A deep conversation on storytelling and studio building with Kinigra Deon and Alan Chikin Chow

00:00

my name is kener Dion and I create short

00:03

features on YouTube highly cinematic

00:07

videos that gives storytelling hey I'm

00:10

Alan chicken chow I'm a creator with the

00:12

mission to inspire my audience to be a

00:14

hero I have the number one YouTube

00:16

shorts channel in the country and I also

00:18

create a scripted drama series called

00:20

Allen's Universe on my channel and I'm

00:22

Renee Richie I am a longtime Creator who

00:24

now works inside YouTube to help YouTube

00:26

better understand creators and help

00:28

creators better understand YouTube and

00:30

this is a Creator Insider

00:36

podcast let's talk about scripted

00:38

content because a lot of people will say

00:40

there is no scripted content on YouTube

00:42

or you can't do scripted content

00:44

successfully on YouTube you prove

00:46

otherwise how did let's go how did you

00:50

get into scripted content on YouTube I

00:52

just that's the only thing that I knew

00:55

um I met a couple of creators who were

00:57

doing scripted content and then I was

00:59

just an actress in their videos and then

01:01

from there I started doing my own videos

01:05

and it's it's what I love so it's like

01:09

making your own movie and your own

01:11

storytelling and I love like sci-fi and

01:14

fantasy books and so to see it written

01:18

and then out it's like yeah it's amazing

01:22

so and what about you um I started as a

01:25

short form Creator first and scripted

01:27

content is actually very common uh for

01:30

short form videos um and then I decided

01:34

after having like a a health problem in

01:36

the beginning of last year thinking a

01:39

lot about life and death and I was like

01:40

what is going to be my legacy when I

01:43

pass away and I was like I want to make

01:45

something that I've always dreamed of

01:47

which is making Amazing Stories uh on

01:51

YouTube and that's why I decided to make

01:54

Allen's universe and just to be clear

01:56

when people say scripted content like it

01:58

can be a few minutes long but you have

01:59

uploaded very lengthly scripted videos

02:02

and quite a lot of them yeah um it's not

02:04

intentional it's more for the

02:07

storytelling so however long it it takes

02:10

to get the story out there like to

02:14

express the emotions to make sure like

02:16

my audience feel exactly what we're

02:18

conveying so it may be 30 minutes it may

02:21

be an hour and a half it's rare that

02:24

it's less than 20 minutes because I

02:26

don't know how to really create short

02:28

form it's like my mind is just

02:31

constantly writing and it's like I can

02:33

see this full story so if you ever need

02:35

short form advice I have like a recomend

02:38

I I actually I text him all the time I

02:41

suck at short form and he like he saw

02:43

one of my like videos he's like you did

02:45

good yeah super

02:47

good yeah we chat yeah all the time so

02:50

the conventional wisdom like if you ask

02:52

a lot of people how to be successful on

02:53

YouTube they'll often tell you like lean

02:55

into your own voice be authentic be real

02:58

talk about you unscripted content you're

03:00

deliberately leaning into storytelling

03:01

and character if someone to ask you how

03:03

to be successful with scripted content

03:05

what's the advice you would give them it

03:07

is still the same truth like it is it's

03:10

even more about storytelling than I

03:12

think Challenge videos or Vlogs because

03:16

when you're watching scripted content

03:17

you're following the emotional journey

03:18

of a character so you're really the

03:21

retention tactic is literally just

03:24

telling a really really compelling story

03:26

and like to add on to that it's it's

03:29

still being yourself you just get to

03:32

create your world or whatever it is that

03:35

you see and you get to represent like

03:37

for me I get to represent like I'm a

03:40

black woman and it's so many little

03:42

black kids who watch me and and they see

03:45

us in these fantasy videos when they

03:47

normally don't see us in those type of

03:50

that type of content so for me it's

03:52

still being who I am it's just I get

03:56

to I get to write a a story basically

04:00

people often mistake retention with Fast

04:02

Cuts but like emotion is is retention

04:06

like if you get somebody to feel to be

04:07

suspenseful to be tense they're riveted

04:10

to your content yeah it's about the

04:12

emotion if if I'm like if I have a

04:14

comedy I want my audience to laugh right

04:17

and then if I have a drama I want you to

04:20

cry if if it's a sad moment I need them

