July Update + Quick Announcement (Patreon)

Hey folks!

Work on the next two videos (a long-form analysis of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and the first in the Star Wars Prequel Analysis series, oh boy) is proceeding in earnest, and I have a bonus video coming up soon as well.

The main reason I wanted to make this post was to mention the grants program we just announced over on twitter here.

Basically, I’ve always run my channel without worrying too much whether my videos are suitable for ad revenue. The value of running a Patreon has always been that I can cover contentious topics without having to worry if the inscrutable policies of YouTube’s ad system allow me to survive. However, surprisingly, the last few videos have monetized successfully, and this has resulted in money I had no intention of actually getting. I hit the ‘monetise this’ button for a joke to see the funny explanations YouTube gives me along with its ‘no’. I never expected a too-long video about the War on Christmas or the Anti-Vaccine movement to come back with a ‘yes’.

Ultimately, I want to be accountable to my patrons, and no-one else. I am uncomfortable with keeping money made from ad revenue - I really don’t like the idea of getting ‘used’ to ads as a source of income. It’s a potential negative influence on what content I make, or how I approach making things. So instead, I’ve decided to give it to someone else.

Over the past few months, myself, my producer Kat, and Angie Wang, USC Roski Illustration professor and co-founder of CALA, an independent LA comics festival, have put together The Brainmind Residency, a virtual residency programme for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ creators in comics, illustration, animation, & video games.

The current plan is to find 5 emerging artists and give each of them a mini-grant of $2,000, along with a residency for regular feedback, project management, and mentorship from a group of industry professionals, towards a project to be completed in 3 months. We’re currently accepting applications on the site!

This residency shouldn’t have too much of an effect on the channel or the Patreon. Angie and Kat are running most of the program and we’re paying experienced mentors to work directly with residents, so it doesn’t cut too much into my time writing and researching videos, and the residency is being run purely from the last year’s ad revenue. I just wanted to make sure I updated you on what we’re up to, but mainly, I wanted to bring it up so I could say thank you.

In 2016 when I started getting freelance editing jobs, on videos which now have millions of views, some of which didn't even credit me, the pay was not very good. I’m sure this is common knowledge, but when you’re starting out in a creative field, there’s a lot of people who will exploit your need for survival by paying you far less than you’re worth for something they will profit from far more. It’s very hard for smaller, newer creators to get noticed or have the time to work on their own projects when plenty of outlets thrive on being able to take advantage of their desperation. And if you’re from a less privileged background, things are even harder.

The last few years of my life have been amazing and shocking in ways I could never have imagined or predicted. I didn’t seriously expect anyone to enjoy my work or support me the way they have, so I live a life of more or less constant surprise. I want to pay it forward, in ways like this, while I have the chance.

Realising I was in a place where I could say no to a form of income, purely because of your support, and be able to put it toward something like this, was probably the single happiest moment of my life. I’ll say it again, but it’ll never be enough: Thank you.

- Harry