Latest / Gimbal Podcast / How Creator Camp is Fighting Back Against AI Slop

Transcript

How Creator Camp is Fighting Back Against AI Slop · Gimbal Podcast

• 0:00
  Okay, here's a weird paradox about being a creator. You're making videos sharing them online to
• 0:05
  be seen by millions of people, yet it feels very isolating. This industry isn't like the real
• 0:11
  world where you go into an office and gossip around the water cooler. Hours is actually better,
• 0:17
  but there is a sense of lacking community here in the creator economy. So how do you solve that?
• 0:23
  Well, in today's episode, I'm talking with Danny DeSatnik, the head of partnerships at Creator Camp.
• 0:29
  They're an organization that brings artistic creators together from all around the world to
• 0:34
  strengthen relationships and help everyone grow their craft. Our conversation today explores how
• 0:39
  to grow your community circle by finding like-minded creators and by putting yourselves in situations
• 0:45
  to be found. It's a great chat, and I'm so excited for you to listen to it. By the way,
• 0:50
  thank you to Wifey Jobs for powering this podcast.
• 0:53
  All right, Danny, let me ask you this. You are the head of partnerships for Creator Camp,
• 1:01
  which sounds super fun and super cool, but what exactly is it? That is the question we get the most,
• 1:07
  and that is the best question out there. One, it is fun, but what it actually is right now,
• 1:15
  it's a blend between a creator collective and a creative studio, and the reason those two things
• 1:22
  are important is because the whole mission, the whole idea is how do we build a new path,
• 1:27
  almost a new arena for filmmakers that are starting on the internet to become those filmmakers that
• 1:33
  are generational, that everyone's going to look to and everyone's hopefully going to reference over
• 1:38
  the next couple of generations and next couple of decades. So it's a mix of cultivating talent.
• 1:45
  We do this through retreats around the world. There is elements of production, so producing
• 1:50
  films and helping to support finance and produce films from internet talent that we really believe
• 1:55
  in are internet filmmakers we really believe in. And then the third thing is distribution.
• 2:00
  And that's probably the big question mark beyond the film festival that we run each year,
• 2:04
  and we're hoping that film festival will be the launch pad to help those internet filmmakers
• 2:09
  that we really believe in, give them the chance to be seen on the big screen in front of the industry
• 2:13
  in front of their peers, and give them that moment to jump. So Creator Collective, you're talking about
• 2:20
  the Austin Film Festival that you just had, you screened a bunch of films from your creators
• 2:26
  in front of some big names as well, and everybody got together.
• 2:30
  Exactly right. Yeah, and it was around a hundred days before the Film Festival happened,
• 2:35
  we call it Cam Film Plus Fest or Cam Film Fest. We got 50 creators within our network
• 2:42
  to submit almost like an application and treatment for films that they wanted to create,
• 2:47
  because we started noticing that a lot of our network, maybe like 60 to 70% of this creator
• 2:51
  collective that we have really wanted to get into film and really want to be filmmakers.
• 2:56
  So we put out these applications that came back with them completed and treatments for what they
• 3:01
  wanted their story and their films to look like. The team chose around 10. And then we helped to
• 3:06
  finance those 10 films. They were then completed over a hundred days sprint, which is insane to
• 3:13
  look back on. And then all of those films were ended up premiering at the Film Festival. And those
• 3:19
  were the only films that were shown at the Film Festival. So it was very much here. Let us show you
• 3:24
  the system. Let us show you what it looks like for incredible filmmakers that are native to the
• 3:29
  internet that are starting on the internet instead of going to film school. And if we give them the
• 3:33
  resources and we give them the opportunity to show up, here's what it's going to look like. And what
• 3:39
  it looked like was very impressive. I never think of subscribers as a good way to measure somebody,
• 3:44
  but in terms of the submissions that you got and the numbers, like the films that you actually
• 3:50
  screened, did you predominantly focus on really small creators with very few subscribers where they
• 3:57
  larger over a hundred thousand subscribers with a mix of both? I would say the guiding principle
• 4:03
  is we want to empower internet filmmakers or creators who are filmmakers at heart that have
• 4:08
  internet proven audiences. And that last part is really important because we believe if you have
• 4:13
  internet proven audiences, then you don't need to take your film to Hollywood immediately.
