IamA Rooster Teeth, maker of online videos for twelve years and counting. AMA!

Hi Burnie! If Strangerhood season 2 gets funded, how much of it will you force Ray to make?

100%

Is there anyone who does a lot for the company but isn't recognized by the fans?

Thanks for doing the AMA.

Yes and thanks for asking. This is by no means a complete list:

1. Yvonne -- she runs all our books and operations. She helps us plan what we can do next.

2. Alan -- finds new business opportunities for RT and RTX

3. Doreen -- a producer we have worked with for the past few years that is now full time. She kills it.

4. Patrick S -- runs the broadcast (podcast, livestream) division

5. Adam Baird -- tech dude who keeps us up and running

And about 50 other people who don't appear on camera on a regular basis that make all of this possible.

http://www.tubefilter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/rooster-teeth-staff-600x369.jpg

Do people still enjoy Alan more than you?

Unfortunately

I'm curious how often Rooster Teeth hires people that aren't in production, and more in the marketing and business departments.

I never see anything about it on your careers page and more about production roles instead.

Historically, not often. We went nine years before we hired a non-production person. It's more common now.

Have you ever met someone who was famous that was more excited to meet you than you were to meet them?

Also, give Barbara high five for us, she deserves it for putting together RTX.

To answer this question, I would have to name a famous person I wasn't excited to meet. That might not be the nicest thing to say. It is odd to meet people whose work I admire and to find out they already know mine as well. The first few years of Rooster Teeth, it took about twenty minutes just to explain what the hell I do for a living. My parents never understood.

I will tell Babs when I see her later. She might be too tired to lift her arms to high five though.

Just spill the birds, you were flattered some famous person was excited to meet you weren't you.

I am more excited by the expression "spilling the birds"

how often are you refreshing the indigogo page right now? because it is about to hit $2,000,000

$1,999,239

Assuming you hit the stretch goal. How excited are you to make The Strangerhood season 2?

yay ^{I think Matt wants to kill me}

Thanks for doing this AMA.

How do you deal with criticism ?

I have built up a thick skin. A lot of people don't read the comments, but I have been on the internet a very long time. I read them and just apply a very experienced filter. For years, people in entertainment spent millions of dollars trying to figure out what audiences wanted. Now the viewers tell you for free. It's foolish to throw that away because it might hurt your feelings.

And so much of our business has been built on feedback from the community. I can't decide to ignore that because people aren't kissing my ass all day and I feel like they should.

I bet building that thick skin is a difficult character building process that takes a while, or breaks you like the creator of Fez. I honestly have no idea how you did it, but I'm sure it made everything following possible. Kudos to you.

I actually don't think Phil Fish is broken. Maybe he just thinks we're all a bunch of assholes and we can't handle someone telling us that.

If you could get one actor to play in Lazer Team, who would it be?

Dwayne Johnson.

Oh god oh god oh god I hope I'm early enough to ask!

Burnie I've loved Red vs Blue since it debuted, but I've really enjoyed the Achievement Hunter stuff, how come we don't ever (or rarely ever) see you show up? I'd love a Burnie Heist in GTA!

I did some early AH stuff and I do occasional one-off stuff still. When something at RT is working well, it's easy for me to move on to new things. And AH is working really well.

For LazerTeam, how much of the cast will be current RoosterTeeth employees as opposed to outside actors?

That depends on where we end with the final budget. We recognize that we aren't household names but also that if you went to a Rooster Teeth movie and didn't see any RT cast, that would be weird. When the finance dust begins to settle, we will make the best decisions then.

For full disclosure: one of the reasons for this AMA is to raise awareness of our campaign outside the existing RT audience. The success of the campaign has already generated so much press thanks to you guys. If we hit #1, it will only generate that much more. That lets other talented artists hear about the project and allows them to express interest in participating. That's huge for guys like us who don't already have those established relationships.

Thanks for the reply! A quick question about the campaign: if we live in the UK do we have to add international shipping to the lootcrate perk? It doesn't mention it on the page but for other physical perks you do.

Lootcrate is handling the shipping for international.

This is true.

Burnie, do you see Rooster Teeth diversifying in the coming years? If so, how?

Games. That's probably our biggest stretch on the roadmap.

