5 ms·

If I was in Hollywood I'd call Tom Scott and give him whatever he needs to make whatever he wants. Imagine something like a long form road trip documentary, sto

If I was in Hollywood I'd call Tom Scott and give him whatever he needs to make whatever he wants. Imagine something like a long form road trip documentary, stopping in at interesting places and doing interesting things but with the pull and budget of a studio behind him.

dncornholio 4y ago
How to destroy a YouTubers career in 2 easy steps.
paxys 4y ago
There is a long line of very popular YouTube stars who have tried to transition to making more "mainstream" entertainment content (TV, movies) and have failed spectacularly. Large YouTube channels have fine tuned all aspects of their production to be surfaced by YouTube algorithms and consumed by YouTube audiences. Making engaging content for Netflix/HBO or a movie theater is a completely different problem.
- MarcelOlsz 4y ago
  Just upload it on YouTube. Problem solved.
  - adamparsons 4y ago
    Yeah whenever I've seen a favourite creator put up an out-of-place piece of long form content, it sometimes even gets a calendar entry so I can give it my full attention later
- mhh__ 4y ago
  Tom Scott tried to transition into TV years ago, once you view his delivery and not-liking-of memes through that lens it gives his character a new angle.
DaiPlusPlus 4y ago
> If I was in Hollywood... Hollywood essentially destroys almost everything it touches: the people that invest in film production insist on maximising their RoI at the cost of petty things like artistic integrity, historical accuracy, and such. I enjoy independent video producers ("creators" is the term now, I gather?) on YouTube (and Vimeo, etc) like Tom Scott precisely because it isn't Hollywood.
yreg 4y ago
What does he need the pull and budget of a studio for?
- adamparsons 4y ago
  He has mentioned a few times now that he struggles with developing ideas and script writing, and is essentially bottlenecking his pipeline. I'd imagine a well picked writing team that doesn't lose sight of what makes his content great would be welcome, but also I don't doubt over the years he's explored this at length already
  - yreg 4y ago
    Fair enough. Although surely he could afford a writing team if he wanted to have one. I know this obviously isn’t a fair apples to apples comparison, but Linus gets like double the views and is able to employ 80+ people to work on the videos. It would be interesting to hear Tom talk about his business, the way e.g. CGP Grey often does on his podcasts.
  - lifthrasiir 4y ago
    He already has a sizable production team including several researchers (which he recently publicly mentioned). I think the fact that Tom Scott is simultaneously a presenter and writer for his channel made it difficult to outsource the writing process. He is extremely good at delivering his own script at natural voice, but that's not guaranteed if anything changes.
- willcipriano 4y ago
  My grandparents made a documentary years ago[0], they started on their own and interviewed the family but once HBO got involved in the project they were able to do things like get into the courtroom for a parole hearing. Few people would talk to them, but the same people would bend over backwards for HBO. [0]https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1024663/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1024663/
supernova87a 4y ago
You know, I've been interested to observe why some YouTubers succeed hugely and others just stay specialty channels. For example, Tom Scott assembles stories that you possibly could find elsewhere, but what is it that makes his videos special to have gotten so many views in the 10s of millions? Is it that his videos are relatively short and digestible in 5 min, and have some off-the-beaten path / uncommon / eye catchy subjects? Does he just make the right combination of detail and high level takeaway? Is it that he actually goes to the places to get live footage (versus those Youtube regurgitaters who explain a topic never having left their desk, with 200 ADD-style stock footage clips in a single video)? Is it that he frames each video with a larger more philosophical question? Is it because he has a friendly face? I watch a channel with some quirky British/London guys on weird things about the city (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLCfl01zuE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLCfl01zuE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na9iO_HEe14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na9iO_HEe14) but it has never taken off like Tom Scott (-- and this is amusing, despite Tom Scott having initially been the guy who designed their intro clip). Maybe it's just too local (no so-what for me) to feel like it's broadly interesting, or they don't lead out to the bigger theme so-what? Maybe there's just some confluence of x-factors that propel certain people to fame.
- pzduniak 4y ago
  Map Men definitely took off. Over 1M per video for the past few years. They (he?) just don't make enough videos to grow as fast as Tom's channel. YouTube rewards consistency A LOT.
  - supernova87a 4y ago
    Yes, I'm sure that's a factor too. Also, one of my first reactions was, unless you have an explicitly comedy kind of channel, maybe somehow audiences don't seem to reward British-style quirky humor that Map Men is full of. I love it, but maybe it causes people to feel it's not "professional" or professor-ly enough? Tom Scott definitely doesn't do humor, at most only wry ironic suggestions. The Map Men sponsorship endings themselves have been hilarious (Surfshark, NordVPN, Audible, etc).
jimnotgym 4y ago
Tom Scott did indeed present a TV show with Colin Furze... demonstrating, along with my other comment on this thread, just how small the world of successful YouTubers is https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadget_Geeks https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadget_Geeks
- nibbleshifter 4y ago
  Someone pointed out a while back that the best way to gain success on there is basically to collab with someone already successful in the same "niche". It basically acts as an endorsement of sorts. Alternatively, start (or stage) a fight with them. A LOT of "YouTube drama" is deliberately staged engagement-bait.

dncornholio 4y ago

How to destroy a YouTubers career in 2 easy steps.

paxys 4y ago

There is a long line of very popular YouTube stars who have tried to transition to making more "mainstream" entertainment content (TV, movies) and have failed spectacularly. Large YouTube channels have fine tuned all aspects of their production to be surfaced by YouTube algorithms and consumed by YouTube audiences. Making engaging content for Netflix/HBO or a movie theater is a completely different problem.