• 4:18
  You can start to take it to your audience, whether it's in person or digitally. And that's what we're
• 4:23
  figuring out is what is the best way to do that. Because if you can do that, you can usually
• 4:27
  recoup on your investment. You can further your community. And you don't have to play that anyone
• 4:31
  else's rules. I say this all to say that like that is the general guiding principle for us,
• 4:36
  but going back the 10 filmmakers that made films, I would say there were probably like seven that
• 4:43
  were really established. And then three that we felt were on the rise. So that on the rise,
• 4:49
  anywhere from 30,000 to let's call it like a hundred thousand followers. But to your point,
• 4:54
  it doesn't really, the actual number doesn't matter. It's almost what is that? Do they have a genuine
• 5:01
  audience around their craft? It's not somebody who's sitting in their basement without actually having
• 5:07
  done any of the work and saying, Hey, I want to be a part of this. It's someone who's actually going
• 5:11
  in doing the work. And they're seeing this opportunity and saying, Hey, this could be a cool way
• 5:15
  to grow, but also a cool way to meet like meet like minded friends too. Like surely now they're all
• 5:21
  really close together. And there were some big names at the film festival too. Like Jack Conti was
• 5:26
  such a big pivotal role in that Austin film festival. And now all of these creators are now
• 5:31
  collaborating with the head of Patreon. You know what's interesting is now I learned this and I
• 5:38
  started to understand this around a year ago. We throw a summit every year. That summit we see
• 5:44
  it almost as our Oscars. So we're taking 70 to 75 unbelievable artists on the internet. So whether
• 5:52
  those are filmmakers or musicians or fine artists or writers that are part of this next generation
• 5:58
  or next wave, these like 18 to 26, 27 year olds. And we take them to a beautiful country and
• 6:05
  there's like a three, four day celebration. And that like marks our our our moment of like look,
• 6:09
  we believe in you. We believe the 75 here are those that are going to hopefully define the
• 6:14
  artistic side of the internet in the future. And when we did it in Switzerland last September,
• 6:20
  the only keynote we had, the only speech that we had was from Jack. Jack is a massive massive,
• 6:27
  massive champion of the three guys that run creator camp, Max Reisinger, Chris Duncan, Simon Kim.
• 6:33
  We got I'm going to say very lucky in that he was watching the space and watching what the guys
• 6:38
  were doing maybe around two years ago. And they got in touch with him. And he really changed the
• 6:42
  trajectory of creator camp. He really, really believes in everything that is being done. And he is
• 6:48
  the number one fan of everything that we're doing. And he Patreon was the they essentially funded
• 6:53
  our film festival. The reason I bring this all up is because when Jack gave the keynote in Switzerland,
• 6:59
  I remember it ended. All the creators left to go to the next thing that they were doing. And our
• 7:04
  team held him back and just interviewed him a little bit and asked him some questions. And one of
• 7:08
  the things was why did you put so much effort into this keynote? You could have gone off the cuff.
• 7:12
  His keynote was unbelievable. You can actually watch it online on our YouTube channel. But his
• 7:17
  answer was he's like, well, this is the next generation of like artistic heroes. And I want to be
• 7:23
  accepted by this generation as well. Because if I don't, then I'm a husband. But if I can be accepted
• 7:29
  and I can be a peer and I can support them and they can support me and we can keep inspiring
• 7:32
  and invigorating, then life continues to be fun. And he's an artist at heart. And I think it was
• 7:37
  almost in that moment that you go, oh, shit, everyone's human. Like Maslow's hierarchy of needs,
• 7:43
  everyone needs, sure, like safety and security. But then there's social acceptance. And then there's
• 7:48
  like fulfillment, et cetera. And that's where he is. And it doesn't matter if you're to your point
• 7:53
  that founder and CEO of a billion dollar company, or if you're an emerging creator with unbelievable
• 7:59
  craft, who's just very excited to see what the what the future holds. Nice. I mean,
• 8:05
  everything that you're saying sounds like an incredible experience. And I'm certain that there
• 8:10
  is somebody listening to this podcast right now saying, how the heck do I get involved in something
• 8:14
  like this? I'm an artistic creator too. I want to come to your next summit. I want to be a part of
• 8:19
  your film fest. Like how do how do people get on your radar? That's the best question of all time.
• 8:28
  You must be your DMs must be exploded with people who just want to be a part of it.
