Latest / The MOOD Podcast / From Office Desk to Digital Fame: Sam Newton on YouTube and Filmmaking, E056

Transcript

From Office Desk to Digital Fame: Sam Newton on YouTube and Filmmaking, E056 · The MOOD Podcast

• 0:00
  Matt: Who is Sam?
• 0:00
  Matt: I make all kinds of videos.
• 0:05
  Sam: Well, let's talk about your relationship with.
• 0:07
  Matt: YouTube.
• 0:07
  Matt: How can I make my name a name in YouTube?
• 0:11
  Matt: Peter McKinnon?
• 0:11
  Matt: He's the guy.
• 0:12
  Matt: How can I get his attention?
• 0:14
  Matt: And I made a rap called the Real Peter McKinnon.
• 0:16
  Sam: My YouTube channel went from 50,000 subscribers to You're one of the few content creators I see out there that can actually share the bad with the good.
• 0:26
  Matt: You have to put in that work you build the foundation of your skyscraper Brand.
• 0:30
  Matt: Longevity will always win.
• 0:31
  Sam: Where was your really big break, that kind of really exploded your account?
• 0:35
  Matt: People just very easily correlate like high views with good, high followers with talented.
• 0:41
  Matt: It's all such a comparison trap.
• 0:43
  Sam: Looking to the next five, 10 years, YouTube is the thing to be a part of.
• 0:47
  Matt: If I'm an investing man, I put all my money.
• 1:00
  Sam: Sam Newton.
• 1:01
  Matt: I'm here.
• 1:01
  Matt: Welcome to the Moo Podcast man.
• 1:02
  Matt: Good to have you.
• 1:03
  Sam: Thanks for having me, man.
• 1:04
  Sam: Welcome to Bali, welcome back.
• 1:06
  Sam: Oh, man, good to have you.
• 1:06
  Sam: Thanks for having me, man.
• 1:07
  Sam: Welcome to Bali, welcome back.
• 1:07
  Sam: Oh yeah, how long are you in town for?
• 1:09
  Matt: I got two more weeks left, but I've been here for just under three months now.
• 1:13
  Matt: It's a pleasure to have you.
• 1:15
  Sam: I wanted to start with kind of a weird intro, because what I love most about you and your content there is some quirkiness in there, there's a lot of humor and a lot of fun.
• 1:25
  Sam: I wanted to start off with with staying creamy, all right, what does that mean?
• 1:31
  Sam: Give us an explanation.
• 1:33
  Matt: I love for people who have no idea who I am Just.
• 1:35
  Sam: that's the start.
• 1:36
  Matt: Um man.
• 1:37
  Matt: So I have this kind of shtick in my my videos where I wear a turtleneck and a lot of them like a white cream turtleneck and me and my buddies, luke, who's been on the podcast, luke Jackson Clark we went on a trip to New Zealand in 2019.
• 1:52
  Matt: And it was one of the most like like bro road trip trips you could ever plan.
• 1:57
  Matt: It was me and five buddies and we got a minivan and we road trip New Zealand like the South coast of new zealand, and I was like wouldn't it be fucking funny if we all bought like white cream colored turtlenecks and just wore it the whole time and made like a travel edit in these turtlenecks?
• 2:13
  Matt: Uh?
• 2:14
  Matt: And so I went to h&m and I remember buying five and all the different sizes and the lady looked at me super weird and she was like, do you want all of them?
• 2:23
  Matt: I'm like like, yes, I want them all.
• 2:24
  Matt: And we made this video and I was wearing this kind of cream colored turtleneck or we just filmed a bunch of stuff.
• 2:30
  Matt: We didn't.
• 2:30
  Matt: Actually we weren't planning on necessarily making something.
• 2:32
  Matt: And then my buddies surprised me with a video which is still live on my channel.
• 2:36
  Matt: It's called the search for art, which is like a fake mockumentary, like David Attenborough style video, where I'm like running around in this cream colored turtleneck trying to find out the meaning of art.
• 2:48
  Matt: It's really fucking dumb, it's as stupid as it gets.
• 2:50
  Matt: But it kind of created this bit where I wore this cream turtleneck and it caught on where I had this turtleneck now from that trip and I was like, well, this is a funny, like ironic little turtleneck.
• 3:04
  Matt: Why don't I wear it in the next video?
• 3:05
  Matt: Uh, and I wore.
• 3:06
  Matt: I made a video called cameraman which was one of my first like raps that I've ever made about cameras, that that blew up.
• 3:13
  Matt: And then I made another one where I ended the video and I said, stay creamy.
• 3:17
  Matt: And just like I'm in the turtleneck and we're like you gotta stay creamy.
• 3:20
  Matt: You know, you got the cream turtleneck and then it just everyone thought it was the funniest thing ever and it just kind of grew legs of its own.
• 3:26
  Matt: And then now, uh, I love it because it's kind of taken on different meanings throughout the year.
• 3:32
  Matt: I end all my I'm a YouTuber and so I end all my videos with stay creamy.
• 3:36
  Matt: And it's kind of fun because it's weird and it kind of gets your attention of like what are you saying?
• 3:40
  Matt: And I do like that kind of element of being weird and being different and that's kind of the new meaning that Stay Creamy is kind of attached to.
• 3:51
  Sam: There's some metaphors in there.
• 3:52
  Sam: Yeah, yeah, deeper meaning.
• 3:55
  Matt: I'd love to think it's that deep.
• 3:56
  Matt: Mostly it's just, it's a bit of fun.
• 3:58
  Matt: Yeah, exactly.
• 4:00
  Sam: You talked about.
• 4:01
  Sam: I mean, we can talk about a lot of your videos and your style, your message and how it's evolved over the years, but art is a strong word that I think comes up with everyone.
• 4:11
  Sam: But I know you battle with content creator, youtuber, filmmaker, artist, whatever it might be.
• 4:17
  Sam: Where do you see yourself at the moment as an artist and what is you talked about?
• 4:22
  Sam: The video of?
• 4:23
  Sam: Like the meaning of art.
• 4:24
  Sam: What does that mean to you?
• 4:25
  Matt: Yeah, I mean that video is probably a bad example, because it wasn't really breaking down the meaning of art, a mockumentary, yeah exactly man art to me is like I love what I do.
• 4:37
  Matt: I love YouTube because it gives you the capacity to do whatever you want and it's such a beautiful platform and you can see it in so many different ways.
• 4:45
  Matt: You can see it as like this it puts you in a box and you have to focus on the algorithm and you have to, which a lot of people do.
• 4:51
  Matt: But I try to see it in this like you have all this freedom, you can do whatever you want.
• 4:55
  Matt: You can create a community, you can kind of really do anything and as an artist, that's so freeing.
• 5:01
  Matt: And I think the cool thing about YouTube is you can create a connection with the people watching your video.
• 5:06
  Matt: You have this really rare opportunity for them to know who you are and so as an artist, you get a little bit more leeway to try different things as long as you've built that connection and so as long as they know Sam and they know who I am and they're like this is a buddy of mine who I watch on the internet and I love watching Sam Then I can make.
• 5:24
  Matt: I make all kinds of videos.
• 5:30
  Matt: Travel filmmaking is kind of my main thing, but I've made.
• 5:32
  Matt: Like I mentioned earlier, I make music which is kind of like a Lil Dicky style raps about cameras.
• 5:36
  Matt: It's kind of niche, but then I'll also.
• 5:38
  Matt: Yeah, I have my travel edits.
• 5:39
  Matt: I have edits about like my life and kind of what I'm going through, and then when I'm kind of in a down part of my life, I still try to make document that and I think as an artist it's really really freeing because I never feel stagnant and I'm like if I want to make a song, I want to make a song, and if I want to make an emotional travel edit, that's what I do.
• 5:57
  Matt: And I think that, to me, is what art truly is, is like pouring yourself into your work and as long as you're really excited about what you're making, that to me is art and you're really just moved when you're making it.
• 6:11
  Matt: And that's kind of my core ethos, if I'm using that word correctly, and my North Star is when I'm creating content, when I'm creating films, when I'm creating in general, I want myself to be moved fully to whatever emotion it might be.
• 6:25
  Matt: If it's a stupid fucking video, I want to be laughing.
• 6:28
  Matt: I want to watch it back in five years and be like that was so dumb, but have the same smile when I'm talking about it or if it's a serious video, I want at the end, when I finished the edit, to be watching it back and if I'm like in tears on my own film, I know people have that same connection and that's kind of my main goal is just to have a genuine reaction to my own films and if I have that real connection and have that real emotion myself, then I know my audience will have that same connection to the piece.
• 6:56
  Sam: Where does the passion and the enjoyment come from making those videos in the down moments?
• 7:02
  Sam: Because you're one of the few content creators I see out there that can actually share the bad with the good, or the the, the more kind of solemn parts of your life, with the highs, the more.