04:22

to cry I want like oh my gosh that was

04:25

so sad and I and we get that feedback in

04:27

our comment section so um yeah it's

04:31

definitely about just making a really

04:34

good story that they can feel I don't

04:35

really look at analytics that much I

04:37

should but like it's not I don't look at

04:40

retention time I just really try to make

04:42

the best story so how do you like when

04:45

you once you've made a video do you go

04:47

back and look at it and say like I want

04:48

to work on these things for the next

04:49

video or do you like you said you don't

04:51

look at analytics but do you look at

04:52

like comments audience reaction what

04:54

sort of things are important to you I

04:56

think for me I when I look back at the

04:59

video I'm like oh my gosh the continuity

05:01

what was that so mine is not really more

05:03

so than are oh my gosh I should have got

05:05

a shot where they were looking at each

05:06

other eyes to really show that they were

05:09

really like in love with each other and

05:11

I'm like I missed that shot cuz I direct

05:13

the video as well so it's like those

05:15

small things that could have made the

05:17

video or the emotion or for the audience

05:19

to understand that scene better yeah so

05:22

all the time so like for me we have

05:25

different directors on our set but I'm

05:27

like the love Storyteller so my uh shots

05:30

is they stop like and the kids like the

05:33

actors they're like how long do we have

05:34

to look at each other until they

05:37

understand that you love each other you

05:39

know so yeah um I love that yeah um yeah

05:43

uh similar I I have like a lot of things

05:46

that I look at after every shoot like

05:49

from a production standpoint like how

05:50

shoots could have gone more smoothly how

05:52

we can be more efficient with our time

05:55

um that's actually just as important as

05:57

the analytics side um one really good

06:00

example is I used to do an intro for my

06:02

series that was like music and it was

06:05

like little teasers of of what was to

06:08

come in the episode but then we tried

06:10

one episode without the intro which was

06:12

my favorite part by the way and we saw

06:13

it performed better so we started to

06:15

remove the intro and um we don't have it

06:18

uh moving forward so it's like things

06:20

like that that we study in the analytics

06:23

and really Implement I noticed that you

06:25

did that but I love the intros they were

06:28

so cute I was like what he films a

06:31

freaking intro and it's completely

06:33

different it's not like inside the

06:35

actual film that he's shooting I was

06:37

like this is so dope this is cute and it

06:40

works I know so it was like so it was

06:43

basically kind of like six scenes that

06:45

gave a clue to the story that was to

06:47

come but I think something psychological

06:50

about having a song and the song ends

06:52

makes people want to swipe away after

06:54

the song is over so instead we have a

06:57

very and you have this too the first

06:59

scene is always very very um engaging

07:01

one of the most engaging scenes um that

07:04

tells you what's going to happen in in

07:06

the it basically sets up the conflict of

07:09

the story um we found that that works a

07:11

lot better for keeping an audience um

07:14

for the whole that's a very classical

07:16

storytelling technique when you like you

07:17

force yourself to Kill Your Darlings you

07:19

have these things that you just love but

07:21

like you know you if you ruthlessly want

07:22

to serve the audience and the story you

07:25

sometimes have to take the things you

07:26

love out to make rooms for the things

07:27

that they love true that's true and you

07:29

can revive it in a different way just

07:31

yesterday I performed the theme song and

07:33

three other songs here at VidCon You Can

07:36

Have Your Darlings and in in other ways

07:39

yeah so maybe we'll revive that by

07:42

having a tour or something it's so

07:44

catchy sorry the it's so catchy it's

07:47

like it stays with you you carry island

07:49

with you like all day after you seen the

07:50

video uh one of the other things that

07:52

you do particularly successfully is move

07:54

people from short form to long form and

07:57

I think the key for me has always been a

07:59

lot of just want it to happen but you

08:01

make me want to do it and that seems

08:04

like how does that work for you when

08:05

you're thinking about those transitions

08:07

so we make a long form episode and then

08:09

uh so we shoot that for a couple days

08:11

and then we have one day dedicated to

08:13

shooting shorts related to the episode

08:15