• 8:33
  Here's the nice thing about creator camp is the three creators that run it are creators themselves
• 8:42
  have done it themselves for a while have really built up audiences. So their scene is appear
• 8:49
  to every other creator that is either emerging or is much bigger than them or
• 8:55
  those that they want to be friends with. Compared to the typical like, oh, you raise money and you
• 8:59
  start this business and you're serving creators and then you're trying to get creators to come
• 9:03
  to your thing or trying to get creators to work with you. You're just seen as a suit. You're a
• 9:07
  business guy. You're not that creative. You're not that pure. And so the incredible thing about
• 9:13
  the guys is that they can reach out and they can get the attention of who they want because
• 9:18
  they're creators themselves. It's not this like we want to take money. We want you to help us grow
• 9:22
  as a marketing scheme. It's just we believe in you. We really respect your craft. We want you to
• 9:28
  be a part of this to answer your question like very specifically. There is no like method to the
• 9:33
  madness of how do you come to a summit in Switzerland or how do you come to a base camp in France
• 9:40
  or a week long retreat in France. The types of creatives we look for are one those that are artists
• 9:47
  at heart, meaning who are the people that see social media as a tool to get them to this point
• 9:54
  of like true fulfillment. So that's like either writing a book or making a movie or going on tour
• 10:00
  as a musician or having your painting in an incredible gallery around the world. These are all
• 10:06
  artists at heart again that see this that's see social as a tool. The second thing is I think it
• 10:13
  it's so hard to say that beyond beyond that it's very much what is the feel who are you as a human
• 10:18
  what's your demeanor. I think that's what the guys do so well is that what's such a good pulse
• 10:23
  on just like really quality humans. I'll end it with this though because we always run into trouble
• 10:30
  and every so-called gatekeeper runs runs into this type of trouble of you stand for something
• 10:36
  in the world and you naturally have a bias to something in the world and the idea of courses
• 10:42
  to give opportunity to to so many people and the idea is to reinforce the types of people that
• 10:46
  you believe in but there's always going to be bias and so I think the beautiful thing that I've
• 10:50
  seen out of creator camp is that by the guys standing for something and really knowing who they want
• 10:56
  and finding the people that they feel like they really get along with and they respect and they're
• 11:01
  inspired by many other creators within our realm have then started their own retreats or started
• 11:08
  their own things where they're standing for something else and they're focusing on a different type
• 11:13
  of creator and I think that's the goal is you can't serve everyone if you try to serve everyone
• 11:16
  you're serving no one so we do stand for a very specific type and then there is this intangible
• 11:21
  quality that again it's the taste of the three guys that run creator camp to figure out who is
• 11:26
  continued to be invited or who is brought along on this journey and so it's a bit of an exclusive
• 11:33
  club in that sense don't call us we'll call you and we think you're ready. I do think so yeah and
• 11:38
  it can come across as negative for sure but it's well no it preserves the purity of the art and
• 11:45
  that's something that's really clearly important to you in creator camp and even Jack Conti like you
• 11:50
  all kind of live in this vein where the the art is what's pure and you're not looking for
• 11:55
  content creators that's another you know group of people that exist on the internet and you're
• 11:59
  saying no we don't want these ones we want people who are true artists it's a really good way to put
• 12:05
  it it's a really good way to put it and I think it's again we have such a negative look on the idea
• 12:08
  of a gatekeeper right whether such a negative look on like you see this institution and you're like
• 12:14
  how do you how do I get in how do I get in and I think the greatest advice that I was given like
• 12:19
  six years ago when I was trying to get into the creative space and I think the advice I continue
• 12:22
  to give is like momentum pushes forward momentum and like people are attracted to other people with
• 12:28
  momentum and it's not so much the idea of can you do everything in your power to get into this thing
• 12:33
  because this thing is the end all bill it'll never be the end all bill right the end all bill is
• 12:38
  yeah can you work on that craft can you care about the things you care for can you work on the stuff
• 12:41
  you care for and you don't want to wait for everyone else yeah and then naturally your stuff will
• 12:47
  then find the audience because of the algorithm and find your collaborative peers and at that point
• 12:52
  you'll probably end up getting the email from anyone any one type of organizations or institutions
• 12:58
  that you care for being like hey we've seen your stuff we'd love you to come and at that point
• 13:01
  you're not going oh my life's gonna change it's no okay like this makes sense like I know what I
• 13:05
  want to do I know what I stand for I know what I'm good at and I think we'd rather like I'd
• 13:10
  rather that in the world than yeah it's like the record label issue where you get signed to a record
• 13:15
  label and you think your life is gonna change but nothing changes they still need incredible product
• 13:19
  to be able to market and distribute around the world and I kind of see it in the same way that's
• 13:25
  so funny it's brought up like a really funny stupid embarrassing memory in me when I was younger
• 13:31
  I was like I know I'll be successful when I can buy a Lamborghini and I was like I'm gonna buy a
• 13:37
  Lamborghini when I'm older and like I think as I've gotten older I've started to realize like by the
• 13:44
  time that I actually can afford a Lamborghini I probably won't want a Lamborghini you know I probably
• 13:48
  won't I see it as like a logical investment it just doesn't make any sense and what I'm hearing