• 7:13
  Matt: Yeah, the highs making things is how I process a lot of things in life.
• 7:17
  Matt: So it's really cool to be able to have this platform, uh, and like, obviously I want to be as transparent I think it has.
• 7:24
  Matt: It builds a connection with my audience even more.
• 7:25
  Matt: If I'm like yo, my life's kind of shitty right now, I'm not in a good place, I'm in a weird spot, and if I say that, then people are like whoa respect.
• 7:32
  Matt: And then that next piece that I make that might have a cryptic voiceover to it and now has a little bit of meaning to it and people can connect to it a little bit more on the human level, the human level.
• 7:45
  Matt: So, you know, I think it's kind of important to me at least not everyone has to do it but to be relatively transparent and my life's on the internet and so, whether it's the, the good and the bad, I try to share as much as possible, as authentically as possible, because my biggest goal, as somebody who does have a whole lot of his life on the internet, is to be the same person when the camera's rolling as when the camera's off, uh, and I really, really value that.
• 8:05
  Matt: Where I'm trying not to put on a front.
• 8:07
  Matt: I'm trying not to.
• 8:08
  Matt: You know I can.
• 8:08
  Matt: I can play things up a little bit, but like I really try to be the same person and so, whether life is amazing or whether life is down, I try to just be as transparent as possible with that yeah, I think that's that's the biggest connection you have with your audience and that's what people appreciate.
• 8:23
  Sam: I would imagine.
• 8:24
  Sam: Certainly I do watching it but who is Sam?
• 8:27
  Sam: Then, who is, who's the real Sam and what is your background and how did you kind of become this Sam that we see on YouTube and that's constantly evolving, obviously For real?
• 8:40
  Matt: Who is Sam?
• 8:40
  Matt: That's a good question.
• 8:41
  Matt: That's a question I'm still trying to figure out every day.
• 8:43
  Matt: Man, who is Sam?
• 8:43
  Matt: That's a good question.
• 8:44
  Matt: That's a question I'm still trying to figure out every day.
• 8:45
  Matt: Man, who's Sam today?
• 8:46
  Matt: Yeah, who's Sam right now?
• 8:49
  Matt: I'm an artist.
• 8:49
  Matt: I'm a lover of travel, a lover of people, a lover of just being stupid, as dumb as that might sound.
• 8:59
  Matt: I really really love just stupid 12-year-old humor.
• 9:03
  Matt: I love when you make a dumbass dad joke and I'm like that was pretty good, nailed it Really?
• 9:10
  Matt: Yeah, exactly.
• 9:12
  Matt: And for me, how I go about things is continually checking in with myself Am I happy right now?
• 9:21
  Matt: Am I in a good place right now?
• 9:22
  Matt: And if the answer is no, how do I pivot?
• 9:25
  Matt: How do I get out of that?
• 9:27
  Matt: Because I feel like so many people and for myself included, I've gone through dark spaces in their life and then they just stay stagnant.
• 9:35
  Matt: And for me it's like to really figure out who you are and come into who you are.
• 9:41
  Matt: It's like, hey, if you're in a high point, you got to assume that's not going to last and you have to be able to pivot.
• 9:48
  Matt: And it's the same thing with being down If you don't move and you're stagnant in your life and you don't change anything.
• 9:53
  Matt: Nothing changes if nothing changes.
• 9:55
  Matt: So sometimes it's really important to just have those check-ins with yourself and, yeah, just constantly evolve and constantly become the person that you know you can be.
• 10:06
  Sam: Can you give?
• 10:07
  Matt: me an example of one of those moments.
• 10:08
  Matt: Here I'm eating, praying and loving out in Bali right now.
• 10:10
  Matt: I went through a breakup recently and it was a very pivotal point in my life where I just had to make a decision of like is this my forever or am I going a different direction?
• 10:20
  Matt: It was very just a tough thing to dive into and I think a lot of people just make the decision because it's what everyone else is doing.
• 10:29
  Matt: I'm just turned 30.
• 10:30
  Matt: So I have that kind of like weird existential element of it where I'm like okay, I'm entering a new chapter, watching my friends buy houses and have kids and I'm out here traveling and all I really want to do is make travel films and art.
• 10:45
  Matt: And there's that voice inside you that's like well, when is it time to settle down?
• 10:49
  Matt: When is it time?
• 10:49
  Matt: And I kind of gave that a little bit more of a shot and I realized I'm like this just isn't me, getting that routine of waking up and having my daily walk and then my Netflix show, and there's nothing bad to live a life like that at all.
• 11:06
  Matt: However, for me, I'm like I realized when I was the most me, when I was the happiest, when I was my truest self is when I was on the move and living these really, really for lack of a better term finite moments in life that you can only experience when you're just doing things that bring you life, and so that was a big, I'd say pivotal point in my life where I, you know, gun to my head what are you doing?
• 11:29
  Matt: Are you going right or going left?
• 11:30
  Matt: And I chose, you know, to leave, and, yeah, it's still something I'm navigating through, for sure.
• 11:37
  Sam: I read quite a few memes, certainly lately for some weird reason Maybe it's just because it was my birthday recently but uh, about you know what what the nine to five gives you, and it's not necessarily a bad thing, you know.
• 11:52
  Sam: You see from where we come from in the West generally, and that kind of road to road to retirement almost.
• 11:55
  Sam: You work hard so you can retire, and then you retire and you're not as mobile as you were and you've got kids, and then you die, right it's, without putting that so morbidly.
• 12:06
  Sam: You know, it's kind of easy to shy away from that, and especially when you want to be, you know, making something all the time and not serving something, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
• 12:15
  Sam: But we I say we, the collective, we as artists, creators, you know, in the creative community a lot of people do want to kind of not get sucked into that because it can, it can suffocate them, right, and so I totally get that and it's brave, it's really brave to.
• 12:32
  Sam: You know, step away from make that decision.
• 12:35
  Matt: Um, and 30 is not old, by the way, I appreciate it but there is a point, yeah, I get a checkpoint in like, oh, here we go, yeah, uh, yeah.
• 12:44
  Matt: Yeah, I think it was just kind of uh, you know, I tried to view my life because it wasn't a bad relation.
• 12:49
  Matt: And that's even harder because it's easier to be like this is toxic.
• 12:53
  Matt: Fuck that person.
• 12:54
  Matt: I'm.
• 12:54
  Matt: Now I'm gonna go, but it was like a good relationship and and it was something where I like had to step back and be like is this something in five years that's gonna make me happy?
• 13:02
  Matt: Is this something in 10 years that's going to make me happy?
• 13:03
  Matt: Is this something in 10 years?
• 13:04
  Matt: And the answer was probably no, and so I walked away and I try to take that not just with romantic relationships but everything in my life, like with work.
• 13:13
  Matt: If I'm doing something and you can't give up on something if it's bad at first, but you give it a few tries, you give it a few tries if it continually inherently feels off, then there's probably something wrong about it and you have to be able to make dramatic switches in your life and if you don't, then you'll probably be stuck in the same loopholes constantly.
• 13:32
  Sam: Well, let's talk about your relationship, the other relationship, with YouTube and with the social media environment.
• 13:38
  Sam: I guess how did that start?
• 13:40
  Sam: Because you obviously didn't shy away.
• 13:43
  Sam: It wasn't like bad.
• 13:44
  Sam: I mean it was bad.
• 13:45
  Sam: You look back at it and go, oh my god, what was?
• 13:47
  Sam: I doing but you clearly, like, had something there.
• 13:51
  Sam: Can you remember those moments?
• 13:52
  Sam: How did it all begin, oh man?
• 13:55
  Matt: it's about.
• 13:55
  Matt: I came from a very and like.
• 13:56
  Matt: I feel like it would be awesome if more people took this approach.
• 14:00
  Matt: But it's harder now because of how like instant everything is with the algorithm and with.
• 14:04
  Matt: But I came from a very privileged start with my creating a career because it was genuinely just.
• 14:12
  Matt: This was in 2012 when I first started, so there were no algorithms.
• 14:17
  Matt: Instagram had just started.
• 14:18
  Matt: Everything was chronological.
• 14:19
  Matt: Instagram didn't have videos, it was just YouTube and Facebook, and I made videos about what me and my friends were doing and just like January 20, or like fall of 2012, my senior year of high school, january 2013, january 2014.
• 14:36
  Matt: So January, february, all of 2013, I made monthly videos about my life and it was just me and my friends just going off with the GoPro doing stupid shit, like if I was at a soccer game.
• 14:46
  Matt: We'd just be in the crowd like ah, and I was just making those videos for myself and for my friends and they'd get like a hundred views and I was purely coming.
• 14:54
  Matt: I was started from this place of just pure genuine excitement to hit record and make something.
• 15:00
  Matt: And it's such a rare thing now because everybody's constantly comparing and there was no one for me to compare myself to.