um and um it's pretty simple actually so

08:18

if we have a Vampire episode we have

08:20

seven or eight shorts unique shorts not

08:23

cut Downs that um have the same theme

08:26

and then we say go watch the long video

08:29

um and works really well cuz you're

08:30

really intrigued by the short the short

08:32

has a lot more reach than long form um

08:35

and then they go over to see a long

08:37

version of it I think there's the two

08:38

key things I heard there is one is you

08:40

make specific shorts you don't just cut

08:41

down the long I think that's fine for

08:43

like interviews and things but it

08:44

doesn't motivate you when you make that

08:47

specific call to and I've seen you put

08:48

the thumbnail sometimes too and it's

08:50

like I know what I'm going to get and

08:51

you we' talked about this before like

08:53

people don't always remember the video

08:54

but they remember the feeling it gave

08:55

them and you promis me more of that

08:57

feeling that I'm enjoying cuz like some

08:58

people like I'm in the short feet I just

08:59

want to keep looking at shorts but like

09:01

oh this is really great I could feel

09:03

like this more and then I and you tell

09:04

me to click that button and then I click

09:06

it and then I you immediately make me

09:07

happy when I land on the video it's not

09:09

like a slowburn it's like I'm

09:10

immediately happy you rewarded me I'm in

09:13

oh thank you no I think that's brilliant

09:15

I think like people can adopt that

09:17

strategy ACR like I was watching real

09:18

engineering and he's like this is how

09:20

the sale on a satellite works if you

09:22

want to see how the whole satellite

09:23

works like click that button and it's

09:25

the same thing it's like I do want to

09:26

know how that whole sale works and I

09:28

think that's really like a great way to

09:30

make the audience want something rather

09:31

than just the Creator want it and I

09:33

think it's really impressive that you

09:35

started as a shorts like Creator and was

09:39

able to take your audience to long form

09:42

cuz a lot of creators that I do talk to

09:44

that is hard for them they struggle with

09:47

that but I think your content is so

09:48

unique and even how you do like your

09:50

shorts even how you do your shorts like

09:52

you said the the emotion that you put

09:54

into your shorts it still matches your

09:57

long form so I want to go in and

09:59

continue watching it longer so yeah I

10:01

think it's it's really really dope like

10:03

thank you yeah you did you've done I

10:05

mean I I brag about him all the time I'm

10:07

sorry like I do seriously to everyone

10:08

because he really yeah he he's your

10:12

content is amazing like my gosh the same

10:14

to you dude we're like each other's

10:16

biggest fans and we're meeting for the

10:18

first time in person here so the vi

10:20

works like the vibe totally works uh

10:22

when often sometimes people think about

10:23

doing YouTube they Wonder like is it

10:25

saturated did I miss my window with

10:27

scripted content I think people worry

10:29

that it's too difficult like I'm not a

10:31

studio how do I do this but now I didn't

10:35

go to school for this so I'm not going

10:36

to say it's easy I'm not going to say

10:39

like oh yeah you could yeah no it takes

10:41

a lot of hard work but it does have to

10:44

be something that you love doing and so

10:47

if you're into movies or TV or acting or

10:51

you know filming if that's like your

10:53

passion then it may be hard work but

10:56

you're going to enjoy and love doing it

10:58

so and I don't think anything is

11:00

saturated whatever you are like no one

11:03

is you right so it's not a a ton of use

11:07

out here so it isn't saturated you're

11:10

going to put your unique spin on it so

11:13

true yeah um it it is hard work we're

11:16

not going to sit here and say that it's

11:18

not hard work it's so hard to make what

11:21

we make um but if you have like great

11:24

people around you and you love what you

11:26

do it's like fun you know

11:29

being on set is like the best time ever

11:32

and you get to make like awesome stories

11:35

like the feeling of writing something or

11:37

having somebody else write something and

11:38

and see it come to life is like

11:41

awesome and and she works hard cuz when

11:44

we first talked on the phone she was

11:45

pregnant and she was shopping for props

11:47

for a video and giving me advice at the

11:50

same time I was like oh my gosh she's

11:52

like Super Woman here so yeah for me it

11:55

was always like I had this idea in my

11:57

head and I felt like it wasn't real

11:58

until I put it out

12:00

and that was like it just drove me to do

