetizing a YouTube channel, it’s time to make sure that anyone who reads my work knows that I am keeping the gates open.

YouTube is now the largest TV station in the world, full of metrics that are beyond what any creative would have ever had access to over the past 100 years. If you are new to creating, this is the best time ever, but it’s also full of gatekeepers and grifters who will try to tell you things that are either not true, or only true to their journey. So why are there so many people willing to take you down their path instead of empowering you to forge your own?

As someone who has been taken advantage of in the industry, it’s easy to see that dependence on education is imperative. This means that you, yes you, will need to teach something to someone else. And that’s the power of an internet full of knowledge seekers instead of fame seekers.

When I decided to do YouTube as a full-time creative, I knew I wouldn’t be approaching it the same way as others. My background in education and filmmaking, along with multiple other skill sets, positioned me to think differently. Even with this in mind, I was still led down the YouTube guru path. I could feel it in my bones that something was off, and I still watched. I was fighting every ounce of my being to do things my own way while also learning how the platform operated.

What do you want to watch? Make that!

Six months later, I wish more people would just create what they want. At my current pace, I am about six weeks away from being monetized. This means that I will have worked full time for close to six months without pay to make a channel that is deemed “successful.” Depending on the source, there are over 114,000,000 active channels and only around 9% are above the monetization requirements. Below is an outdated chart from a few years ago breaking down the stats. The number of channels changes daily, leaving us with limited knowledge of the actual numbers.

Credit: In The Black Media

For my channel, I create everything. I have acquired a lot of things over these 20 years. I also edit, write, and design the thumbnails for each piece. A huge shoutout to my cousin Allison for her design template that I now use as a starting point. It helps to have people who support your mission.

While I have yet to make any money off of YouTube, I still think this is a viable path for independent creatives. It’s hard for me to say what will come in the future, but the people I have met over these six months are more than I had met in the past few years on social media. These creatives are now collaborators on my channel, where we interview each other and share what we are working on. Something I hadn’t seen before I was teaching.

So what changed?

Over the past five years, creators and consumers have begun calling out the industry and its practices. Something that would not have been talked about before the strikes and the pandemic. Consumers are now aware that most creatives don’t get paid for their creations, despite platforms making money from the beginning.

So why should creators start using YouTube, especially if it takes so much free work to get paid? That’s the exact reason. The work. The practice. The ethics rely on you as a creative to decide what you speak up against.

Myself, I have made close to 60 long-form videos over the past year, each one exploring a new technique that I will be using in my next feature that I am currently working on. I have created over 30 tutorials around different skills to create your work. All the while talking about the ethics of being a creator and what I believe needs to change on the creative side. I genuinely believe that the creatives are the ones that will make consumers aware of what it takes to bring your favorite channels, shows, art, etc. to life.

A Creative Collaborator

I decided to approach YouTube as an educator and was surprised to see that all of the noise was drowned out when I started creating what I wanted to see. Oddly enough, the algorithm began pushing more creators, even outside of my niche, who fit my style and pace. I wanted to slow down, and that’s exactly what I got. I also found other creatives who wanted something different.

This difference, even though I feel ahead of the change, will be setting me up perfectly when I release my next feature. Imagine teaching someone to do what you love and then seeing them release there work into the world. There really is nothing more exciting to me than seeing someone create because of something I put out into the world.

Now that I have learned what it takes to make YouTube part of a creative practice, I want to challenge you to do this with me. As a filmmaker, the hardest part of your journey will be getting your films seen. The tools to create are easier than ever, so your voice is what will set you apart. Your point of view is what makes your voice so special. Using youtube for the past 6 months has shown me where my audience is, and what they hope to create.

Now that I am close to monetization, I have the potential to make money from giving my films away on the channel. I will also know where my audience is in the world and how they engage with the film. Where did they turn it off? Did they comment or share? None of this was provided to me in the past, despite the information being available. Distributors don’t provide this information, but YouTube does.

Most people don’t start creating for the money, but eventually it’s all we think about. I will be the first to say that there still isn’t a single day where I don’t think about money in some facet. Currently, it’s centered around how long I can continue doing this for free now that I don’t go in and teach in a physical school every day. What I do know is that something will be trickling in, and that’s why I’m about to do something wild.

Give it away!

A few months back, I started giving away my films to movie rental stores around the country. This includes The Last Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon, and Vidiots in Los Angeles. I also plan to start giving away copies to free little libraries around my neighborhood. If you find one, let me know in the comments.

I am also stating today that I will be giving my first feature away for free on the channel as soon as it’s monetized. At that point, we will actually begin making money off of that film from 10 years ago. A film that premiered at the Chinese Theatre and received distribution.

I am also about to start chronicling my journey to bring my next feature film to life. This is a film I will be trying to make as close to alone as possible, something many creators are currently facing. I don’t think creating alone is necessarily a bad thing, but it does slow people down when they don’t know the entry point.

It is my goal that this film will play in theaters and be available on physical media through a road show. I don’t want streamers deciding who gets to see the film. And if it’s not going to make money, then it has to be seen.

I’m sure there will be more opportunities to share what I’ve learned over the next six months, but until then I urge you to join me on YouTube. Share your channels below and take this moment to teach what you know. We all know something someone else is looking for, so let’s stop charging for everything. Share your knowledge. Be kind. Let’s create a more sustainable creative landscape.

Because without the creators, these businesses have nothing.