Hello and welcome to the first progress report of the new year! Things have been progressing! Let's report on it!
WHAT'S NEW ON PATREON?
Quite a lot this month! I finally did the Patreon refresh I've been talking about for years, and though things are still shifting around, I think we're settling into the new Patreon pretty well! Here are the new posts:
Both of those posts are tests of new perks for the Patreon, and any paid member of the Patreon can view them! If you're not a paid member, check out the updated About and Membership pages to see all of the details, but here's a quick summary of the big changes to the Patreon tiers:
- The monthly livestreams for the $5 and $10 tiers are stopping and being replaced with 2-4 livestream specials every year (like SONGFEST, above)
- All future main channel videos will be uploaded here a day early and ad-free for all paid tiers
- A completely new perk, "Brian Brecommends" is added to all paid tiers. This is a monthly video where I recommend a piece of media that really inspired me in the past month and try to answer any questions you might have for me
As always, feel free to let me know if there's anything that will make this Patreon more worthwhile for you all! I'm always trying to find the best use of my time to make this Patreon something that is really worthwhile, and your feedback has been so helpful this month.
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?
There have been two major projects that I've been working on this month, and then a whole bunch of little projects filling up the spaces next to those major projects.
Project #1: The Patreon refresh!
(see previous section)
Project #2: A proof-of-concept video for a children's show pitch!
Here's what I can share right now: in late 2022, I was approached by some lovely creators to host the silly, song-filled, part live-action, part stop-motion-and-puppetry children's show that they're working to pitch. Obviously, I said, "Yes, that's my dream project, and Karen and I will do everything in our power to make this thing happen." So for the past year, on-and-off, we've been working with these creators and a very amazing stop-motion studio to make a proof-of-concept video for the show.
Karen and I wrote the music for the clip late last year, and then we spent the first half of January recording and producing the song. In mid-January, we spent a few days shooting the proof-of-concept video, and it was so much fun. I can't share much more, but here's a cheeky behind-the-scenes pic from set:
(please appreciate the recycled use of TBD's overalls)
Nothing is finalized yet, but I might be able to upload the pitch video in some capacity (even if it's just for Patreon members). Still talking to the production team about what I can share, but pitching should start soon, and hopefully it'll all go well, because BOY OH BOY do I want to keep working with this incredible team of artists and puppeteers. It was a dream.
The Other Little Projects
No video this month, but LOTS of little work on LOTS of videos. SONGFEST was the beginning of 5 different songs for videos, and I've already started working on a non-songfest song for another video.
And in addition to the pitch video, Karen and I have been working on two of our own pilots that we'll be pitching in the near future. I feel like I've been talking about these pitches forever, but that's because we've already gone through one round of pitches (to get production companies attached) and now we're going into the second round (to get the dang thing made). We're doing so many pitches in such a short time frame, you might as well call us Nolan Ryan! Haha! That's a baseball joke. I think. I had to google "most pitches baseball single game" and this came up. If any of you are baseball fans and this joke doesn't make sense, please keep it to yourself.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Outside of the pitches, I think I want to make a quick video about glasses, because I broke my current pair and keep gluing them back together, but I should probably buy some new ones. And if you wear glasses, you know how much of an ordeal that can be. So I'll need to process those emotions through another song video.
WHAT ELSE?
I finally figured out how to make custom designs on my embroidery machine, and the power is going to my head. Karen made both of the beautiful/cursed line art designs that you see here:
I'm really proud of the "Saturn Devouring His Sun" jacket, because I tested a technique where I use other fabric to make the fill color, and it worked surprisingly well! And if you think "Nice, Brian has a fun hobby that he's enjoying and won't use for his videos!" you'd be DEAD WRONG because I've already been inspired to do a LOT of embroidery specifically for a future song video.
Oh and I turned 30 two days ago. So far, pretty cool. Can't complain. Excited to see what the next year/decade of my life brings.
THAT'S IT
Please enjoy this screencap from Gran Turismo, a movie that is totally okay but is made all the better by having this specific line:
Talk soon!