• 13:53
  from you is you know everybody like based on what you've said so far at the beginning of this
• 13:58
  interview like creator camp sounds like an incredible opportunity for any artist to participate in
• 14:02
  but what you're saying is don't do the arts to become part of creator camp do the arts because you
• 14:09
  really love truly making something special and the opportunity will come find you but by that
• 14:14
  point it's not going to be the big amazing special thing that you're working towards it's just another
• 14:19
  thing in your you know artistic life you said it so well you said it so well and I think it's a
• 14:27
  it's a it's a really nice way of putting it like you paraphrase that so nicely and that it's
• 14:34
  also a great indicator like if you meet someone and they go look I haven't been invited to
• 14:39
  think yet or I haven't been brought into this creator camp world if it's creator camp that you want
• 14:43
  to go for whatever other world you want to go for but when you can meet that person and they're not
• 14:47
  salty about it and they're like my time will come but like I'm just so excited about what I'm
• 14:50
  creating today to your point yeah those are the people that we want to reinforce and so it's very
• 14:55
  chicken and egg yet momentum is always the way to start interesting that's so fascinating to
• 15:02
  think of it through that lens cool I want to talk a little bit more about the community that you're
• 15:08
  building at creator camp like you you've got a collection of people who are all similarly aligned
• 15:14
  with their artistic merit and now they're people who are engaging with each other they're meeting
• 15:19
  each other going to film festivals going to summit in Switzerland even you you're headed off to
• 15:24
  Sweden later tonight to do like this base camp workshop with a bunch of creators what is the
• 15:30
  community aspect of creator camp bring to these artists who are probably working on their own 99
• 15:38
  percent of their year it's the most exciting thing of all time and I'm biased because all I care
• 15:45
  about is supporting the talent that I believe so deeply in and helping them in any type of way over
• 15:49
  to like achieve the things they want to achieve over the next 30 40 years when you look at I think
• 15:54
  creative people in general to your point everyone's isolated because a lot of the time you're living
• 15:58
  in your own head you're in your own world especially artists at heart like you have this thing
• 16:01
  you really want to bring to the world that you care about so deeply and you're going to go do it
• 16:05
  but the hardest thing is you go do it and then you bring it to the world and you go
• 16:09
  kibble where the people like where the people around me that I can appreciate where the people
• 16:13
  around me that inspire me if you have those people around you naturally as friends not as like oh
• 16:19
  out let's network and find the right people around me to fill certain roles no but who are just
• 16:23
  the people organically that you get along with that you respect that respect you and that you guys
• 16:28
  inspire each other it's almost like a mattress for your creative for your creative life and that
• 16:33
  like as you keep going there's going to be falls and you're going to be down but if you're
• 16:36
  be down then you just hang around with the people that inspire you and you go holy so what am I
• 16:40
  doing like I got to get back and and got to go create that thing that I really care for and so what
• 16:44
  the community aspect is done for creator camp or through creator camp for all these creators it's
• 16:50
  it's organically given them the opportunity to just find the homies that are going to be with them
• 16:55
  for the ride that could potentially be their creative collaborators but are just going to be there to
• 17:00
  continue to respect and inspire them for their whole time you know we were it was the last it was
• 17:06
  the day after the film festival in Austin and one of the musicians within our community his name's
• 17:11
  Bart he was my mandal bro it was playing a show in Austin he was playing a small room 100 people
• 17:15
  and I think there was around 50 people there and the majority of people were creator camp people
• 17:20
  remember stepping back going like if you play this out for 10 years these 40 people 50 people
• 17:25
  that love Bart and love his music and are there just there as a friend but they go keep going on with
• 17:30
  their careers and they're going to be insanely talented musicians and filmmakers and writers etc
• 17:35
  but they're all just friends with him if he goes hey guys I'm coming out with a new album you want
• 17:39
  to just like use the song in in your video or you want to just like post about it like they're
• 17:43
  naturally going to post about it just because they're friends and they all respect each other
• 17:47
  that he doesn't need a label he's got the 40 people around him that's going to blow him up
• 17:51
  and so when I look at what this is the last thing I'll bring in and like what it reminds me of
• 17:56
  as I've reflected I've been with creator camp for a year and a half is there's a guy named Brian
• 18:00
  Eno and Brian Eno is like a very famous musician he was the guy to almost popularize like
• 18:07
  ambient drone music so he's Fred against mentor he's the guy that created music very
• 18:14
  in a very unique way I won't keep going on him but what he said is he had this word called
• 18:18
  seniors and like you can think of seniors as he calls it like the communal form of the concept of
• 18:24
  genius it's where like a group of people come together naturally not meaning to make a difference
• 18:29
  in the world not meaning to change the world but they just come together and they start creating
• 18:34
  together and because of the compounding effect of them creating together naturally the impact
• 18:39
  that that creation leaves goes way beyond that group on one hand you know that's super beautiful
• 18:46
  like the fact that everybody comes together by happenstance and you all lift each other up and
• 18:50
  everybody helps each other out on the other hand there are people who are creators and artists