12:01

it I had to get it out into some

12:02

physical form or another the other thing

12:05

you just mentioned reminds me too like

12:06

I'm not like these are great jobs like

12:08

being a Creator is like the best job

12:09

I've ever had it's fantastic but it is a

12:11

job and I think that's the other thing

12:13

that people sometimes don't realize it's

12:14

like I can make a video get a a billion

12:16

views billion dollars I'm out but like

12:18

it like it is constant work yeah it's

12:20

it's consistency and so even if like say

12:24

you know you're asking um whether or not

12:26

this person need to be well vered the

12:30

filming no you don't but you do have to

12:32

be consistent because the more

12:34

consistent you are you'll start oh

12:36

what's this camera and you'll start like

12:38

shopping and you'll start researching

12:40

and then eventually you become better

12:42

you it's like and then we have YouTube

12:44

University you'll start researching oh

12:46

what's that light like well they can't

12:49

see but I love that term YouTube

12:50

University that's fantastic so then you

12:52

learn so many different types of

12:55

equipment that you can add to your own

12:57

collection and then it builds and it

12:58

builds

13:02

the the other the flip side of that also

13:04

is relevancy like you get a channel you

13:06

start making a channel you start getting

13:07

a certain amount of views and you start

13:09

expecting those certain amount of views

13:10

but then like you see uh it's like

13:12

staying static or it's going down and I

13:14

think like YouTube is new and novel and

13:16

it's exciting and like we're creators

13:18

but like entertainment is entertainment

13:20

and I think we've seen like in music

13:21

like artists have to reinvent themselves

13:23

and like television and movies they have

13:25

to reinvent themselves do you feel like

13:27

that that's a common truth on YouTube as

13:28

well

13:30

I think yes and no because like for me I

13:34

really enjoy the content that I create

13:37

and I'll say the only time where I've

13:39

had to shift would be to the community

13:42

guidelines so it's more like shifting

13:44

for that but I'm still telling the same

13:46

great stories and I feel like as long as

13:48

you're really putting in your time and

13:51

the effort and if you love that product

13:53

at the end then I proom your audience

13:56

more than likely is going to love that

13:57

product too so I think I I think it's

13:59

have to do with like passion and I think

14:01

once the passion leaves it it leaves

14:03

your content so it's not you Reinventing

14:06

yourself it's somewhere you forgot and

14:08

you left yourself in the first place MH

14:11

so yeah I think like um the

14:14

transformation or Reinventing yourself

14:16

has to be really authentic I did make a

14:19

really big transition um from when I was

14:22

just doing short firm content um and

14:24

comedy skits to making the drama series

14:26

in Allen's Universe like a lot has

14:28

changed my content and people have noted

14:31

about it but the audience has all joined

14:34

along for the ride um and I think it's

14:36

because it came from a really authentic

14:38

place like it's still me if you watch my

14:40

old videos and my new ones there's a

14:43

really like common through line through

14:44

all of them because I don't know like I

14:46

I create it you know with my team and so

14:49

if you always keep that authentic

14:51

authenticity um even as a writer or a

14:54

director it shows it really does you

14:56

mentioned Community guidelines one of

14:58

the things I I've been thinking about is

15:00

like again like YouTube is like this

15:02

cool place where everyone can go like if

15:04

you can hit upload there's no

15:05

Gatekeepers you can put your voice your

15:07

vision online but I think at the same

15:09

time in traditional Industries in in

15:11

traditional media you have like like

15:14

generations of producers who can like

15:16

give you advice for example if you're a

15:18

new recording artist they can say hey if

15:20

you use explicit lyrics you won't get

15:22

like this much radio play or hey if you

15:24

make an R-rated version of the movie

15:26

you'll get half the box office is PG-13

15:29

where I think like with creators like we

15:31

don't even think about that we just hit

15:32

it like it happens when we hit into it

15:34

and there's not like the same thing like

15:36

someone saying hey you know you've got

15:37

to follow this community guideline it's

15:38

like it happens and then you got to go

15:40

learn about it do you see some sort of

15:42

mechanism where YouTubers start sharing

15:44

