The State of the Channel REDUX - Update 1/31/2023

This is gonna be a pretty dense post, so I'm going to lead off with the tl:dr and work backwards from there:

-Real life issues have hit like a freight train. Nothing apocalyptic, but things that do required an immediate change of plans.

-A preview of the first 35+ minutes of a video on SIGNALIS will be getting posted alongside this update

-Our first theater history, a ~25 minute long look at the Grand Guignol, will be going live this week and will be posted in full here first a couple days beforehand

-The Director's Cut of the Bachelor's Route, as well as a reupload of the Evangelion video will be entering production as soon as those are live

With all that out of the way:

Hey ya'll, hope you had a good holiday and a happy New Years!

I, unfortunately, can't say I did. Apologies for starting off with a bummer, but I don't want to mince words: December and January were rough ya'll, and rough in a way that's gonna shape the future of the channel in ways I hadn't expected, and have more or less caused me to scrap many of the short term plans I discussed in the last post.

I'm going to do my best to keep this as brief as possible. Normally, I wouldn't talk about these kinds of issues at all. The very last thing I want is to just come in here and start complaining about my personal problems, but, given the impact they've already had on the channel and will continue to for the immediate future, as well as it's relation to why things failed to materialize anything in December, I figure you all deserve to hear a bit about what went down.

Long story short, two days after I made the last update post, I was abruptly given 30 Days Notice by my landlord without warning. Needless to say, this put a sizable amount of stress on me, but I did my best to push through it, seeing it as all the more reason to get SOMETHING out as we scrambled to get the money and resources needed to move. 

In the process, I did complete a 7000+ word long 'analysis' of Goncharov which, not gonna lie, I'm quite proud of! You can find that here if you are curious or would just like some proof that I wasn't simply resting on my laurels. I even went out and put together a really nice Femme Fatale costume that was frankly pretty hot imho and I was really excited to show off. Everything was coming together well, even managed to do a day of filming where we made some production mistakes but learned a lot and were eager to give it another go the next day.

I then came down with the worst flu I have had this decade. Chills, aches, disorientation, and, most relevantly, a strained, weak voice. Honestly thought I had COVID for a minute, but the tests came back negative so an Extra Nasty Flu is all I can really pin it on. Suffice to say though that it made recording in general, and live action recording in particular, out of the question, especially with the stress of eviction looming on top of it. This is why nothing was able to manifest last month, and for that, I apologize.

The silverlining is, while we were sick, the eviction got rescinded with an assurance that we'd worked it out. Everything seemed back to normal and, as the holidays wrapped up while Jade and I came back to health, we were ready to throw ourselves back into our projects. Then, about a week later, two days after Christmas, the landlord opted to change their mind again and told us we'd have to move.

The upside is they've given us till the end of March to get out, so it's not as dire as it could be. The downside is we will be moving back to California from Maryland, which is a couple thousand miles away and not a cheap journey. It also means that, once we move, I will be without my main editing computer for about a month while it is in transit. I will be using that as time to get writing for the Morrowind and Haruspex projects in order, while I delegate editing duties for smaller projects to some of my trusted collaborators. However, it will mean that my own, personal ability to edit and record will have a brief pause put on it no matter what I do.

As such, my short term priorities have changed radically, leaving me with effectively two choices: Bet my financial wellbeing on a single megaproject that may or may not even be completed by the time we're required to move, or work with others to get a handful of smaller projects out the door while we still have time.

I've opted for the latter. And so, that's how I've spent basically the whole of January thus far.

One thing I want to make exceptionally clear right now however is that this is not me asking you to increase your donation. I only want people donating what's comfortable for them to donate, and to only donate what they think my content is worth. What all of this is, though, is me explaining why I want to do everything I can for the next couple months to focus on bringing in new Patrons and, perhaps more importantly, turning AdSense into a meaningful stream of income for the short term. Sponsors would also be really cool as well but, well, we'll see. Again though, I can not stress this enough: The only reason I bring up any of this at all is to explain why I failed to bring anything together in December, why many of the plans I laid out last time have changed so drastically, and because I know it will continue to affect production in for the immediate future.

So, with all that said, what will this look like in practice?

Well, three things effectively, all of them hopefully good for you:

1) More traditional videos & essays, specifically ones I think my audience in particular will enjoy but will also appeal to people finding the channel for the first time. These won't be quite as involved as the Patho videos, but quality still remains my top concern as it has always been so I will still be doing my best to make them as polished as you've come to expect, though likely with the help of others.

As one example, I've been working in close collaboration with SulMatul on a massive video about Signalis. The script is completed at 18,000 words. We will not be half-assing it and I've been excited to see it come together. As of right now, we're hoping to have it out by this time next week, the middle of the month at latest. More details will be included in the preview posted alongside this.

What follows will depend on how that's received. It could be the Supergiant video I mentioned in the last update, there's also been talk of and research for a video discussing how many OSHA fines the Stardew Valley farmer would be hit with, it could be something else, but for right now I'm doing my best to stay able to change gears as the situation demands. 

2) Theater History videos. I'd planned to start with something more ambitious once I began tackling this genre, but in light of the circumstances, I've decided to start putting together some relatively short videos talking about pieces of theater history I think you'd all find interesting, but I know I'll never have a place for in the Patho series. 

The first of these, a video discussing the history of the Grand Guignol, the theater that invented splatter horror, is already written and recording. A good friend of mine, Amelia (who you might know as Core Ideas), has stepped up to handle editing duties on this project. As such, my role in the project at this point is done and the rest will be getting put together by her. She'd been sending me regular previews though and, suffice to say, I am beyond confident that you will all very much enjoy what's coming together.

I have other ideas lined up should that be received well and I still have every intention of making the video on the Shakespeare Riots, but for right now, I'm going to put this one out first, see what people think, and work from there.

3) Backburner projects, IE Completed scripts that were gathering dust + stuff I was hoping to put off till later but will probably pull the trigger on soon as I know I can put them together fairly quickly. Namely, the Bachelor's Director's Cut and the re-edit and reupload of the Evangelion video. With any luck, both of those will be dropping in February. 

Additionally, if time should allow, I may very well drop my Pathologic 2 recommendation video. I'd really rather not rush that project, but also that's a project that was never meant to be as involved as the For Those Who Will Never Play It videos, because Pathologic 2 is a game that I think EVERYONE should play. Hence why so much so that the original draft of The Marble Nest video had around 5000 words demanding everyone alive do so.

There is also the matter of the Goncharov video which is, frankly, in a weird position: I am keenly aware that meme is dead as a door nail. That said, I do sincerely think the script for it is one of the better ones I've ever written and am eager to put it together on a creative level. It was a passion project and I am still passionate about it. On a practical business level though... I don't know. Seems like something that could be a fair amount of time for very little reward at this point. But who knows, I have been wrong before. Which is, in part, why I'd be curious to hear your thoughts. Is that something you'd like to watch? If ya'll think that's something you'd be interested to see, I'd be happy to put together. If you'd think I'd be better off focusing on gaming or theater content though, I will listen.

So, what will all this look like? Well, with any luck, a LOT of quality content for ya'll. I've been very lucky to have a lot of very talented people in my life come out of woodwork to help me make a ton of really cool stuff as quickly as possible, and to say that I'm excited to see it all come together is an understatement. As is, I am fully expecting at least 2 hours of content to drop in February and am still aiming to accomplish much, much more. Gonna do our best to turn this mess into something good for all.

As always, thank you all so much for your support, it sincerely makes all the difference in the world. Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year's got in store with ya'll~

Ruby <33