• 18:56
  who are living in rural Montana population a hundred how are these people going to find any sense
• 19:02
  of community naturally and I think it's a it's a really good point now you look at the internet and
• 19:07
  the internet has given us the opportunity to essentially put your workout into the world and
• 19:14
  if it does its job right if the algorithm does its job right that video that photo that song
• 19:20
  is going to find people that you wish you can meet and you can hopefully meet and or the people
• 19:26
  that are going to champion you I've been recently setting this guy in Bonnie Ver who he goes by
• 19:33
  Justin Vernon his band right now is called Bonnie Ver and he's based out of this like tiny tiny tiny
• 19:39
  town it's called Eau Claire in Wisconsin and that's what he wanted and that's what he loved like
• 19:44
  that's what reinforced who he was and over time he slowly added in collaborators once he's finished
• 19:50
  with the the art and the work that he really wants to create I think the distinction to be made
• 19:56
  is are you an artist or are you let's call it like just a create are you a creator are you someone
• 20:02
  who sees this as a business creator camp very much tends to lean towards purely just the artist
• 20:09
  at heart so that's what we really care for now if you're someone in rural Montana with population
• 20:16
  a thousand and you're creating YouTube videos you see it as a business as something that you want
• 20:20
  to do for the rest of your life to make money I don't know I think the best case there is look
• 20:28
  there's when you look at community there's multiple levels of community there's some people that do
• 20:33
  an amazing job to create these these places and these spaces or these events that are open to
• 20:39
  anyone that maybe don't cost as much and it's not highly curated but it's just a place it's a
• 20:44
  it's a gathering space to potentially find your people and be inspired I'd almost call that
• 20:50
  I know it's expensive but even like a VidCon a VidCon plays to so many types but it's like
• 20:54
  the central spot that if you're a creator you're accepted and you can probably find other people
• 20:58
  that you really care for it sounds like you're saying that you know you should let community find
• 21:06
  you and you know forming relationships with people through happenstance is a way to create
• 21:12
  very strong pure legitimate art but you're also kind of saying you can put yourself in environments
• 21:21
  to be found naturally like you mentioned VidCon being a place where that one rural listener from
• 21:27
  Montana can go to you don't exactly know who you're gonna meet but you're gonna be in a physical
• 21:33
  building where you may have the the opportunity to collaborate with people who you really jam with
• 21:39
  and that resonates with me because when I went to film school I kind of had that same experience where
• 21:44
  I didn't know who I was going to be connected with but by going to film school I ended up making
• 21:49
  these really cool connections and now some of those people are still lifelong friends even after
• 21:53
  many years and what I've learned from them I don't think that I certainly don't identify as an
• 22:00
  artist in the pure sense that you have been describing it for this interview but you know there is
• 22:05
  artistic merit to anything that's created and I think I've learned a lot about different forms of
• 22:11
  art and different forms of creation through the relationships that I've had and made by putting
• 22:17
  myself in a film school environment I think you're spot on man I think you really are spot on
• 22:23
  there's two elements to it I think one is the creation like momentum you need momentum if you're
• 22:29
  not creating one there's that Ira glass chasm where he says inherently everyone's got their own
• 22:35
  taste and got impeccable taste but when you start off your output doesn't match your taste and so
• 22:39
  you're on a journey to get your output to match your taste so that's more of like internal fulfillment
• 22:44
  that you feel that way you create you're really proud of on the other hand then there is like
• 22:49
  where you place yourself and I think it's easy to go look you can either find an environment or you
• 22:55
  can create an environment the three creator camp guys when we don't see more artful content
• 23:01
  being created in this world where's the art where those people we want to be surrounded by those
• 23:06
  people we are going to do the work to be and create an environment for those people on the other
• 23:12
  hand there's no this isn't better worse they kind of go hand to hand it's oh there is a there's
• 23:17
  like open sauce which is that like amazing conference or summit for DIY makers I think out in
• 23:23
  San Francisco what an amazing spot they've defined an identity the types of people that are going
• 23:28
  to attract and who you should you should go there because who you're probably going to go meet and
• 23:31
  if you're in that pool of people amazing that is an environment for you and so to your point
• 23:36
  about going to film school not knowing who you're going to meet yeah but it's reinforcing and it's
• 23:39
  giving yourself the best possible chance to find your people because when you find your people
• 23:45
  then life changes and so I think it just depends on do you want to find do you want to be a seeker
• 23:50
  like do you want to go find that space or is there something burning inside of you like Max
• 23:55
  Chris and Simon who went we need to create our own space because we don't see it existing
• 24:00
  I feel like now is a good time to bring up how you and I met like it's very reminiscent of
• 24:06
  the stuff that we're talking about like you put out into the world that you were going to start
• 24:11
  hosting a creator coffee event in Toronto which is where I live and where you live and I learned
• 24:17
  about it through Twitter and I showed up one day with very you know with no expectations not sure
• 24:23
  who I was going to meet and we ended up doing that consistently every single Saturday for I don't
• 24:28
  know three or four months you did it even longer I wasn't there for every single weekend