MarcelOlsz 4y ago
Just upload it on YouTube. Problem solved.
- adamparsons 4y ago
  Yeah whenever I've seen a favourite creator put up an out-of-place piece of long form content, it sometimes even gets a calendar entry so I can give it my full attention later
mhh__ 4y ago
Tom Scott tried to transition into TV years ago, once you view his delivery and not-liking-of memes through that lens it gives his character a new angle.

DaiPlusPlus 4y ago

> If I was in Hollywood... Hollywood essentially destroys almost everything it touches: the people that invest in film production insist on maximising their RoI at the cost of petty things like artistic integrity, historical accuracy, and such. I enjoy independent video producers ("creators" is the term now, I gather?) on YouTube (and Vimeo, etc) like Tom Scott precisely because it isn't Hollywood.

yreg 4y ago

What does he need the pull and budget of a studio for?

adamparsons 4y ago
He has mentioned a few times now that he struggles with developing ideas and script writing, and is essentially bottlenecking his pipeline. I'd imagine a well picked writing team that doesn't lose sight of what makes his content great would be welcome, but also I don't doubt over the years he's explored this at length already
- yreg 4y ago
  Fair enough. Although surely he could afford a writing team if he wanted to have one. I know this obviously isn’t a fair apples to apples comparison, but Linus gets like double the views and is able to employ 80+ people to work on the videos. It would be interesting to hear Tom talk about his business, the way e.g. CGP Grey often does on his podcasts.
- lifthrasiir 4y ago
  He already has a sizable production team including several researchers (which he recently publicly mentioned). I think the fact that Tom Scott is simultaneously a presenter and writer for his channel made it difficult to outsource the writing process. He is extremely good at delivering his own script at natural voice, but that's not guaranteed if anything changes.
willcipriano 4y ago
My grandparents made a documentary years ago[0], they started on their own and interviewed the family but once HBO got involved in the project they were able to do things like get into the courtroom for a parole hearing. Few people would talk to them, but the same people would bend over backwards for HBO. [0]https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1024663/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1024663/

supernova87a 4y ago

You know, I've been interested to observe why some YouTubers succeed hugely and others just stay specialty channels. For example, Tom Scott assembles stories that you possibly could find elsewhere, but what is it that makes his videos special to have gotten so many views in the 10s of millions? Is it that his videos are relatively short and digestible in 5 min, and have some off-the-beaten path / uncommon / eye catchy subjects? Does he just make the right combination of detail and high level takeaway? Is it that he actually goes to the places to get live footage (versus those Youtube regurgitaters who explain a topic never having left their desk, with 200 ADD-style stock footage clips in a single video)? Is it that he frames each video with a larger more philosophical question? Is it because he has a friendly face? I watch a channel with some quirky British/London guys on weird things about the city (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLCfl01zuE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLCfl01zuE, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na9iO_HEe14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na9iO_HEe14) but it has never taken off like Tom Scott (-- and this is amusing, despite Tom Scott having initially been the guy who designed their intro clip). Maybe it's just too local (no so-what for me) to feel like it's broadly interesting, or they don't lead out to the bigger theme so-what? Maybe there's just some confluence of x-factors that propel certain people to fame.

pzduniak 4y ago
Map Men definitely took off. Over 1M per video for the past few years. They (he?) just don't make enough videos to grow as fast as Tom's channel. YouTube rewards consistency A LOT.
- supernova87a 4y ago
  Yes, I'm sure that's a factor too. Also, one of my first reactions was, unless you have an explicitly comedy kind of channel, maybe somehow audiences don't seem to reward British-style quirky humor that Map Men is full of. I love it, but maybe it causes people to feel it's not "professional" or professor-ly enough? Tom Scott definitely doesn't do humor, at most only wry ironic suggestions. The Map Men sponsorship endings themselves have been hilarious (Surfshark, NordVPN, Audible, etc).

jimnotgym 4y ago

Tom Scott did indeed present a TV show with Colin Furze... demonstrating, along with my other comment on this thread, just how small the world of successful YouTubers is https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadget_Geeks https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadget_Geeks

nibbleshifter 4y ago
Someone pointed out a while back that the best way to gain success on there is basically to collab with someone already successful in the same "niche". It basically acts as an endorsement of sorts. Alternatively, start (or stage) a fight with them. A LOT of "YouTube drama" is deliberately staged engagement-bait.