Our TV show that never was (long text post) (Patreon)

So we want to tell a little story about about a TV show that was almost hosted by yours truly. Yours trulies? Wait... does that work with 2 people? Some patrons have already heard the details because we talked about it in our monthly hangouts as it was developing, BUT we wanted to fill everyone in now that the dust has settled. 

First, a little background. TV shows seem to happen in a few stages. First off there is the "sizzle reel". Basically a company calls "talent" up (that's us) to chat and if they think there is potential for a TV show they record a video call that they edit into something they can pitch to TV networks. If the network sees your sizzle reel and likes you for the show, then it goes into contract negotiation, then pilot. If the pilot goes well then it goes into filming the first season. Usually before a company spends all that time and money the talent needs to sign a contract that obligates them to re-up for more seasons if the network wants it. Well... enough framework!

TV was never really a goal of ours despite all the friends and family members saying things like "maybe if this YouTube thing goes well you'll get your own TV show!" Nothing against TV, we just always have had YouTube be our main focus and goal because it seems like something we have control over.

We've been reached out to by a few production companies in the past interested in recording sizzle reels, and we'd go ahead and do them because why not? But it always kinda ended there. Then a few months ago (June) we got an email from one of the production companies that we had made a sizzle reel with almost a year ago... and they were interested in making a TV show with us!! Pretty exciting stuff. The network had already approved the show concept, the pay was good per episode and they were wanting a 30 episode season which means a really good total pay too.

There were a few catches though. One... we were worried about reducing the amount of videos we could make. Filming would take 4 months and we'd have to move to a different state during that time. But... having those funds would let us return stronger, make more videos, hire help, take on bigger projects, etc, etc... So we went back and forth a LOT.

Also we were worried that it was not the perfect fit for us. We don't want to go into too much detail or else we would give away the network, production studio, and TV show, but while it did involve some making, it was definitely not the usual maker content. We got over this worry though, and figured as long as we could be ourselves things would be ok.

That's when we realized they wanted us to be ourselves... kinda. "Just shift your story some here." "Can you be more interested in X topic?" "Could you say you have a background with X?" We started getting signs that while we might be the hosts, most of the creative direction would be out of our control and they had a different vision of who we were and how we'd be presented. So, we were just honest with them. We told them that we're excited about this opportunity and we could of course be enthusiastic to try new things that we'd be trying on this show. BUT we would not change who we are or present ourselves in an untrue way, and if that's a deal breaker than we are not the right fit for the show. Of course, after that they decided to move on to find another host and that's ok.

This probably won't be our last TV show offer and we've learned SO much throughout this process. Other YouTube creators with TV experience were a HUGE help and resource, and it caused us to think more about how we want to present ourselves and what type of content we want to make. It's actually what spurred us to make our new trailer. The TV show wanted us to be portrayed as experts in something we weren't but that's not what our channel is about. We are on this adventure, learning things, having fun, pushing ourselves, and that's what we're going to keep doing. We're in full creative control right now and that's awesome and this whole process just makes us value that so much more. 

-Evan (with help from Katelyn because I like to write things too!)