• 24:32
  but it was great because nobody knew like what we were going to gain out of it but we all left as
• 24:39
  kind of friends and we all kind of know each other and now in Toronto we all have this community of
• 24:44
  people where we can reach out to and connect with and I speak with you you know personally we go
• 24:48
  meet up for coffee you know every now and then which is great what like what is the the mode motif
• 24:53
  behind setting up something like that like a community in Toronto like you're not getting really
• 24:59
  I mean it's pretty clear that like financial motivation is not a key thing for you when it comes
• 25:05
  to finding great artists but you're putting a lot of energy into organizing these events and
• 25:10
  what's coming out of it is not you know tangible right off the hop so what is the value in creating
• 25:17
  in a community like that that's my that's my whole life dude what I what I what I love as like
• 25:24
  we talk about all the time is like finding environments or creating environments where
• 25:30
  I can find the right talent that I can bet on that I can just be a friend and support that's the
• 25:34
  thing that fulfills me I think when I look at a city like Toronto there's so much talent there's
• 25:39
  so much talent I would pride myself on being an amazing curator of people because because I care
• 25:47
  and the feeling is very much similar to what I just said it's you can either find the environment
• 25:51
  or you can create the environment for me and our friend Jacob Kelly this was an opportunity
• 25:56
  for us to create that environment and by creating that environment you essentially get to control
• 26:02
  who comes in and out you get to set the standard you get to set the culture and so very selfishly
• 26:07
  between the two of us we were like we want to create the space because we don't see this space
• 26:11
  in Toronto let's make it let's make it in open space so like it's not curated and let's just see
• 26:16
  who comes through and whenever we meet creators the nice thing is that you then have a vehicle to
• 26:22
  meet people through like if I met you at a party and we talk and great man so nice to meet you how
• 26:28
  follow you on IG and you go yeah I'll follow you on a jar I do to see around versus hey by the way
• 26:33
  this Saturday we're throwing a coffee I think I'd love for you to come and probably meet some
• 26:36
  interesting people my friend Jacob Kelly's coming I think you'll get along with et cetera it is
• 26:40
  that reinforcing function again if you are a curator and I hate using this word but like a connector
• 26:46
  like I am at heart which I love having that mechanism the thing to bring people to and curate people
• 26:52
  to is so important it's like it's been linked in a fight they're like oh I'm a networker I like
• 27:00
  I'm a fan and I love connecting people and I'm a connector it's like man I anyway that is like
• 27:06
  a slimy term but it is what you're like uniquely great at like you are the guy who anyone can
• 27:12
  go to and I say hey do you know anybody that fits this description and you know like seven people
• 27:18
  I appreciate I think it's what it's it's honestly why the creator coffees shut down it was like one
• 27:24
  day it was like nine months in I was talking to Jacob and I was like look man I have this
• 27:30
  irritation with these creator coffees now because we are we got to meet some incredible people
• 27:35
  like yourself and I genuinely mean that like I'm so so looking glad we got to meet and we're friends
• 27:40
  likewise yeah but then there's the other side where because it was open like someone who maybe
• 27:45
  wasn't even started like thought the creator world was interesting or thought being a creator was
• 27:49
  interesting would come through and it didn't define I wasn't we weren't that defined on what that
• 27:54
  space represented and that started to irritate me and so we shut it down because for me I am
• 28:02
  my favorite artist has this saying that I love I'd rather feed 25 and entertain a hundred
• 28:07
  like I would rather six people be at a table but I'm super intentional about who's there and why
• 28:12
  and what the experience is versus setting up a happy hour for a hundred people and again it goes
• 28:17
  back to that thing earlier where I said there's different environments and there's different
• 28:19
  community needs and like community elements there's those at the top a bigger funnel bigger space
• 28:25
  not as curated anyone can come in lower lift but then there's the curated stuff and that's kind
• 28:30
  of where I sit is the curated stuff and it's the reason why when I met Chris Max and Simon and I
• 28:36
  saw what they were doing with their retreats at the time where it was just retreat to me I was like
• 28:41
  oh this is it's almost like being my parents are South African so I've had a chance to go on
• 28:45
  so far as I promise this will make sense and like you wake up at five thirty you wake up at five
• 28:49
  thirty in the morning and you go for these incredible game rides and it's this open-aired car
• 28:53
  at five forty five in the morning and you go try find that watering hole and what is the watering
• 28:58
  hole where the big five game animals or those that are at the top of the food chain are coming to
• 29:03
  just like slurp and drink and get their morning started and you find that watering hole that's
• 29:07
  going to attract everyone and you sit there and you have your coffee and you just watch animals
• 29:11
  being into this amazing I think about that all the time in terms of like curating and finding
• 29:16
  the right spaces is what the guys what crater camp is done is they have created an unbelievable
• 29:22
  watering hole that for any experience they put on whether it's a retreat around the world whether
• 29:26
  it's our summit around the world the people that you're going to meet there are going to be
• 29:31
  unbelievable artists at heart who regardless if they have fifty thousand or five hundred
• 29:36
  million followers it doesn't matter it's their craft who they are and what they're creating
• 29:41
  and what they're the potential for what they will create is unbelievable and that's what I care
• 29:46