• 15:06
  Matt: There was no one for me to be like, oh, how many subscribers do I have?
• 15:09
  Matt: It was just like, oh, send it to all my friends.
• 15:12
  Matt: Boys, I made this edit.
• 15:13
  Matt: How fun is this?
• 15:15
  Matt: And then I saw it build on itself where it's like my friends would watch, and then my friends' friends would watch, and then my friends' friends' friends would watch.
• 15:21
  Matt: And I'm like, oh wow, this one random video got 300 views instead of the normal 50 that I get.
• 15:27
  Matt: And then my sophomore year of high school, I got asked by a sorority of college.
• 15:34
  Matt: I got asked by a sorority to make a video like a recruitment video, and this is in 2013.
• 15:39
  Matt: Now sororities they have like full media company and the.
• 15:42
  Matt: United States.
• 15:43
  Matt: It's a weird thing, it's a whole brand.
• 15:45
  Matt: Yeah, college in the States is odd.
• 15:47
  Matt: But yeah, sororities for those who don't know what a sorority is, it's just a group of just college girls that come together.
• 15:54
  Matt: And you know, I made this video for like one of the most you know attractive sororities and I made it for like $150.
• 16:04
  Matt: You know attractive sororities and I made it for like $150.
• 16:09
  Matt: I bought a camera at Costco and returned it after I I made the video.
• 16:11
  Matt: Uh, and I was like hell, yeah, 150 bucks, that's more than I make for a whole week of work and my, my, my job.
• 16:17
  Matt: And I made this video and it just blew up and I became from just making videos for me and my friends to now like, oh, I can make money doing this.
• 16:26
  Matt: And in college I just started getting asked by a ton of different clubs on campus and other sororities and other different local businesses to make videos for them.
• 16:35
  Matt: And I went to UC Davis in Sacramento in California and that is not a creative arts school.
• 16:41
  Matt: It's not like USC or UCLA where they're known for their film programs.
• 16:44
  Matt: This is an agricultural science school.
• 16:47
  Matt: It's not like USC or UCLA where they're known for their film programs.
• 16:49
  Matt: This is an agricultural science school.
• 16:50
  Matt: Nobody did photography or videography.
• 16:52
  Matt: But it was a huge blessing in disguise, because I dominated that market when I was a 19-year-old Because, since nobody went there for those majors, nobody did it.
• 17:04
  Matt: And right as Facebook was starting to take off and uh, people were really using like facebook videos to advertise their companies they see this like 19 year old kid who's making like very captivating videos and, uh, my entrepreneurial side kicked in and it was this beautiful storm of like making videos I love, but also seeing how to work with clients and how to you know, I was working with, working with full business owners that were 45 years old and I'm a 19-year-old kid coming in like sure, I didn't even know what shutter speed was at the time and I was just making stuff I thought was cool and it was that perfect blend of enthusiasm with the business side of things and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way because it turned me into not only the artist I am today, but something I'm equally as proud of, which is just the businessman and my ability to like connect with companies and clients and actually turn art into something that's profitable and not be the struggling artist.
• 17:55
  Matt: Yeah.
• 17:56
  Sam: And where was your?
• 17:57
  Sam: Where was your really big break, that kind of really exploded your account?
• 18:01
  Sam: We talked about Peter McKinnon off air earlier.
• 18:03
  Sam: Was that a seminal moment in your?
• 18:06
  Matt: Yeah, I feel like I have a ton of different checkpoints that I can look back to.
• 18:09
  Matt: My whole arc then was after college.
• 18:12
  Matt: I was like, well, I don't want to apply to any jobs.
• 18:16
  Matt: I already paid off like three-fourths of my student loans just through making videos in college.
• 18:21
  Matt: I'm like, hold on, there's something here.
• 18:23
  Matt: Why would I apply to get a job when I can just try to make videos?
• 18:28
  Matt: And I'd only left the country once.
• 18:30
  Matt: I went to Mexico City when I was 16.
• 18:31
  Matt: And so I hadn't really felt the traveling that I'd really wanted to, and I had that bug and I was like, well, why don't I try to travel and make videos?
• 18:39
  Matt: And yeah, I went to Europe and emailed like 5,000 companies not even joking and of those we got responses from like 300.
• 18:50
  Matt: And of those 300 responses, 270 were no's and of those 30, like, hey, let's get a call going.
• 18:57
  Matt: It turned into three brand deals and then I was basically just like there's something here.
• 19:03
  Matt: If you knock on enough doors, you can make money doing this.
• 19:07
  Matt: And I've had those little checkpoints and one of the biggest ones was meeting Luke out in Thailand when I was 23.
• 19:13
  Matt: And we started a company together soon after called Move to Create.
• 19:17
  Matt: And then, after we traveled for three years doing Move to Create, the pandemic happened.
• 19:23
  Matt: And then I was like, well, I'm going to try to go full-time into YouTube, went full-time into YouTube and then that's when I made the decision to like all right, if I'm doing full-time YouTube, who's the guy?
• 19:31
  Matt: How can I make my name a name in YouTube?
• 19:36
  Matt: Because at that point in time I'd already had an okay Instagram following.
• 19:40
  Matt: People kind of knew who I was, but not in the YouTube space.
• 19:42
  Matt: And I'm like Peter McKinnon, he's the guy.
• 19:45
  Matt: How can I get his attention or at the very least have him know who I am?
• 19:55
  Matt: And I made a rap called the Real Peter McKinnon and that got his attention pretty fast Not as quickly as I.
• 19:59
  Matt: I was expecting it to be like maybe I'll get a DM from him.
• 20:02
  Matt: And within two hours of posting he had sent me a message like look out for a reaction video.
• 20:08
  Matt: I was like what the fuck?
• 20:09
  Matt: And then three days later he made a video and my YouTube channel went from 50,000 subscribers to 85,000 subscribers You're 35K in about a week and that just you know.
• 20:24
  Matt: I'd put about six years of uh effort into building my you know, travel films base and and then that was just like the catalyst of like you put so much work, you build the foundation of your skyscraper and then that happened and it just you still need the foundations.
• 20:38
  Matt: Yeah, oh yeah, you have to.
• 20:40
  Matt: You have to put in that work because, like, if you go viral overnight and you have not to find, they click on your profile and they're like, okay, well, that's it.
• 20:49
  Matt: That's it, yeah, or you go viral and you're a one trick pony.
• 20:54
  Matt: You go viral and they're like okay, well, you get a million views for making a video about sturdy tables.
• 21:02
  Matt: And then you make another video about your passion, which is cups, and then nobody wants to watch the cups.
• 21:08
  Matt: They're like give me more of those table videos.
• 21:10
  Matt: I'm here for the fucking table video.
• 21:11
  Matt: And then you just become the table guy because that's what people want.
• 21:15
  Sam: Uh, and so you got very excited about tables then yeah, I mean tables stoked me out.
• 21:20
  Matt: Man, you know it's a good, a good table, you a great.
• 21:23
  Matt: This whole place is a great aesthetic.
• 21:25
  Matt: Thanks very much.
• 21:29
  Sam: So did you end up meeting Peter, or did you?
• 21:30
  Sam: Was it just?
• 21:31
  Sam: Yeah, you went over and saw him.
• 21:33
  Matt: Yeah, I met him out in San Diego.
• 21:36
  Matt: He was in town and this was after like the whole thing had gone down and he said I got about three hours in downtown SD, if you want to come by and get coffee.
• 21:47
  Matt: And I was like absolutely.
• 21:49
  Matt: And I hit him up like hey, do you care if I like?
• 21:51
  Matt: I remember texting him.
• 21:52
  Matt: I'm like do you care if I film this interaction?
• 21:54
  Matt: It's obviously a big thing for me being an upcoming YouTuber.
• 21:56
  Matt: I'm like can I film this?
• 21:58
  Matt: And he texted me back.
• 21:59
  Matt: He's like hey, to be honest, probably not.
• 22:02
  Matt: Let's just because I never want to be the guy showing up and be like yo, uh.
• 22:09
  Matt: I was like he's like, to be honest, probably not.
• 22:10
  Matt: I'm pretty drained, let's just meet up and talk.
• 22:11
  Matt: I was like perfect, no worries at all.
• 22:14
  Matt: My buddy Chase came, uh, and he luckily, because he was gonna film the whole thing and this is like 30 minutes before we left.
• 22:22
  Matt: I'm like all right, we don't need the camera.
• 22:23
  Matt: And he's like I'm just gonna bring my camera to take photos, to snack, some photos of you guys.
• 22:27
  Matt: I was like smart, that's probably a good idea.
• 22:29
  Matt: We show up and immediately Peter, he's just an entertaining person.
• 22:33
  Matt: I mean, he's not in the mood.
• 22:35
  Matt: He said he was.
• 22:35
  Matt: He was so bubbly, the nicest dude talking.