knowledge or something YouTube could do

15:46

to sort of fill that void for like

15:47

generational knowledge I really think

15:49

YouTube does a really good job with

15:51

listening to creators and that was one

15:52

of the things that a lot of the creators

15:54

we were talking about with the community

15:55

guidelines and we were feeling as if

15:58

like with scripted content our content

16:00

is not like reality so you know there

16:03

may be a part of there where it's this

16:05

kid is getting bullied but it's like

16:08

ours is fake it's fictional so um

16:11

there's one Community guideline that was

16:13

in there that said fictional content

16:15

it's still I can't remember what it is

16:18

but it has to be the audience still has

16:21

to know that it's fake which is one of

16:23

the reason why if we did use a gun in

16:25

the scene it is orange you know it's you

16:29

it's not real right so um I think it's

16:32

more

16:33

about trying to like cuz it still needs

16:36

to be a safe space like so I understand

16:39

the community guidelines and why they're

16:40

there because you want your audience to

16:42

feel safe when they're watching

16:43

something you want to you want them to

16:45

be your the parents or whoever's

16:47

watching to trust that the content that

16:49

their kids are consuming is safe for

16:51

them so I understand it and I think as a

16:53

Creator you have to kind of like shift

16:56

with it shift with the guidelines and

16:58

you you're going to start learning about

16:59

it but it would be nice if there was

17:01

like Hey for fictional content do XYZ or

17:06

don't do this or this is okay and this

17:07

is not okay if that makes sense M yeah I

17:11

I think a really good resource too is

17:13

other creators like that's where I feel

17:15

like I learn a lot a lot of that

17:17

generational knowledge are things that

17:19

you don't really know when you're

17:20

starting out like when I first started

17:22

first first started I didn't even know

17:24

like clickthrough rate was important you

17:27

don't even know about like clickthrough

17:28

rate and attention and suggested video

17:31

traffic like this stuff to us now is a

17:33

no-brainer but when you first start it

17:35

is so overwhelming but other creators

17:38

help like to kind of um like uh Fast

17:43

Track you through it like really quick

17:45

yeah yeah exactly so one of the things

17:47

that you've been doing is building out a

17:49

studio and like you've been building

17:50

these huge like casts we've see that in

17:54

traditional media what is that like like

17:56

when you're a Creator and you start off

17:57

with your own voice your own vision and

17:59

then you start adding teams to it and

18:01

you start building out production

18:02

facilities how do you think about like

18:04

making that first tire and then how do

18:06

you think about it when it becomes 10

18:07

people 20 people having a good team is

18:11

so important and it's you you can't do

18:13

this by yourself right and in order to

18:16

grow you have to add people who are

18:19

better than you like I have an editor

18:20

now he's amazing and he's he's better

18:23

than I am at editing and so for me it's

18:26

about just reinvesting in them and

18:27

making sure that they're aesome so happy

18:29

where they are so like I see us growing

18:33

so big but I think it's still important

18:35

that all the team members are like they

18:39

still see our vision like we're all one

18:41

and everything that we're doing is this

18:43

one common goal so I think before hiring

18:46

it was just all myself and it was really

18:48

hard for me to delegate like even when I

18:50

hired directors it was like no why would

18:53

you do that shot I don't like that shot

18:55

this is not and that was their vision

18:56

and then I had to sit back and go

18:59

KRA move your hand yeah let them be as

19:03

creative as they want and then they

19:05

start really producing some beautiful

19:07

content that I wouldn't have my mind

19:09

wouldn't even created it and so it's

19:11

like very it's as a team I think the the

19:14

biggest thing is to like not micromanage

19:17

and let everyone kind of put in their

19:20

own creativity so the bigger you get the

19:24

more you have

19:26

to kind of like sit back and and watch

19:29

what you have built I I read a book uh

19:31

recently called multipliers um and the

19:35

summary of the book is that the best

19:37

bosses are just people who hire amazing

19:39

people and let them do what they do and

19:41

it's really hard especially for creators

19:43

because it's our name it's literally kig

19:46

you know and so it's especially hard for

19:49