What's the craziest thing a fan has done when they met you?

Tried to hug Gus.

What was the hardest decision you've made in an attempt to grow your company?

Huge fan of Roosterteeth, RvB and AH, seriously enjoy all the content, thankyou for your part in making it all happen Burnie!

Quitting my very good day job and going all in. It was hard but I never looked back.

If we reach the stretch goal for Strangerhood Season 2. Will Ray get a speaking role?

All the speaking roles.

Hey, Burnie. I'm approaching my 8th anniversary as a member of the RT site in a few weeks. Thanks for all the laughs and talks about dicks and science. Looking forward to Lazer Team.

As someone who has been a fan for a while, it's been great seeing you guys grow both as a company and in popularity. However, one drawback to that, for me at least, is that we haven't seen the founders (you, Gus, Geoff, Joel, Matt) collaborate together as much as before. I know you're all busy with your individual responsibilities, but are the original members of Rooster Teeth going to do something together in the foreseeable future (shorts, podcast, etc.)?

Thanks for eight years of support. I think the company is so big now, the groups move in waves. For years it was just me, Matt, Geoff, Gus, Jason and Nathan in the office. When Joel came on I worked mostly with Geoff and Gus for a few years then mainly Gus and newer employees. Now looking at the next few years it will probably be back to Matt I work with most. It's been years since that was the case.

With a bigger "cast" everyone in the audience has their favorites and their favorite groupings. I don't think about it like that. I think everyone is much more focused on projects than who is working on that project.

Personally, I tend to move wherever I can offer the most help and that usually means the new projects that are starting up.

We just want to believe that the original crew are still best friends. It's sad for everyone else, except for you, Geoff, Gus and Matt.

Reblogging on Tumblr.

Hi Burnie, massive fan of your work at Roosterteeth, massive respect for you as a businessman and entrepreneur and also seem like a top guy. You've probably answered this question a million times, but what is your favourite type of work within Roosterteeth, the live action filming such as Shorts and Immersion or do you prefer working on projects such as RvB and RWBY? P.s Thanks for many years of entertainment, hope it continues for a while to come.

I look at RT as two major forms of productions: personality driven content and narrative content. While I love the personality content I have made at RT like the Podcast and Immersion, my personal passion is the narrative side. Even when playing myself in a video, I still try to play a character (like the RT Office Tour). It's great to be able to do it for a living.

Would you rather have fingers as long as legs or legs as long as fingers?

finger as long as legs without a doubt

How do you feel about the community raising almost 2 million dollars for the Lazer Team movie?

I don't what this "almost" bullshit is. You just did it! :)

It's crazy. Absolutely amazing.

Can there be a special Burnie's BBQ Thyme podcast? Much like the Shrove Tuesday casts, except you guys have a nice little BBQ! (Probably outside so you don't burn down the new office...)

We tested a cooking show on RT Life... I don't know how much interest there actually is in that.

People are interested in about anything you guys do on film

If only this were true.

Is it true that the character Caboose has had multiple actors portraying him?

Joel will hate you if he reads this. I am replying to increase the chances that he will.

After you make the movie for $300, what are you going to buy with all the money?

brb mexico

What can you tell me about Volume 2 of RWBY?

Production value has stepped up quite a bit. Can't wait for you guys to see it. Animation projects really gather momentum as you gather a library of assets. RWBY is no exception.

Burnie will you guys be coming back to London anytime soon to promote Lazer Team?

Possibly. I like London even though it's expensive as balls.

Come up north. Much better. A pint of lager is £3 at my local.

That's $1000 US.

Do you guys have any advice for aspiring filmmakers? I’ve been looking around and all I’ve heard/read is that the most important thing is to simply make things, which is obviously very important, but is there anything to know before you actually start making things, you know, for people who are starting from nothing? Are there any resources you could recommend?

I’m very excited for Lazer Team and will be backing as soon as I have some spare money!

The "just get started" war cry can be a little frustrating when someone feels paralyzed by the fear of taking that first step. I think Robert Rodriguez said it best in his Rebel Without A Crew biography. (Paraphrasing here): "I think that everyone has at least a dozen or so bad movies in them; the sooner you get them out the better"

Time spent making content is never wasted, even if no one ever sees it. By the time you finish one project, you have learned so much that you can apply to your next work. My first movie The Schedule would embarass me to watch today but without it, Red vs Blue would have never happened which means Rooster Teeth would not exist.