  for and so when I think of myself as like a connector and a curator yes opening up a space
• 29:50
  in Toronto like crater coffee was great but it wasn't as curated because I felt like it didn't
• 29:55
  serve that identity didn't serve that purpose that I was going for and the types of people I wanted
• 29:59
  to be around so we shut it down and now I do a lot of stuff behind the scenes where I don't
• 30:03
  publicize on it so that I can control the environment yeah okay I mean overall the the journey
• 30:10
  of the crater coffee in Toronto was a good experience because everybody met someone cool and even
• 30:15
  though it expanded to something that was different from what you had hoped in ambition that didn't
• 30:19
  mean that it wasn't worth it was absolutely worth it and from my perspective someone who just showed
• 30:24
  up bought a coffee sat down and started talking to people I now know you know 20 or 30 people in
• 30:29
  Toronto who are in a same working environment that I am that I wouldn't know otherwise so I have
• 30:35
  nothing but gratitude towards you and to your partner Jacob Kelly who both you collaborated to
• 30:40
  to organize this for free so thank you man thank you for being you and the stuff in the behind
• 30:49
  the scenes work that you do that no one gets to see but the way you do it and how you support it
• 30:54
  again it's like to me it's a no-brainer you meet someone like yourself and you go oh this guy's
• 30:58
  going to do something crazy over the next 20-30 years and he's a really good guy at heart and
• 31:02
  oh you want to be around that type of person yeah yeah your vibe is your try right so if you
• 31:07
  can connect with those people they'll influence you and you'll do great things as a result so true
• 31:13
  so true I want to ask for your feedback on something that I do it's anytime I see somebody doing
• 31:19
  something uniquely special or cool online if they're posting really cool videos or if they have
• 31:24
  a newsletter that I really jam with I like to reach out and just say hey I've been reading your
• 31:31
  newsletter for three weeks and honestly it's great I love when it comes into my inbox it's the
• 31:35
  first thing I click hey I just watched your video on whatever else I thought it was so uniquely
• 31:40
  special I love the way that you did this and what I've learned from that is you know some of the
• 31:47
  time you don't hear back some of the time the people are too busy or too famous to like respond
• 31:52
  to you but surprisingly more people respond with like hey thank you very much I'm glad you enjoyed
• 32:00
  it and I find that really fulfilling just to like just acknowledge that people are making really
• 32:06
  cool special things but also there's like this hidden I wouldn't say it's a tactic or anything
• 32:11
  because I'm not trying to be slimy about it like it is very very genuine but now I've made a connection
• 32:16
  with somebody and maybe it's an opportunity to explore whether or not you jam with that person
• 32:20
  what's your take on something like that do you promote that kind of
• 32:24
  environment that energy that kind of thing is there a different way to apply it I think a million
• 32:29
  percent there is no there's no better feeling than you putting something out into the world and
• 32:34
  someone then messaging you out of the blue going I spend time and I watch that and I really like it
• 32:39
  or I spend time I watch that and and that's inspired me to do X I think I do that all the time too
• 32:45
  and it's it definitely is extremely fulfilling I think the feeling like to your second part I
• 32:51
  don't think it's slimy at all and I again if I think it's genuine and I think if it is genuinely
• 32:56
  someone that you would want to be a peer or you'd want to collaborate in the future what a great
• 33:00
  way to do it compared to you try like meet someone on the street or they're up at what they're
• 33:05
  eating dinner and you have to go up to them and you have to maybe interrupt them or you send a
• 33:08
  cold email compared to everyone else now there is there's people have attention and limited attention
• 33:13
  you have to find unique ways to get through to those people so I think that that makes a ton of
• 33:17
  sense and honestly it's it's probably the most impactful thing because then let's say and I love
• 33:25
  doing this too where I did this two days ago there was this incredible creator in Toronto he's
• 33:30
  maybe I don't know like 3040k on IG I saw his stuff reached out and just said hey like seeing
• 33:36
  what you're like you do with your edits and and how you tell stories through your edits I think is
• 33:40
  like really cool and I'm taking inspiration cool to see your in Toronto like keep doing you and
• 33:43
  he was like oh thanks man yeah you too in two years maybe I meet him and then we go oh shit that
• 33:50
  oh that was you and he was like yeah yeah like that was me like that's an instant oh I saw you for who
• 33:56
  you were regardless of your following or regardless of what everyone else was saying like it was so
• 34:00
  genuine I actually have heard on that tactic that you use there's this artist Russ and sorry I
• 34:07
  keep bringing up music examples music is just everything but there's this artist named Russ and he
• 34:12
  does it all the time he says like it is the it is the greatest way to find collaborators is if you
• 34:18
  are just putting it out into the world that hey I love what you're doing and here is why to your
• 34:22
  point you do it genuinely there's a good chance someone looks at that if they look at that DM and go
• 34:26
  oh that's awesome wait who is this person and maybe they look at your page and if they see your
• 34:30
  stuff and they like it he's like I can't tell you the amount of times that someone has just gone
• 34:33
  dude your stuff's great we should collaborate like don't get in the studio or where you
• 34:38
  based out of and that could naturally lead to this incredible collaboration that maybe does change
• 34:43
  the game or maybe that does get you to that next stage or whatever that is in the world whether
• 34:46
  it's like artistic or it's actual actual actual benefit on your business side I think the tactic
• 34:53
