00:00It all kind of happened by accident.
00:02I didn't start off thinking I was going to be a YouTuber.
00:05I started a YouTube show called with my friend Katya.
00:09She's dead now.
00:10She's not dead.
00:11She's dead to me.
00:12I actually moved out to LA to be an actor,
00:14and I was trying for like a year and a half
00:15and didn't get anything.
00:16I decided, hey, maybe if I make something,
00:18somebody will see it and put me in a movie.
00:20One of them took off and been doing it ever since.
00:30I think probably the most frequent incorrect assumption
00:38that I see is that they don't think it takes very long
00:41or very much effort to make a video.
00:43What they see from the final version is like,
00:46we did that all in one take,
00:47and usually it takes multiple takes.
00:49It takes a lot of planning.
00:51There's so much production.
00:53It's really like running a TV show, you know?
00:55There's so much that goes into it.
00:56The writing, the producing, the shooting,
00:59editing, all of it.
01:00Every bit of money that I make from the internet
01:03goes right back into my production value.
01:05You know, that's a whole crew that's there that I'm paying.
01:08So we still live in this world where traditional media
01:11doesn't necessarily see YouTube,
01:13doesn't treat it with the respect that it deserves,
01:16but YouTubers over here are building real studios.
01:19They're creating feature-length content, TV-length episodes.
01:23They're hiring dozens of people at a time
01:26where Hollywood is laying off lots of people.
01:29So much of television is waiting for older, white, straight men
01:32to understand what you're pitching.
01:33And with YouTube, you can be anybody
01:36and be passionate about it, and you can reach your audience.
01:39That's like point A, B is YouTube, and there is C.
01:42It eliminates so many steps.
01:44There is no gatekeeper.
01:45There's no barrier between you and your audience.
01:48So I think the biggest misconception is that
01:50YouTubers are not studio builders because they truly are.
01:53The worst advice I've gotten as a creator, post every day.
02:00Can I say something really controversial?
02:03I think that is the number one way to hit burnout.
02:07Forcing yourself to post even when you don't want to,
02:09that's this, I think, personally, my opinion,
02:12this toxic grind mindset.
02:14Go get a real job.
02:15It's not a real thing.
02:16You're not going to make money off it.
02:17There's no career in it.
02:19I feel like low-key listening to the comments too much.
02:23Because sometimes, first of all,
02:25there's so many different opinions in the comments section.
02:27And then a lot of times, they'll want something very niche
02:32and specific.
02:32And then if you try to cater to all of them,
02:34they will just fall apart.
02:35I do read my comments.
02:37But I mean, I feel like I have a pretty,
02:40I mean, my comments are very nice.
02:41My YouTube comments are, I have a really nice community
02:44on YouTube.
02:45I read all the comments, for better or for worse.
02:47I get very excited to see our audience feedback.
02:50I do read comments, but I do have a developed skill,
02:54which is separating useless comments with useful comments.
02:58I think when you sign up to be an internet creator,
03:01you need to be aware of what you're signing up for.
03:03I also think that the cost of community
03:07is being annoyed sometimes.
03:09I've got some pretty crazy comments in the past.
03:11But yeah, one time I had to take my mom's account away,
03:14because somebody had wrote, you're not funny.
03:16And then she's like, my son is funny.
03:18And then the guy was like, oh, you're his mom?
03:20And she's like, yeah, I am his mom.
03:21You want me to prove it?
03:22And it just kept going.
03:22It was a huge thread.
03:24And everyone was liking it.
03:25I had to delete the whole thread and take away
03:28her phone for a month.
03:29But she's back now.
03:33The biggest tip that I would give any creator starting out
03:35is know what you're doing it for.
03:38Like, what is your mission?
03:39Why do you want to start a YouTube channel?
03:41Why do you want to make work that is potentially, hopefully,
03:45seen by millions of people?
03:47What is it that you actually want to say?
03:49The key to success on YouTube is authenticity.
03:52Really be yourself.
03:54If you're passionate about something, a particular topic,
03:58then that's going to come through in the content that you create.
04:01So above and beyond everything else, above and beyond the tricks
04:04of the algorithm or how you shoot the camera or thumbnails
04:08or what have you, be yourself.
04:10I really think the key to success is to keep going,
04:13not just do the same thing every day.
04:15But do something, try it, see what worked, see what failed,
04:18and be willing to be humble to critical feedback
04:22to get better at something.
04:23Try new things.
04:24A lot of it's trial and error.
04:26Be careful who you take advice from,
04:28because not everybody knows what's best for you,
04:31and not everybody wants the best for you.
04:35Who would play me in a movie?
04:37Easy.
04:37Robert De Niro.
04:38A lot of people say we look alike when he was younger.
04:41And I think he's just, to me, he's my favorite actor.
04:43Scarlett Johansson.
04:45I'm a big Marvel fan.
04:46I'm going to like contemporary, like Michael B. Jordan types,
04:50just because action figure hero feels appropriate.
04:54So I'll just go with that.
04:55Shawn Mendes.
04:57I love Shawn Mendes.
04:59He can play me.
05:00I get to meet him though.
05:01Maybe Natalie Portman.
05:02Who would play me?
05:03Probably Pamela Anderson.
05:06Probably Pamela Anderson or like Holly Madison.
05:08But more realistically, it's Trixie Mattel out of drag.
05:11My default used to be Sydney Sweeney, but I don't know anymore.
05:14I would hope I would get to play myself.
05:15Where I see myself five to ten years from now,
05:18the biggest filmmaker that there is, having a full-blown studio completed.
05:27I want to create premium films, movies that you would see in the theaters,
05:31comedy films on my channel.
05:33Even if I quit drag, I think I would take YouTube with me.
05:36I love making videos.
05:37I just, I love it.
05:38It's my happy place, sitting and talking to no one.
05:42Sometimes I'm so good at it that I'm like, what's wrong with you?
05:45Why are you able to have prolonged conversation with no one?
05:51But we're not, we're not gonna, you know, don't look in the mirror that long.
05:54You know, don't stare into the abyss.
05:56Just be happy your mental illness permits you to sit in monologue.
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