I am certainly that person paralyzed by fear. I guess I'm just going to have to push myself to do it. I'll just start making things for me and share when I've finally made something I think is good. Thanks for responding to my question. Means a lot.

Make something and don't show it to anyone. Displaying your early work is not a requirement even though it seems weird to make something you don't intend to show.

Hello Burnie. I have been a diehard RT fan ever since the first episodes of RvB. My question is, how many senses does a human have?

Well, we know five is wrong. The 100% accurate number is "somewhere between 19-30", which is a totally scientific answer. ^bitter

Hi Burnie!

How much has the story for Lazer Team changed since you first came up with the idea?

Really not all that much. It's one of those stories that has a clear concept and we have lots of experience with the theme of idiots in extraordinary circumstances. It's been a process of steady refinement rather than massive overhauls.

How did Red vs. Blue get on Netflix? Did they contact you about putting it up?

Years ago. We actually avoided Netflix because we thought it would cannibalize RvB physical sales. After a few years, we asked ourselves why we thought that about Netflix and nothing else. So we decided to go ahead and sign the deal.

It's crazy how many people watch long form ONLY on Netflix. There are people tweeting to me "finally I can watch Red vs Blue" even though the show is available in almost every format imaginable.

Hey Burnie! Whats the craziest idea you've ever had?

There's a new RT short that ranks pretty high.

Hi Burnie! I've always wondered why Dan Godwin and Jason Saldana didn't get more involved in the company. Did they just want to do their own thing, or were they already involved in something that prevented them from getting more involved in Roosterteeth? Hopefully this isn't too personal of a question for you to answer.

Dan had a job he liked, Jason was in-office for a few years and then did other things. I can't speak for anyone else's choices, but I cal tell you that production jobs aren't as exciting as they appear from the outside.

Hey Guys! Everybody knows that you have this rule that "If it's on camera it's okay." type thing but was there ever anything that was recorded or done for the camera that was so mean or awkward that it wasn't released?

Yes. Everyone has the right to veto anything they are in. It's what gives us the confidence to go in crazy places while the cameras are rolling.

Occasionally people pull that trigger.

With all the experience of RvB, would it be possible for RoosterTeeth to start another machinima series with the same ambition as RvB today?

Nope. The machinima movement morphed into the Let's Play movement. Some machinima makers have not taken it well, but you can't tell art which way to go.

EDIT: It's pretty telling that I have had this computer over a year and I just now had to add the word machinima to my spell check. It shows how little I type the word.

Will you guys be doing any auditions for Lazer Team's casting? If so, do you have any idea when that might be taking place?

Also, congrats on the success of the IndieGoGo campaign! You guys deserve it.

There is an open casting call at RTX

What's been your favourite moment working with RT?

PS, I love everything you guys do.

The feeling that I am going to laugh my ass off at some point during my work day. And it happens every day.

Hey Burnie, I've been a fan of Rooster Teeth for quite a while now. But what I really wanna know is, what's your favourite cereal?

Fruity Pebbles.

Hey Burnie! I'm a long time fan of Rooster Teeth!

How highly do you recommend going to the University of Texas? It's one of my top schools to go to for a film/production major. I'm from PA which is far from UT so maybe you can convince me to come down to Texas! Thanks!

I am a UT alum and happy with my life so I don't have much perspective other than that to give. UT is great for teaching you at a young age that no one is watching out for you. You are on your own. With 50,000 students there's no illusion that you are a special snowflake.

Hey Burnie!

Are there any plans to involve Gavin in any of the cinematography of Lazer Team?

Absolutely. He worked on Sherlock Holmes and Dredd. I would be an idiot not to use that experience. For free. This is a binding contract if you are reading this, Gav.

Has the company ever considered expanding outside the city of Austin, whether in state or out?

Yes. We have a distribution center for merchandise in Australia and we are working on the UK as well.

As far as production offices, LA would be our next bet. I would have loved if the online entertainment world had stayed decentralized but that ship sailed a few years ago.

It's obvious that as soon as youtubers get semi-big they flock to LA. Why exactly is that?

