Donna Wheeler and I went to the LA Partner Meeting hosted by YouTube as part of the VidCon events happening in LA this weekend, and, oh my, did we learn A LOT. Mainly, the presentations and panels gave the Partners teriffic insights on how to build an audience and make a living with video content. But the biggest message is that you can't just put up a video or even a series of videos and expect to succeed. Everybody who succeeds works long hours and participates in the online video community. If you don't and are looking for a magic way to suddenly become a YouTube star, your energy would be better spent where your heart really is.
That's not to say that you might not come up with some new way to use video content on the web to reach your goals. I'm thinking of the guys who shot the mock movie trailer, "The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon" and used its success to leverage a movie deal. But if you want to make your living from your videos on the web, you have to make it your job and treat is at least somewhat professionally.
It was a great meeting and very worthwhile to be in on the discussion of where YouTube and all of our content is going in the next few months.
ReplyDeleteUntil the next!
Filmmaker D