If you’re interested in making videos and sustaining a Youtube channel, or you’re just curious about living creatively and documenting the journey, this is for you.
I was a television editor for ten years before we started a Youtube channel. TV work was demanding and competitive. I worked on big shows that had big budgets and big tough executives who had no problem firing editors on the spot if their work wasn’t good enough or they weren’t keeping up. I loved the job. I loved making great television, and I loved that my work was being enjoyed by millions in their homes. If I thought that a joke I’d created in the edit had made an audience laugh, or that people had been talking about a character that I’d helped shape, or a story I’d honed, all the long hours and the stress were worth it. And I got to work in an industry that would take every hour you gave it. If you wanted to work until 4am - no problem. I’ve even pulled all nighters as a TV editor, working until 6am, having a quick nap, washing my face, getting a coffee and then sitting down again at 7am for another day at work. It was the perfect job for someone willing to dedicate their life to perfecting a craft, and I got really good at editing, but it didn’t make me a particularly happy person, or very fun to be around.
When Joanna and I thought about starting a Youtube channel, I thought my experience in TV was going to make Youtube videos easy. I was wrong. Making weekly vlogs is delightfully challenging, and I’ve spent the last four years surprised at how wrong I was, and amazed at just how deep and fascinating this world of Youtube really is.
My aim for this weekly blog is to talk about the challenges I’ve encountered (and continue to encounter), as well as hopefully share any precious nuggets of understanding I might have gleaned along the way. If you are a content creator yourself, I hope you find this useful, and if you are an innocent bystander peering behind the curtain to see what goes on, then I hope you find it at least amusing, either way welcome to the video blog.