• 22:38
  Matt: And I was like I want to give you one of my turtlenecks because I made at the time I made my own turtle mics called stay creamycom, and, uh, I made a whole brand out of it.
• 22:46
  Matt: And I was like Peter, we got to get you in a turtle leg.
• 22:49
  Matt: And he was like absolutely.
• 22:51
  Matt: And then he turns to me.
• 22:52
  Matt: He's like should we record it?
• 22:53
  Matt: I'm like yeah, we should.
• 22:56
  Matt: But what the fuck?
• 22:56
  Matt: You told we didn't have NDs, we didn't have a microphone, we just had the.
• 22:59
  Matt: And so I was like yeah, yeah, chase, let's record it.
• 23:15
  Sam: And I remember his uh, his internal mic was turned down to like minus 12 decibels.
• 23:16
  Matt: We didn't have nds, so it was like we shot this, these clips, at like f 16, uh, the worst possible situation.
• 23:20
  Matt: But he was like, do you want to film?
• 23:20
  Matt: Like yeah, I'm not not gonna film.
• 23:20
  Matt: And then, uh, we shot probably like 15 minutes of this interaction with me and peter and uh, yeah, it was a really cool, pivotal.
• 23:27
  Matt: Pivotal moment, because they always say, don't meet your heroes, but Peter was a very good example of just like.
• 23:33
  Matt: In that moment.
• 23:34
  Matt: He was just the nicest guy and he's been nothing but kind to me my whole career and I, you know, it was the pivotal moment.
• 23:41
  Matt: That kind of like took everything off to that next level.
• 23:44
  Sam: I think that's probably why mean I'm assuming here, but probably why he's so popular that he he is the guy who you see on the camera.
• 23:51
  Sam: He seems to be extremely genuine, authentic person, which everyone wants right yeah, no one wants to watch somebody.
• 23:57
  Matt: That feels like they're trying.
• 23:58
  Matt: Yeah, no one wants to watch someone.
• 23:59
  Matt: And it's that catch-22, because when you start you're gonna be trying, right, you're be putting on.
• 24:04
  Matt: It's weird to start in front of a camera, but you have to get past that bullshit and then eventually that that like veil falls down and you're just are able to be yourself.
• 24:14
  Matt: And that's when everything skyrockets.
• 24:17
  Matt: And I think so many people fail at YouTube because they don't see the success in the first year or two, but because they're still kind of stiff to it and they still don't know how to edit their videos and make it feel natural.
• 24:27
  Matt: And then, once you do it long enough, it becomes this very natural thing, and then you're, you give yourself the capacity to have your brand completely blow up, because you're just you, you're no one else.
• 24:38
  Sam: Looking to the next five, 10 years, YouTube is the thing to be a part of.
• 24:45
  Matt: I would.
• 24:45
  Matt: I would you know if I'm an investing man.
• 24:48
  Matt: I put all my money into YouTube 100% of the time.
• 24:51
  Matt: Obviously, short form is blowing up and obviously people want Instagram and TikTok and these viral clips.
• 25:01
  Matt: However, I'm of the camp that believes longevity brand longevity will always win if you're consistent with it.
• 25:11
  Matt: And with YouTube, you can build a real, real audience, a real connection with your audience, where I don't have to like, obviously, to play a little bit of the game of like getting your attention in the first five seconds and like after the first 10 seconds, you know if you're gone, I don't give a fuck, because I know my core, like 15% of the people that watch my videos.
• 25:30
  Matt: They'll watch it no matter what I'm posting, and I can sit down and just turn off the music and grab them.
• 25:35
  Matt: I have like four or five videos on my channel that are like 20 minutes long with no production value.
• 25:40
  Matt: It's just me and a microphone being like what's up?
• 25:43
  Matt: This is where, and you know, they perform relatively well and even if they don't blow up, they're performing well with the audience I care about.
• 25:50
  Matt: And I think YouTube's incredible because you can actually get people's attention for a longer period of time and you don't have to play those games, which is why podcasts are also.
• 26:00
  Matt: People love them so much because, even if your podcast is only getting like 300 listeners, If they're listening to the whole episode, you could have a TikTok that reaches a million people.
• 26:11
  Matt: But it's just like this trendy, fast, and they don't get to know you at all.
• 26:19
  Matt: And out of that million people, I would argue you probably didn't even have 300 people that really connected with you and learned about your brand, as opposed to just 300 viewers on a YouTube video or a podcast.
• 26:25
  Matt: And that's where, if you're talking about building a brand and being able to monetize it and being able to sell in a way that feels good to you, YouTube's great because I can sit down and I can be like.
• 26:36
  Matt: I don't have to throw an ad in your face in the first five seconds.
• 26:39
  Matt: Whoa, this is why it's cool.
• 26:40
  Matt: Yada, yada, I can just be like.
• 26:41
  Matt: Hey, guys, and I just spent five minutes making this incredible video for you, guys, and I just spent five minutes making this incredible video for you.
• 26:50
  Matt: Take 60 seconds.
• 26:50
  Matt: Let me talk to you about XYZ brand.
• 26:51
  Matt: Why do I think it's cool and I could just talk like a normal person.
• 26:54
  Matt: I don't have to put on this front and it's a very like it just feels good and feels right to me, yeah, yeah.
• 27:00
  Sam: Why do you think, then, that your followers follow you?
• 27:04
  Matt: I like to think I do things slightly differently.
• 27:06
  Matt: I like to think I have this level of like genuineness where not necessarily saying I'm an inherently genuine person, but genuineness meaning like I keep it.
• 27:17
  Matt: I keep myself the same on camera and off camera and I think that connects a lot with people and I think my ability to not be afraid to kind of really dive into the subjects that that matter to me and like an an intense way.
• 27:34
  Matt: So it's like a cinematic, like I'm going to write a voiceover and I'm going to write it as powerfully as I possibly can.
• 27:39
  Matt: Uh, and not be like ashamed, to be like Ooh, that was maybe a little cringy or maybe a little like.
• 27:45
  Matt: People just love when other people go all in on things.
• 27:48
  Matt: And every time I do like a video, I really, really commit to it and I go big.
• 27:53
  Matt: And even if it doesn't like like, the people that did watch it can at least look at it and be like wow, I respect the effort.
• 28:01
  Matt: Or like if it was a joke or a funny video.
• 28:03
  Matt: They can just, even if they didn't find it the funniest video ever, they can be like, holy shit, I see somebody doing what they love who put so much time and effort into it and I think that resonates wildly with people.
• 28:17
  Matt: Because in a world that just feels so fake and inauthentic, when you can make stuff that feels good to you and genuinely, when I post, I'm like that felt good.
• 28:26
  Matt: Or, like I said earlier, when I'm making an emotional video, if I'm at the end and I'm crying and I'm like, oh fuck, that hit.
• 28:33
  Matt: I know when people watch it they're going to have that same reaction and then that connection will build naturally and I don't have to like try to ask myself, how do I connect with my audience?
• 28:44
  Matt: It's like just you're being you and you're doing the things that you really want to and you're talking about the things that you're really passionate about.
• 28:49
  Matt: For me it's tables, and then people catch on.
• 28:54
  Sam: Yeah, yeah, I always say the same thing.
• 28:56
  Sam: It's like you know, if you focus on your own passions and your own interests, the likelihood is there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people with the same curiosity, same passion, and we'll follow you on that journey.
• 29:08
  Matt: And even if it's not the same passion, even if they don't give a shit about tables, people love watching people be passionate about things.
• 29:15
  Matt: Like when I talk about making, when I talk about making things, when I talk about creating, I get amped up and I get like because it's just what I love talking about and people love that.
• 29:27
  Matt: You know, people love when they see other people excited about things and especially, like I said, on YouTube.
• 29:31
  Matt: When you build a little bit of a connection, I can then be like here's so many people follow me for like cinematic travel films, and then I can make a song.
• 29:39
  Matt: They might be like all right, that was a little immature for me.
• 29:42
  Matt: That's not what I want.
• 29:43
  Matt: I want something a little bit more powerful and moving.
• 29:45
  Matt: And out of nowhere this guy drops a turtleneck song.
• 29:48
  Matt: I have an entire song called Stay Creamy.
• 29:51
  Matt: That's a whole music video.
• 29:53
  Sam: Why is he telling me to stay creamy?
• 29:54
  Sam: What does that mean?
• 29:55
  Matt: The whole music video.
• 29:56
  Matt: The whole song is called Stay Creamy and it's just a bunch of puns using cream and it's pretty dumb.
• 30:03
  Matt: But I think the people that watch my other videos can see me and that enthusiasm transferring to all these things and I'm very passionate about everything that I do and I think that that resonates.
• 30:13
  Sam: Pretty much the only thing that connects.
• 30:14
  Sam: Stay Creamy with the Last Paradise.
• 30:17
  Matt: Exactly.
• 30:18
  Sam: Just the enthusiasm and the production quality.