  is great I really admire Ali Abdul because he is a leader in the education space you know in OG on
• 35:01
  YouTube as some would say but he does go out of his way to leave comments on videos of smaller
• 35:07
  creators and it takes you know 15 seconds of his time to do it and energy and he absolutely
• 35:12
  doesn't have to but when that has happened to me where he's left a comment on videos that I've
• 35:17
  worked on it feels so great just to be acknowledged and just to see it so I love this idea of promoting
• 35:22
  positivity across the world like that just telling people they love their their content and I can't
• 35:28
  endorse it any stronger so I'm glad that you're on the same page yeah man there's the
• 35:35
  there's the element of look if and I learned this from going to Switzerland and we threw this one
• 35:41
  thing called like a one day we do it all the time we'd call it a one day film challenge we put
• 35:45
  all the creators in the groups four to five we give them a prompt we give them time we say it
• 35:50
  cool you've got eight hours to make a 90 second film we're using this prompt and this thing
• 35:55
  indebted that go out go do your thing and we're gonna put you into groups and they come back and
• 36:00
  usually they create unbelievable work but the reason I bring this up is I learned initially I was
• 36:07
  like oh shit are they gonna make something good like are they gonna care to even make something good
• 36:10
  like there was a bit of a prize but it wasn't anything major and what you learn is you go oh if
• 36:14
  people are in an environment where the people they are surrounded by are those that either they
• 36:20
  respect or are inspired by them or they're they're inspired to continue to create or be seen by
• 36:26
  those people that is the most human thing of all time if someone comes up to you and goes or
• 36:32
  comments and the person you respect comments to go like I've seen you I've seen your stuff
• 36:36
  unbelievable or like please keep going that is going to do so much more for you then if you have
• 36:42
  a million likes on a photo because that's not going to go anywhere there's no like human feet
• 36:47
  you don't know how to quantify a million people but I know how to quantify Devon messaging me
• 36:51
  or emailing me or somehow randomly calling me and going hey I know you know what you probably know
• 36:56
  who I am but I just saw your stuff holy shit who are you like that's gonna inspire me for the
• 37:02
  rest of life yeah and I think if you can continue to give and that kind of comes to community if you
• 37:06
  can continue to give people environments to impress the people they respect and also be around those
• 37:13
  that will continue to respect them that is the greatest environment for collaboration and like
• 37:19
  longevity to come out of because the intentions are pure the intentions are I'm creating work to
• 37:24
  inspire the people that inspire me I'm not creating work to be seen and go viral and have like
• 37:30
  creative success that leads to celebrity and fame that's cool I appreciate that
• 37:36
  all right Danny you are off on a flight to Sweden later today so I think we should wrap up but
• 37:44
  before we do just really quickly who is a creator that's on your radar right now oh too many
• 37:52
  way too and that is not the that is not the right question to ask I I'm gonna shout out I'll
• 38:00
  shout out too quick um one and I'm lucky to be friendly with both of them but one is a friend
• 38:06
  out of Chicago her name's Gracie co she's still in school an insane filmmaker director who at the
• 38:14
  age of 22 can somehow balance school go around the world directing and filmmaking shoots for
• 38:23
  Nike and the North Face and Coke and then Lady Gaga all the while staying true and
• 38:29
  already finding her people and knowing how to direct compared to just create her own stuff is
• 38:35
  absurd I really believe she's going to be like the female Asian creator that is seen as the hero
• 38:41
  to the next generation and I'll put my money on it the second one I'll go with is and I shout
• 38:46
  I shout from the rooftops about this all the time is there's a 42 year old based out of L.A.
• 38:50
  named Blake case mayor he is an unbelievable writer an unbelievable storyteller who has
• 38:57
  who at his core and he sees himself as an author and he hasn't written his book just yet
• 39:02
  but it's coming his ability to tell a story live changes people his ability to write a video his
• 39:07
  videos are just thoughts really well put that make you feel something on topics of parenthood or
• 39:14
  life and what he's going to do and the key notes he's going to give and the books he's going to write
• 39:19
  in the next 15 to 20 years are going to be ones that we I really believe like the artist's way
• 39:25
  or like um the war of art by Stephen Presfield like the same level of effect will come from whatever
• 39:32
  he writes all right mr. desatnik thank you very much for your time your instagram handle is at
• 39:39
  dad keyed it's in the description of this podcast episode thank you so much for coming
• 39:45
  on the show enjoy your time and sweeten sweeten and we will talk to you I'll talk to you again soon
• 39:51
  we will definitely talk with them and thanks for the time that you're a very good interview
• 39:55
  nah you're too kind you're too kind okay that's the episode thank you so much for listening watching
• 40:01
  subscribing if you haven't already please consider leaving a comment or review it helps us know
• 40:05
  what we're doing right and what we can improve on and it also helps me book more great guests in
• 40:10
  the future thank you very much to my guest Danny desatnik and to my team Alina Kavadoni
• 40:15
  seen us a homie Mark Manson and Brittany D tomato if you want to listen to another episode of
• 40:20
  gimbal I recently interviewed Jacob Kelly who was the co-founder of creator coffee in Toronto with
• 40:26
  Danny in that episode he and I discuss how to conduct really great research and how to communicate
• 40:32
  with people whether for a podcast or a personal connection in a way that leaves a really strong
• 40:37
  lasting mark so check that out and thank you so much for making it to the end of the episode
• 40:42
  bye now