It's opportunity. If you look at my social media profiles, they say I live in LA but I am really only there about a third of my time at most. Entertainment opportunities are so fleeting. If you give people ANY reason to let them evaporate, that tends to happen. You have to think around corners and eliminate the bullshit roadblocks other people put up. So when someone says "can you meet today", I tell them I am busy, schedule something for tomorrow and hop on a plane. I never have the "I don't live in LA" discussion because that always leads to the "we should catch up next time you are in town" reply.

Why anyone pays California state income tax by choice is beyond me.

Hi Burnie! I am a huge fan of Rooster Teeth and I wanted to ask some questions about Lazer Team:

1.) How big of a theatrical release will there be? Will it be shown in most theaters, like a blockbuster, or only show in a small amount of theaters?

2.) You have said there will be employees of Rooster Teeth in the movie, but how big will their parts be?

3.) Where will the majority of the filming be taking place? Will you have a full studio or will you be out and around looking for places to film?

1. We have already had offers to theatrically distribute but we can't say anything yet.

2. Yes, we will have to see when we get closer.

3. We just moved into a huge soundstage at the Austin Film Studios. That move has jumped our all production up dramatically. There's tons of resources here.

Hey Burnie.

Lately there's been a growing interest among big names in the movie world to move towards making more television and online content.

Do you think this potential influx of established big name talent into the online world is going to seriously damage the chances for more independent online content producers to really get their work out there?

Yes. Sorry. I don't want that to be the case because I came up in a world where that wasn't true, but it absolutely is now. You also have to look at the incredible noise floor being generated by all the so called "non-famous" content creators as well. Every minute on YouTube, 100 hours of footage are uploaded. Not watched. Uploaded. If you want to watch every thing on YouTube you would fall four days behind every minute you tried to do that.

It makes discovery of new content a very challenging process. However, the only alternatives are establishing barriers to entry. That's not good either. You just have to hope that the best content rises to the top, regardless if famous people or not famous people are making it.

Hey Burnie,

Are there any practices or ideologies concerning Roosterteeth that you've changed? Or, rather, how much have you changed since the beginning? Five years ago? Last year?

After listening to some older podcasts and listening to the most recent one, it seems like one thing that has stayed consistent is your focus on the community rather than purely the numbers, which I find amazing. Especially so since the community is so huge now and you still try your best to be actively involved in it.

Best wishes!

We try to stay adaptive without abandoning our core ideals. For instance, when YouTube started we initially identified them as a competitor. Why would we put our videos on another site for "exposure" which was all they offered at the time? When they became the default platform for online video and started a partner program, then we adapted that outlook and started our channel. But we never made it RT's primary destination. We have always understood the power of having our own home on the web.

And now everyone is finally starting to understand this as well. Most of the discussions this year at VidCon were about other groups starting their off-YouTube strategies. We don't need to talk about starting it. We have it. And we don't feel the need to be a dick by calling out YouTube at their own convention. We are very happily doing both.

It's also wonderful how the whole crew can remain interesting and entertaining without banking on pop culture

We stopped Shorts for a while because we were drifting into current event pop culture mode. It's draining and unrewarding for me to work on that stuff.

I'm at RTX setting stuff up. Will you come bring me a peanut?

RTX is a peanut free zone.*

*This is not true.

Hey Burnie! I saw an interview you did with Adam Sandler for Happy Gilmore a while back and I'm wondering... How well known were you before Rooster Teeth? With Joel acting in criminal minds and friends and Matt being involved in some big productions, I get the impression you guys were pretty popular before RT.

We talked about the motivation for RT doing news in an earlier discussion. For sake of time, I will link that:

http://www.reddit.com/r/roosterteeth/comments/22wkh4/in_podcast_103_they_talk_about_how_they_dont_like/cgrb7yf?context=3

Oops. I mixed a reply here. I was not well known before RT. And internet well known is not the same as actually famous.

I do have to crazy longevity milestones. I have both the longest running web series and the longest running student tv show under my belt. That show Sneak Peek is still running today.

Are you a fan of Video Game High School and/or other video game related shows?

I am a huge fan of everything Freddie does.

How involved are you in RvB now? With all the other stuff you do, do you still have time to write/direct episodes?