• 30:19
  Matt: It's me.
• 30:20
  Matt: It's me specifically and that's why YouTube is so cool, because the creator is the navigator and you can connect with the person and then the person can go out and do whatever they want and people are like cool because that's sam but I still think there is an element of production quality that you have to bring to the table, because people, people love people, want to watch something that's well done.
• 30:41
  Sam: I mean, you know, certainly me watching a video is like yeah, I 100 agree with that passion, like clearly you've got passion in these certain subjects, but doing that well, yeah, doing it with skill and talent, artistic quality, that elevates it to some, even if, like you said, it's not something I'm that interested in yeah I'll watch it because it's artistic or it's.
• 31:01
  Sam: You know, production quality is flawless, right?
• 31:03
  Sam: You don't even notice that.
• 31:04
  Sam: Oh, there's a story being told, so I think that has to be part, you know so you can't talk about the same thing and it's just a guy in his garage, but I feel like you could I feel like if you have that enthusiasm and you've got there's youtubers out there, that don't yeah, there's.
• 31:18
  Matt: I mean, that's a beautiful thing about youtube is you have like filmmaker youtuber, and then you have people that just film vlogs on their cameras or on their iPhones and get millions of views and they're just like yo, I'm out here doing that and the reason why people connect with them is just, they're genuine, enthusiastic people that are showing what they love and uh it.
• 31:37
  Matt: You know it's a little bit of that blurred line.
• 31:39
  Matt: I'm a filmmaker, so obviously I'd hope people are like, oh, his production value is incredible and like, on top of all these.
• 31:46
  Matt: But you know, I think there's so many.
• 31:48
  Matt: You know why is there like 16 year old vloggers that go crazy and blow up?
• 31:53
  Matt: Because people are just like cause they don't think about like, oh, am I being authentic right now?
• 31:58
  Matt: It's just they hit record and they're like today I'm doing this and people are like wow, that's my friend, this is real.
• 32:03
  Matt: And so, uh, wow, that's my friend, this is real.
• 32:08
  Sam: And so, uh, to be able to like lower the barrier of connection with people is really important, but isn't that because we live in a, in a society that that enjoy?
• 32:13
  Sam: That's just a longer form of the short form, if that makes sense.
• 32:16
  Sam: You know nothing against vlogs at all.
• 32:18
  Sam: I mean, I don't really watch them, not really into them and peter mckinnon used to do a lot of vlogs, right, but you know it's, it's for me it seems to be just an elongated version of tiktok and reels and that, that kind of thing, because there doesn't seem to be much artistic production into it.
• 32:36
  Sam: Like you, I talk about it like this if you're not going to look on, not many people might do this, but if you're on a deathbed, you're looking back.
• 32:43
  Sam: What's giving you fulfillment in life?
• 32:44
  Sam: It's not your instagram grid, it's not your vlogs, it's going to be your films and something that's actually, you know, moved people because of what you've created, not because, not because of who.
• 32:56
  Sam: Yeah, what you're showing, yeah, does that make sense?
• 32:58
  Matt: yeah, I think to me I would still say, like people that vlog and people that that film longer things, I I just love when it takes a lot more effort to like put anything long together than short form.
• 33:09
  Matt: And so I see, as an artist, being like, okay, it might not be the most artistically wowing thing, but you're not just keeling over to like the here's a five second clip of a drone shot and hopefully this trending audio and it blows up.
• 33:22
  Matt: But yes, as an artist like me personally it sounds like you too and I'm sure, a lot of people watching it's just like you have to have that decision with yourself.
• 33:31
  Matt: Like, what kind of artist do I want to be?
• 33:32
  Matt: And I'm not one to be like this isn't an art form or that's not an art form and like I feel like anything could be considered a specific art.
• 33:40
  Matt: People that want to go viral and that's their whole thing.
• 33:42
  Matt: Like I'm going viral.
• 33:43
  Matt: Maybe you could twist that in a way where it's like an art form to try to connect with this many people.
• 33:48
  Matt: You know I'm not necessarily, but as that's just not me, I wouldn't personally say that's what I want to do and I wouldn't personally.
• 33:55
  Matt: I think art should be something that comes from a place of like.
• 33:58
  Matt: I want to make this and I want to put this out there and I need to put this out there, and I don't give a fuck if it like an algorithm, Because for me as a filmmaker, it's a great checkpoint of like.
• 34:09
  Matt: If I make this film right now, in 20 years, when I watch this film back, am I going to be smiling about it?
• 34:16
  Matt: Am I going to be laughing about it?
• 34:18
  Matt: Is it going to make me cry?
• 34:19
  Matt: Is it going to move me at all?
• 34:20
  Matt: If the answer to that is no, why am I making it?
• 34:23
  Matt: Because that's almost always going to be the number one way to vet whether I want to make a video.
• 34:29
  Matt: If it's a travel film that I'm like I can watch back in 15, 20 years and be like I did that and that was so powerful and I can't believe I went, then I'm going to make it.
• 34:38
  Matt: If it's a funny video that I'm going to be like that was so dumb.
• 34:41
  Matt: I can't believe me and my best friends at the time put that much time and energy.
• 34:45
  Matt: Or if it's an emotional video I've made videos of my grandparents and about my parents and just at the end I'm crying the whole time and I'm like, no matter how well this performs, I know in 20 years I can go back to that video that I made with my grandma and have that same reaction.
• 35:07
  Sam: So yeah, yeah, well, good for you.
• 35:09
  Sam: I think that's a, that's a great kind of litmus test for whether you want to, you know, make a piece of art or not.
• 35:16
  Sam: If it's cause, you've got to have that intent, you've got to have that purpose and passion.
• 35:19
  Sam: And going back to what we're talking about with, you know, the virality of today's society and the algorithmic society that we live in.
• 35:28
  Sam: You know and I get that art is so subjective and we can.
• 35:31
  Sam: You know art can be snobby at times.
• 35:32
  Sam: Like you know, we, we band around this word called art and we want to think that we're artists.
• 35:37
  Sam: Well, what is art?
• 35:38
  Sam: Who can define it?
• 35:39
  Sam: I've never really heard anyone define it properly, but when you talk about kind of the, when some people talk about the art of going viral or the art of making like short form content blow up, right.
• 35:52
  Sam: That is for me, like we've got to remember the responsibility we have of what we're putting out there.
• 35:59
  Sam: Right?
• 35:59
  Sam: Are we trying to make the world a better place?
• 36:01
  Sam: Now, that's not anyone.
• 36:03
  Sam: Most people's first intent is not to go well, I want to make something.
• 36:07
  Sam: That's yeah, you know some people, obviously some amazing people, but it's a selfish, you know, pursuit, right, we want to make something, we want to make that's going to move us and then hopefully that will inspire and impact other people.
• 36:18
  Sam: But we have to be conscious, in my opinion, of of that impact, like whatever we put out there is going to affect people, either for the better or for the worse.
• 36:29
  Sam: And so I just don't the art of virality I just don't believe in.
• 36:36
  Sam: I don't think trying to go viral is a good self-positive intent for the society generally.
• 36:48
  Matt: What I meant by that is I try not to be like that person isn't an artist.
• 36:52
  Matt: I try not to label people as such, uh.
• 36:56
  Matt: But I mean that like you can have the breakdown of like all right, mr beast, I don't like mr beast videos personally, they're not for me.
• 37:03
  Matt: I hate that.
• 37:04
  Matt: Like I'm trying to grab your time, I'm trying to, but there is this weird, but I think there is an element in my mind.
• 37:11
  Matt: There is an element of art to everything.
• 37:30
  Matt: Some things I wouldn't consider as much, you know, but yeah, that's what I meant by that, because I just don't want, I wouldn't want people to be like oh, I'm a beauty vlogger.
• 37:42
  Matt: That means I'm not an artist, you know.
• 37:44
  Matt: And it's like you can still be an artist.
• 37:46
  Matt: You can still make beautiful things and you can still consider yourself an artist even if you're not currently making a beautiful piece of art.
• 37:54
  Matt: You can be an artist that hasn't yet made their big artistic piece yet, and so I think being an artist is something that you have to practice and you have to actually work on it.
• 38:03
  Matt: But I don't think anybody has the ability to come in and say you're not an artist.
• 38:08
  Matt: They're artists Because this, this, this and this, because then it's like who draws the fucking lines?
• 38:13
  Sam: Who gets to decide?
• 38:14
  Sam: There's no arbiter of art right In the art world, and certainly with your filmmaking, what are the subjects and topics that really give you that intent and give you you know you've got a voice and you want to kind of cover certain aspects of your life and life out there.
• 38:32
  Sam: Can you talk to us a little bit, maybe talk about the Last Paradise and why that meant something to you?
• 38:36
  Sam: What was the story behind it?
• 38:37
  Matt: Yeah.