creators to have that happen but when

19:52

you find great team members like it it

19:56

like they become your family like I love

19:58

my team so much I could cry about it we

20:01

were all just together like last night

20:03

celebrating our performance like oh my

20:05

gosh we're going to Disneyland this

20:07

Sunday like I love my team so much and I

20:09

feel just the utmost gratefulness and

20:12

and just um joy around them and you can

20:17

you can have that you know you can build

20:19

that it starts with you um and it allows

20:23

you to do moreing and create more cuz

20:25

yeah you can't do it yourself but she

20:27

did it herself for a long time really W

20:30

yeah so we also heard like neelen now I

20:34

think it's 12 months in a row depending

20:35

on when when this aors that YouTube is

20:38

the number one streaming platform so

20:40

increasingly when people are turning on

20:41

television they're turning on YouTube

20:43

and we've also seen that creators are

20:45

going into their analytics and looking

20:47

by device and then they're seeing not

20:49

just like how many views they get from

20:51

television but how long the watch time

20:53

is and in some cases like the quality of

20:55

the RPMs that they're getting on those

20:57

videos like television is becoming

20:59

YouTube yeah how do you think about that

21:01

when you're when you're putting together

21:03

your videos do you relax a little about

21:05

watch time do you think about like how

21:07

are you're going to structure it

21:08

differently what is what's the process

21:09

for you there honestly I was I did a

21:13

panel um yesterday and it's really it's

21:17

just a good story so and like honestly

21:20

like I just really want to tell a good

21:21

story and so I don't really look at like

21:25

the watch time or if they because if I

21:29

put all my energy into the story and

21:31

into the set and into the acting it

21:34

comes out as the watch time it makes

21:37

sense that they watch this more because

21:38

I put so much effort into it so I don't

21:41

do it backwards like I look at oh the

21:44

watch time was this maybe we should do

21:46

this it's no this watch time is this

21:49

because we put in all the effort in our

21:51

post in in our pre-production so yeah

21:54

with the YouTube TV I think it's

21:56

incredible and I think it's so cool how

21:59

like you know even I'll catch myself

22:02

having YouTube on my TV and not

22:03

realizing oh wait am I watching like

22:05

Hulu or am I watching Netflix or am I

22:06

watching Kon you know like it's really

22:09

like um they wish and so yeah I think

22:12

it's really incredible and we've always

22:14

approached um Allan's Universe the long

22:16

form episodes as we want to make like um

22:21

like a television series on YouTube

22:23

that's how we kind of like approach it

22:25

um and so it's cool to see that shift on

22:28

on the culture too yeah I think so like

22:30

when I'm watching like Michelle car or

22:33

I'm watching like right Johnny Harris

22:35

Cleo like I'm watching these people uh

22:38

this is like TV for me like that it's

22:39

indistinguishable and I think when we

22:41

put together like you building what is

22:43

essentially the modern version of

22:45

studios and creating the modern version

22:48

of television and movies my question to

22:51

you is um how do you see YouTube

22:54

compared to what people had in previous

22:55

generations is this like the new

22:57

legitimate form of media for Our

22:59

Generation I have such a good uh like

23:02

story for this so um I was like

23:05

nominated recently for this award it's

23:07

called a gold a100 list um and there

23:10

were all these like celebrities there

23:13

like Lucy Lou and um uh uh Steven young

23:18

like traditional film TV stars the

23:20

biggest stars that you could imagine and

23:21

there was one little girl there six

23:23

years old she's playing the new Lilo and

23:25

Lilo and Stitch uh that's why she was

23:27

there and the whole night all she cared

23:30

about was me and my actress like she was

23:34

just following us around the whole

23:35

entire time she had no idea who these

23:36

like traditional stars were and that is

23:39

really like the new generation and what

23:41

they consume and how it's changing yeah

23:44

I agree definitely I think that

23:49

it's it's not about the platform where

23:52

it comes it's it it's TV is a TV right

23:55

it's there and so I think everyone has

23:58

to make the shift YouTube is no I I

24:01

think a lot of people when they look

24:02

think about YouTube It's a viral video

24:05

that you filmed in your bedroom still

24:07

they still no yeah no it is not that it

24:11