• 38:38
  Matt: So I mean, the Last Paradise was, you know, and this is why I love YouTube, because I can eventually talk about this on my channel and then people have a bigger connection to it but I just had felt very like I make travel films Travel films are what I love and I hadn't made one in like a year or so and I was like, dude, I just need to.
• 38:59
  Matt: And once you stop, like I said, you got to practice being an artist you have to.
• 39:03
  Matt: Once you stop, you kind of like start questioning yourself yeah, am I?
• 39:06
  Matt: Even I call, I say I'm a travel filmmaker, but I haven't made any travel films.
• 39:09
  Matt: How am I?
• 39:14
  Matt: And so it was just very much like I want to go to someplace beautiful.
• 39:16
  Matt: I don't want to overthink it, I want to, uh, just show a beautiful, beautiful place in this world and show it in, uh, an authentic and inspiring way.
• 39:22
  Matt: Um, and so I got this invite to go to Rajahampat, which is one of the most incredible places on earth, and not very many people get the opportunity to go to a place like that.
• 39:32
  Matt: And I went and just didn't have a script, didn't have anything.
• 39:36
  Matt: I'm like I'm just gonna have my camera and try to document this and I did, and that felt for me it was just a milestone of like, okay, I can still do this, I can still make something that's inspiring and beautiful and really cool, and then that will then open the door, cause I don't think it's my magnum opus, I don't think it's my favorite piece I've ever made, but it was really really pivotal to where I am right now, because I was like I can still do this, I can still make incredible things that people want to watch.
• 40:01
  Matt: Um, and yeah.
• 40:04
  Sam: What is the?
• 40:05
  Sam: Is there a message behind, or a voice behind, a lot of your films that you want to make, I mean the travel films?
• 40:12
  Sam: Are they more to educate people on what this place is and what it means, or is it more of a kind of a self-expression about what you're trying to say through the?
• 40:22
  Matt: visuals.
• 40:23
  Matt: Passion is seeing other passionate people and showing my passion.
• 40:28
  Matt: My passion for people and traveling is really, really important to me, and seeing people also create things that bring them life is really important to me, and I'd say that's my biggest voice and my biggest on my channel.
• 40:41
  Matt: I always just try to tell people to.
• 40:43
  Matt: One of the biggest ways to have longevity as a creator is like just start telling your story, no matter where you are in your career, whether you've made it far or whether you're just starting.
• 40:52
  Matt: Like start filming yourself and just start like this is where I'm at in my life, I'm at a down point.
• 40:57
  Matt: Whether you post it or not, just have it.
• 40:59
  Matt: You know, just document your story and try to have like a documentation of that, and then you know, when you get it, there's a good chance.
• 41:07
  Matt: You're like I can make something out of this.
• 41:08
  Matt: I can maybe try to turn that into something that can speak to people, and for me, what brings me life is traveling and showing the world in a very beautifully cinematic way, and then I can make these incredibly beautiful pieces that give people attention to my brand, that I can then, you know, talk about the things that are a little bit more important to me, which are, you know, have it.
• 41:35
  Matt: In this world of people that are just, you know it's seemingly brainless of just like pumping out con, like.
• 41:41
  Matt: I would never call myself a content creator personally Uh, I don't like the term, I don't uh, I just don't like the idea of content too much.
• 41:49
  Matt: Um, but as a filmmaker, uh, you know, I'll call my, you know I'll say I'll make content.
• 41:55
  Matt: I'll never say I don't.
• 41:57
  Matt: But at the same time, like, as a filmmaker, it's really, really important to me to still make films.
• 42:03
  Matt: And in this world where people are just like pumping out shit, I really want to speak to this next generation, who is as lost as they've ever been to be like you can make, like tell your story.
• 42:13
  Matt: Uh, you know people are like how can I make it on YouTube?
• 42:16
  Matt: Is it oversaturated?
• 42:17
  Matt: It's like the one thing that you have that no one can ever replace and no one else will ever have is your story.
• 42:22
  Matt: And like where you come from, who you are, what you're going through.
• 42:25
  Matt: Uh, so, if I can make these incredible films and still inspire a generation of people to make films that bring them life, that they're excited to make, and also tell their story in a way that feels real to them.
• 42:38
  Matt: Then, as an artist, I'm checking all the boxes of making stuff that feels good to me, that looks beautiful.
• 42:44
  Matt: I get to go to all these crazy places with my friends, which is still an important thing to me.
• 42:51
  Matt: I don't want to sound altruistic.
• 42:52
  Matt: I love going to cool fucking places with cool people.
• 42:54
  Sam: It's my favorite thing.
• 42:55
  Sam: I get paid for it.
• 42:56
  Matt: Yes, exactly, and then come back with more money than I left.
• 42:59
  Matt: It's the dream.
• 42:59
  Matt: But at the same time, to be able to have that grounding of like, I do know that I want to inspire people to go out and make something that feels real and has that genuine emotion to it is really important to me and I think through the films that I make, I have a little bit of that message.
• 43:18
  Sam: Yeah, why is that important to you Real versus reels?
• 43:23
  Matt: Oh.
• 43:23
  Matt: I see what you did there man, just like what I said.
• 43:27
  Matt: I think it's just as an artist.
• 43:30
  Matt: You know, it's a rarity to find someone on the internet that you see and you're like Whoa, like it almost clicks and you're like that was a really, you know, a natural interaction that I had with someone on the internet.
• 43:42
  Matt: Uh, and that's.
• 43:43
  Matt: I think the cool thing about reels is sometimes you can have like those snippets of like this is my brand and then maybe you can send them over to YouTube and they're like look at all this to explore, but I think it's really important to you.
• 43:54
  Matt: Know, I think people are just getting more and more lost and chasing mindlessly myself included, and I know I do this, but chasing mindlessly of like not asking themselves why they're doing anything or why they're making anything.
• 44:05
  Matt: And it's just so shitty to see really, really talented filmmakers that could be producing incredible art that is just beautiful, and they're just making stuff that's like very obviously like just shit posting.
• 44:20
  Matt: How can I get the next click?
• 44:22
  Matt: How can I get all the shares?
• 44:23
  Matt: And you know, some people like it and some people why is that?
• 44:28
  Sam: Is it just for the money or for attention?
• 44:30
  Sam: I don't know.
• 44:30
  Matt: I think a lot of people don't ask themselves why, like when it happens and I've had someone who's.
• 44:35
  Matt: As somebody who's been shouted out by Peter McKinnon I've had.
• 44:37
  Matt: When I made that cameraman song that I was talking about, I remember waking up and I think I had like 10,000 followers more in like two days because of the amount of shares, and this was before the algorithm blew anything.
• 44:50
  Matt: It was just purely people being like, sharing it with people.
• 44:54
  Matt: And then I grew.
• 44:55
  Matt: Just this past year, I posted one reel and grew 100,000 followers from one reel, which is wild, yes, and as someone who's had all of those moments, it's like crack dude, when you have that like, oh my God, this is amazing, it feels good.
• 45:12
  Matt: And then I can imagine as a creator who that's consistently their life and they post.
• 45:18
  Matt: They never are able to step back and be like is this what I want to be posting?
• 45:22
  Matt: Or am I posting this because people are engaging it like crazy with it?
• 45:27
  Matt: And so to be able to step back and be like, all right, I thoroughly do love this is really important and I think with short form content, it doesn't often give you the ability to do that, because people are constantly telling you to grow Full irony here.
• 45:43
  Matt: To grow, you have to post every day.
• 45:45
  Matt: You have to make.
• 45:46
  Matt: It's got to be five seconds long.
• 45:47
  Matt: You have to post every day it to make it's got to be five seconds long.
• 45:50
  Matt: You have to post every day.
• 45:50
  Matt: It's got to be right in this need.
• 45:51
  Matt: There's all these fucking rules, and I posted one.
• 45:53
  Matt: Granted, I, I've been traveling for seven years, I've been a filmmaker, I have a brand already, I have incredibly beautiful footage, um, but I made one reel talking about who I am and what I do and I gained a hundred thousand followers and I'm like so.
• 46:04
  Matt: So maybe you don't have to follow all these rules.
• 46:07
  Sam: That, yeah, marketing tool as well to tell people that.
• 46:12
  Sam: But you know, and I mean I totally agree with you, but it's difficult.
• 46:16
  Sam: You know we're sat here with good followers and you know we've not that we haven't worked hard to get to a certain point.
• 46:22
  Sam: But and I understand why people chase the algorithm it's too scary to not right To put all that time and effort and money into creating content, whatever that might mean.
• 46:34
  Sam: But creating stuff that you're going to put on social media platform, whether that's YouTube, tiktok, instagram, fuck what else is there, yeah, and then run the risk of not being able to get it seen.
• 46:46
  Matt: But, like, if you're loving, if this is what you're meant to be doing, like you have to.