is sound equipment it is lighting it's I

24:15

have so many lights and so many

24:16

different cameras and so many different

24:18

setups it is truly a a TV network is

24:22

what we're producing and like we have

24:23

these Studios and we're putting in that

24:24

time and we're putting in all this hard

24:26

work which is why we should be nominated

24:29

for an Emy right we should I mean yes

24:32

please yeah you know and when we think

24:34

about

24:36

television creators should be in that

24:38

conversation right because of the

24:41

Michelle oh my gosh her content it's so

24:44

good it's like you're watching a show

24:47

it's really good hot ones yes Mythical

24:51

Morning yeah it's it's so well produced

24:54

the quality of it it's like it's a Super

24:57

Bowl every week

24:59

yeah yeah uh absolutely and I think

25:00

Midway La won James Beard awards I mean

25:03

like we're seeing like creators I think

25:05

like if you look at a certain people

25:06

they like oh a movie is this a TV show

25:08

is this if you talk to like their kids

25:10

whether they're teenagers or college

25:11

kids like this is what they're watching

25:13

now this is their universe and even like

25:16

the challenge videos they're done better

25:17

than a lot of the challenge TV shows

25:19

like yeah like you watch like a Mr Beast

25:20

video or you watch jet lag the game or

25:21

you watch one of those shows I am

25:23

riveted from the moment that starts till

25:25

the end of it and I can't say that about

25:27

everything any anymore yeah it's

25:29

definitely a shift and I think

25:31

traditional media has to shift with us

25:34

as well yeah so yeah I mean I think if

25:36

they want to stay relevant exactly

25:37

they'll go where the relevancy like

25:39

they'll skate to where the relevancy is

25:41

and and a lot of times they do and but

25:43

it's not like for the awards it's more

25:46

hey I want this Creator to um talk about

25:50

this thing and it's like but this

25:52

Creator here that we are about to talk

25:55

about this particular show is the show

25:58

it's the show they're coming to watch

26:00

her or he talk about your show you know

26:05

so um yeah um

26:08

creators yeah creators here are your

26:10

flowers yes yeah I love it I love it

26:14

yeah so what is next for you what are

26:16

you looking at for the rest of the year

26:18

or into into next year right now I'm

26:20

working on um I need I want at least 100

26:24

acres of land because we're about to

26:26

build out a full full-blown Studio I um

26:30

Hospital School um a restaurant we want

26:33

like an apartment complex um we really

26:35

want to go all out with our studio like

26:39

a miniature Tyler Perry studio so um

26:42

that's what we're really working on and

26:43

that's our Focus so that we can bring in

26:46

more jobs toward Alabama because I think

26:48

that's the hardest thing for us is

26:51

finding cinematographers finding cast

26:54

like actresses and actors and because

26:57

it's not too many people in Alabama who

27:00

like choose that as a career so I think

27:03

if once we have a studio to bring in

27:05

more of that traffic back to my hometown

27:08

so I love that I have the same thing I

27:11

also just signed a lease for a studio as

27:13

well and so for the rest of the year

27:15

we're going to be building we're going

27:17

to be set Deco and um and yeah all all

27:21

my focus is also in the studio so same

27:23

thing I mean the acres of land that's

27:26

crazy la we have talent but we don't we

27:29

don't have space we don't have space

27:32

I've been we've been doing our show in a

27:34

800 square foot one-bedroom apartment

27:38

like the whole the whole thing the whole

27:40

thing I mean exide outside of the

27:42

exterior shots but we we turned an 800t

27:45

one-bedroom apartment into a classroom a

27:47

locker room and a and a cafe but that's

27:50

La it's in it's literally I have an

27:52

apartment on and on the same floor uh

27:55

the other apartment that I rented under

27:56

my parents name is our classroom it's

27:58

like so crazy wait the classroom is an

28:01

apartment yeah it's literally as big as

28:04

this hotel room right now yeah oh the

28:07

shots those are those are video magic

28:10

like total video magic yeah it's

28:13

definitely my team like they're

28:14

incredible we we we one thing about

28:16

smaller spaces you can really detail it

28:19

so it looks so much more looks good like

28:22

it looked really pops so um but yeah

28:25

yeah yeah thank you both so much for

28:27

joining us I learned a ton from from

28:28

this I really appreciate it oh you're

28:29

welcome thank you so much I'm so glad I

28:31

get to meet you