• 46:51
  Matt: I understand, like I said at the beginning, I came from a very, very privileged place of like, not only where I come from, what I love, like all of those other factors middle-class family, and there were a lot of things that lined up for me that helped my success, but I think one of the biggest ones was just it came from this place of like.
• 47:11
  Matt: I want to make videos, I'm going to do it and I think so many people are like putting this immediate pressure of like I've made.
• 47:20
  Matt: I've started my Instagram account and I've made 400 videos and they haven't blown up yet.
• 47:25
  Matt: It's like well then, why are you doing this?
• 47:28
  Matt: Do you love making these videos?
• 47:29
  Matt: Or is this just an end to a meet?
• 47:31
  Matt: Is this just to get you paid?
• 47:34
  Matt: Is this just to be a job for you?
• 47:35
  Matt: And I think if more people came at this approach of like, I gave myself a six month runway.
• 47:41
  Matt: I saved up finances.
• 47:42
  Matt: I have six months.
• 47:43
  Matt: I'm going to make stuff that just I'm excited about making.
• 47:47
  Matt: I'm going to make a spec just I'm excited about making.
• 47:48
  Matt: I'm going to make a spec ad for a company that I would really love to work with.
• 47:52
  Matt: I'm going to make something, and if more people did that, I think more people would end up with that long-term success that they would want, because I feel like, in order to be successful as an artist, not only financially successful is a very important thing, but you have to feel good about what you're making, and I feel like you can, in the short term, blow up and go viral and then easily burn out within a year because you're like this fucking sucks, this isn't.
• 48:16
  Matt: This doesn't feel good at all, this doesn't.
• 48:18
  Matt: So if you start from a place where you're like I love doing this, I don't care where I'm, how much money I'm making for the next six months, uh, then I feel like you can have a much bigger opportunity for success.
• 48:30
  Sam: The cliche of enjoying the process.
• 48:32
  Sam: Yeah, because if you don't enjoy the process A, you're not going to do it for a very long time.
• 48:35
  Sam: B the satisfaction you get that is like last for milliseconds of the likes and the views and then it's gone.
• 48:43
  Sam: Oh, next thing, I want twice that now, and I want twice that now.
• 48:47
  Sam: If you don't enjoy the process, you're not going to enjoy any of that.
• 48:50
  Matt: All the people I know that are really successful.
• 48:51
  Matt: They're addicted to life.
• 48:53
  Matt: It's who I am.
• 48:55
  Matt: To wake up and make something.
• 48:57
  Matt: It's not something I question.
• 48:59
  Matt: It's not something I've ever been like, oh, I have to.
• 49:01
  Matt: Am I going to make a YouTube video or am I going to make a film next month?
• 49:05
  Matt: It's like what film am I going to make?
• 49:07
  Matt: And that's not because it's my job, it's what I've been doing far before I was paid to do it, and I think that mindset is something that's really really hard to come by.
• 49:16
  Matt: But a lot of the people that I've met that are very successful are the people that just don't.
• 49:21
  Matt: It's not like, oh, what am I going to make today?
• 49:23
  Matt: It's what it's just.
• 49:24
  Matt: Or it's not like what am I making?
• 49:26
  Matt: To check that next box.
• 49:27
  Matt: It's like I'm waking up, I'm making something because it's who I am, it's what I do, and so, yeah, I just think if more people came from that place of enthusiasm and there's different ways, because I know there's probably some people being like, oh well, fuck you, you're already making money doing this.
• 49:42
  Matt: It's easy for you to say, but like, all right, if you want to break into filmmaking or creating and you have a job.
• 49:49
  Matt: It's like why can't you break this up?
• 49:51
  Matt: Why can't you have your nine to five and then every Saturday you put that towards filmmaking?
• 50:00
  Matt: And if you have this actual dedicated plan to give yourself a runway, then I think you can set yourself up for success.
• 50:06
  Matt: Or for me, when I first started being a travel filmmaker, I shot weddings but nobody knew that and I would make all my money shooting weddings and then I would travel for six months and I'd make all this travel films and I'd end up in the red losing money making travel films because all of my money was coming from this wedding business.
• 50:23
  Matt: But I was a travel filmmaker.
• 50:25
  Matt: I was making videos that I really, really loved and that kind of propelled me forward.
• 50:28
  Matt: So I feel like if you can create a path and really give yourself, make it very intentional, you can create that space to create the life that you want to live.
• 50:38
  Sam: And also it takes time, right.
• 50:39
  Sam: I mean it takes years, like even in the kind of the viral society we live in where one could pop off, but to to actually build and you know most of that is you learning to to be better.
• 50:51
  Sam: Right is being shit, being less shit, being even less shit and then being less shit you could probably call yourself good right.
• 50:59
  Matt: That takes as a long process that you need to go through to learn and iterate all the time and I feel like if most people commit to that, we're like I'm gonna do this for five years, they'll be fine.
• 51:11
  Sam: They'll make it, but they want it like that.
• 51:13
  Matt: Yeah, it's really hard, which it makes sense.
• 51:15
  Matt: Why they want it like that?
• 51:15
  Matt: Because you see your friend and you're like you posted a.
• 51:18
  Matt: You saw your friend post a reel and that blew up and you're like so maybe I should do that and maybe it's all such a comparison trap and I think the people that really really blow up over time, because a really important thing to me, too, is having that connection with my audience.
• 51:33
  Matt: Like I said, if Instagram or TikTok or YouTube all went off the table and a new platform started, how many people are going to like type your name in?
• 51:43
  Matt: How many people are like?
• 51:45
  Matt: Sam always made creative ass shit.
• 51:48
  Matt: I loved Sam's art.
• 51:50
  Matt: I loved what Sam made.
• 51:52
  Matt: I loved when he talked about making films, how passionate he was.
• 51:55
  Matt: I'm going to type his name into this as opposed to do I really care about that one dude who did that one dance 80,000 times, maybe not.
• 52:04
  Matt: And so if you can have that long-term approach like we're saying I'm committing to this for five years, I'm going to create a genuine connection with people then no matter what the platform is, people are going to want to connect with you.
• 52:17
  Sam: It's a great analogy actually, yeah.
• 52:18
  Sam: Well, how do we win the fight?
• 52:21
  Sam: Not that it's a fight, but how do we influence those younger people and the, the generation coming up and wanting to get into YouTube and maybe having, you know, steering towards that kind of purposeful intent rather than the clickbait intent?
• 52:36
  Matt: By doing it, by doing it yourself, by actually like walking the walk and and uh, having these conversations is good for for artists in general, but I think, like for me, I'm very motivated by the people that I'm inspired by, which kind of makes sense.
• 52:52
  Matt: But when I sit down and talk to somebody who I'm very like, wow, that was such a cool person, I love their personality, if it clicks, then I'm kind of like, oh, what are they doing with all the things in their life, not just creating?
• 53:05
  Matt: And so it's really important for me to look at the people that I'm surrounded by and be like wow, like Luke again, my best friend.
• 53:12
  Matt: He makes the most incredible things.
• 53:15
  Matt: He's a just, genuine person and he doesn't have to fake it.
• 53:19
  Matt: And so if Luke were to tell me like it's really important for me to be real on my and tell my story in films, I would be like I love Luke, he's a genuine person.
• 53:29
  Matt: If he's telling me this, there must be some substance to it.
• 53:32
  Matt: And so I feel like the more you express it and the more you tell people to just make films that bring them life and make art that brings them life, even if it's not getting you paid immediately, if you're doing that enough, you're going to be fulfilled in the long term Because, again, regardless of if the video blew up or not, you have this piece that you can look back and be like I did that, because my my second biggest video on my channel is an office tour, uh, which has the second most views and I'm never gonna yeah, oh, I love it, but I'm never gonna look back at my office tour and be like I fucking fucking did that man.
• 54:08
  Matt: I made that office tour, dude.
• 54:10
  Matt: I showed people my fucking great table.
• 54:12
  Sam: I showed them my desk set up.
• 54:13
  Matt: Dude, it was sick.
• 54:14
  Matt: It was so cool the way I laid out my monitor with the lights behind it.
• 54:18
  Matt: It was wild.
• 54:19
  Matt: So there's definitely and I think people just very easily correlate like high views with good, high followers with talented, and that's just not the case at all and most of the time the pieces of work that I make that have connected the most with people aren't even close to the ones that blow up the most, which is really important to me, because I'm like, okay, sure, it didn't get a million views, it only got 10,000 views or 20 000 or 30 000 views.
• 54:50
  Matt: But those people of those 30 000 views, you look at the comments, there's a thousand comments and like that's a crazy, like that's how many people it impacted.
• 55:00
  Matt: Um, and then the.
• 55:02
  Matt: Yeah, the who's john billion?
• 55:05
  Matt: Who's the?
• 55:06
  Matt: There's a british singer that's blowing up right now.
• 55:09
  Matt: I don't know who he is.
• 55:11
  Sam: In the charts.
• 55:11
  Matt: Yeah, yeah, no, he does all this.
• 55:14
  Sam: Oh, jacob Cullen, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 55:16
  Matt: He said in a podcast where he was just like it's not about how many people I reach, it's of those people.
• 55:22
  Matt: How many did I truly inspire To me?
• 55:25
  Matt: I'm like that's just the perfect quote to just encapsulate, like you know, depth besides width, where you're like, all right, even if it's a small audience, am I really really connecting with that small audience?
• 55:35
  Matt: And if the answer is yes, you don't need a huge audience to make it quote unquote in the artistic world, because if you have an audience that's truly dedicated the hundred true followers or whatever thousand true fans.
• 55:57
  Sam: Yeah, thousand true fans, um thousand true friends, is getting on um.
• 55:59
  Sam: Yeah, it's so true though.
• 55:59
  Sam: Right, so it is really true, but it's very difficult to see wood through the trees, right?
• 56:02
  Sam: When you're, when you're starting out, especially and that's that, that's who I worry about the most is without being too generalist or generationalist.
• 56:14
  Sam: Is that a word?
• 56:15
  Sam: Sure.
• 56:16
  Sam: There's always a word for something nowadays, right, you know, being over 40 now I'm like, oh, the youngsters, they don't know anything.
• 56:23
  Sam: Of course they do, they know a lot more than me.
• 56:25
  Sam: But one thing I you know it's very easy to walk into the trap of is what we've been talking about, right?
• 56:32
  Sam: It's being on your phone all day, being glued to everything, right, especially social media.
• 56:38
  Sam: How many likes did I get?
• 56:39
  Sam: Like checking all the time.
• 56:40
  Sam: I know people that like will check every 10 minutes, post check every 10 minutes.
• 56:43
  Sam: How many likes did I get?
• 56:44
  Sam: Likes it, I guess, like that's that.
• 56:51
  Sam: That can't be right.
• 56:52
  Sam: But I don't see, you know, I get it like, especially the youngsters who've been brought up.
• 56:54
  Sam: They don't know a life that isn't without social media, that is without social media.
• 56:58
  Sam: So I, you know I get it, I understand it and I empathize.
• 57:01
  Sam: But what I don't see a way to kind of get through to them, especially that thousand true fan thing, because you can say that I just go yeah, that's bullshit, I want a hundred thousand Right.
• 57:11
  Sam: And I get it, but I just don't know how to get it through to them Right, other than people like you and, hopefully, podcasts and um, people who, who are able to listen and watch and learn, willing to learn, and that's half problem isn and that's half the problem, isn't it People willing to educate themselves on the deeper meaning of these things.
• 57:29
  Matt: If everyone in the industry is saying, if you stick with it and really love what you're doing and you stick with it long enough, you'll be all right, then there's probably some truth and there's luck involved in everybody's story and it's not going to work out for everybody.
• 57:44
  Matt: But if, the longer you stick with it, your odds keep going up and up and up, yep, then there's probably some truth in that.
• 57:51
  Matt: Yeah, uh, and I know it's really frustrating to to hear the grass is greener when you stick it out, when you're starting.
• 57:57
  Matt: Um, but if you're starting and you're coming like again, I was making videos with my best friends and I didn't ever think about like, uh, you know, I started early, which was amazing, was amazing.
• 58:09
  Matt: I was lucky, I was in college, I was.
• 58:11
  Matt: Everything was paid for by my student loans, so I didn't have to worry about it yet.
• 58:15
  Matt: Uh, and so I just making cool shit with my friends and it was from this genuine place of enthusiasm, and I know a lot of people don't have that.
• 58:21
  Matt: However, you can still have that enthusiasm.
• 58:25
  Matt: That enthusiasm isn't bound to an age or a place in your life or a you can make films about if you have children, and a lot of people are like oh, you're so lucky you get to travel you the world.
• 58:34
  Matt: I can't because I have kids.
• 58:36
  Matt: Two things I didn't tell you to have fucking kids, that's not my problem.
• 58:40
  Matt: The second thing is you can still make films like if the kid is what you really, if you're passionate about being a, you can make passionate films about like being a dad and raising children and like it's not like the passion dies when you're doing it.
• 58:55
  Matt: It's like you know if you want to be a family man, that's your decision.
• 58:59
  Matt: Like, how do you build on that?
• 59:00
  Matt: How can you make it?
• 59:03
  Sam: What does the next few years look like for you?
• 59:05
  Sam: What does the future look like for for sam in terms of filmmaking, youtube brands?
• 59:09
  Sam: We haven't even talked about move to create, but yes still working that out.
• 59:13
  Matt: My I know one thing is my I wouldn't say my channel's hot in terms of, like I'm getting millions of views, but, like right now, where I'm at my career, brands want to work with me.
• 59:24
  Matt: I have a good audience, I have a good connection.
• 59:26
  Matt: I'm in a very awesome spot in my career.
• 59:29
  Matt: My next short-term goal is kind of to just rake it in, take an advantage of where I'm at right now, make as many things as I can and save up.
• 59:40
  Matt: I want to make a good amount of money to set my future family up.
• 59:44
  Matt: I want to be able, like, sit back when I'm 35 or 40 and have systems in place and be like wow, thank, thank you, 30 year old Sam, for doing the things you did.
• 59:54
  Matt: So right now I'm definitely in my grind.
• 59:56
  Matt: Like I want to make some money.
• 59:58
  Matt: I want to set myself up financially.
• 1:00:01
  Matt: Um, I would say that's kind of my current uh situation in life, but still making.
• 1:00:05
  Matt: Um.
• 1:00:09
  Matt: It's such a cool spot to be in because I don't have to bullshit people.
• 1:00:10
  Matt: I can make things I truly love.
• 1:00:11
  Matt: I can talk about the things I truly love.
• 1:00:13
  Matt: They can come to my channel and then I can create revenue off that.
• 1:00:16
  Matt: So it's an incredible situation that I'm in, but I also know youtube in a month could just be gone and so and I might have to start from it.
• 1:00:24
  Matt: So I'm like, okay, right now it's hot and I can make the money I want to make.
• 1:00:28
  Matt: I'm going to take advantage of that, um, in the short term and then from there kind of re-evaluate, because I'm not a big believer in five-year plans, because if you would have asked me what my five-year plan was three years ago, it would have been, way you know, maybe a one-year plan, because I'm like, all right, if I'm happy here, where's where do I want to end up by the end of the year, and then I can reconsider and re-navigate.
• 1:00:48
  Matt: Yeah.
• 1:00:48
  Sam: And it's I mean as self-employed creators as well.
• 1:00:52
  Sam: It's like you don't know how long that train is going to run for Right?
• 1:00:56
  Sam: So you know, and that's where burnout comes in.
• 1:00:58
  Sam: It's like well, I need, I need to keep taking these jobs because I don might end in a couple of years.
• 1:01:11
  Sam: But I'm going to take it as I can get it and you see that dangers as well, but it's a good at least good to have goals, not necessarily like plan your life, yeah.
• 1:01:15
  Matt: I feel like I'm definitely I have burnout, just like everybody else, but right now I'm in a very I'm inspired.
• 1:01:20
  Matt: I want to make things I really truly do.
• 1:01:23
  Matt: I'm not it's not coming from a place of like I need to make the money, but I like, want to make things and I see this opportunity of like I can.
• 1:01:35
  Matt: I can spend this next six months really grinding and making really cool things and also making money and also going to the coolest places in the world like I have.
• 1:01:40
  Matt: One percent of one percent of one percent of the history of humans have the opportunity that I've been given, which is really really insane.
• 1:01:46
  Matt: I can buy a ticket to anywhere I want in the world in a week and go there and make a film about it and then come back and that's just.
• 1:01:54
  Matt: I recognize how privileged I am in that regard.
• 1:01:59
  Matt: I know how much I've worked for it.
• 1:02:00
  Matt: But also I'm in a really rare position and I feel like it is almost a disservice to people that didn't get to that point where I'm like I want to experience this.
• 1:02:11
  Matt: I want to show the world to people that can't see it in the same way and I want to inspire that next generation of people to have that same passion and enthusiasm, and so that's what I'm going to do.
• 1:02:21
  Sam: Well, I hope you keep doing it.
• 1:02:22
  Sam: Keep it up.
• 1:02:22
  Sam: We want to keep seeing your stuff.
• 1:02:24
  Sam: We want you to keep making incredible films and silly films as well.
• 1:02:29
  Matt: I haven't your stuff.
• 1:02:30
  Sam: We want you to keep making incredible films, and silly films as well.
• 1:02:32
  Matt: They'll have them yeah, and we'll keep watching the space.
• 1:02:33
  Matt: So thanks so much for joining me.
• 1:02:34
  Matt: Absolutely appreciate it, bro.
• 1:02:37
  Matt: Yes,