Miles and I discuss script/story milestones and that's about it. Miles is at the helm. I don't believe in turning something over and then trying run it through them. We hired Miles because he gets the voice of RvB, but it's not a ventriloquist act. He's doing a kick ass job.

Do you consider Laser Team to be the most important production to come from Rooster Teeth? Do you consider it to be Rooster Teeth's masterpiece?

No. But it's going to be great.

When did you discover your love for filmmaking?

I don't have a love for filmmaking. I have a love for story telling and film is the best way to achieve that. That might sound like a dopey artistic answer, but I feel it's an important distinction. That's why it's easier for me to hire talented people as Directors and DPs.

Burnie: when you started making videos, did you feel at the time that you'd ever end up in an "alternative career" and was that something you always wanted, or did you fall into it as a result of RvB's success?

I had a great job in telecom working for a great man that taught me everything I know about business. I would have done that happily for many years if RvB had not exploded.

Who from RT will be directing Lazerteam?

Matt

Hi Burnie! I got to meet you at VidCon, which was by the way one of the most awesome things I did there. I was the guy who gave you the MC poster and asked you to say fuck you to my friend. Do you plan on streaming the movie on your site and/or at the next RTX?

We don't make content for any specific format. It's hard to predict what will even be a dominant method of distribution in 12-18 months. We just make the best content we can and figure out how to let people see it when it's done.

Burnie, Will you be playing a character in Lazer Team? or making a cameo?

Yes

If we bought a lootcrate (or roostcrate) I assume there might be t-shirts In it, so how do we select our sizes?

We avoided shirts for that very reason.

I'm very interested in business management in the internet entertainment industry, so I have three questions for you:

1. When you were the CEO of RoosterTeeth, the internet was just starting out and you had to figure out a lot as you went along. What was one thing you wish you could go back and tell yourself when you started?

2. What was one thing when it came to running your business that you had to specifically go against what other CEOs of traditional entertainment would view as "common sense"?

3. Lastly, what's one peice of advice or practice you would give specifically to someone that deals with the business side of things if they wanted to start an internet entertainment studio in this day and age?

Thanks for your time, and I'm a very big fan of all the work you guys do.

1. Don't be too cautious to take investment money. Other people will and they'll just use it to fuck up your art. There's a smart way to do everything.

2. Views aren't the only metric. They are a big thing, but if all you can talk about is views, you aren't telling a full story.

3. Make people back up their promises. If an MCN is trying to court you because of promotion and collaboration why not ask them "I can collaborate and cross promote with your established talent? Cool. Then can I get their email address and ask about their experiences with your network?" Their response to that question should tell you a lot about their initial pitch.

Hey Burnie, I have been watching Rossterteeth for what feels like 5 years now, One big question is with the success of RvB do you guys think that one day you will turn into a even bigger company than what your are now? And would you like this change?

The online media environment is changing so quickly right now. It seems like all the established media players have just now realized this is an actual industry.

My goal is to always make the best choices that help us make new and better content and that give our employees the best possible opportunities.

Hey Burnie,

If you could kill off any of the RvB characters with no community backlash, which would it be and why?

Also, did you know that honey never... Just kidding. ;)

I've recorded all their deaths already, just in case the actors decide to fuck with me. Young Directors take note.

What are your favorite books?

Ender's Game series through Xenocide, World War Z, The Stand and the Xanth series.

The most influential book in my recent life was the first 140 pages of Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing. The last chapter of The Road ain't bad either. Pretty much everything Cormac McCarthy is great. I feel that every man should read McCarthy.

Burnie, I have been with you for as long as I can remember. I remember watching the second season of RvB when I was young as hell, and I had rented it from a video store. Not until years later did I realise that I had already loved you. I remember buying a black Grifball hoodie from Supanova about four years ago, I don't remember who was there for that at that time. But what I do remember was back then, you were a normal stall like everyone else but this year Michael and Lindsay had had massed hundreds of people just for a photo/signature. Anyway, my question is how is the retrospect for you? How do you feel when you look back on your career and remember all of this started with a couple of drunk college friends?

It's been an amazing ride. I am going to V2V next week to talk about Net Neutrality to help protect the environment of online media so other people have a shot to do what we have.

Thanks for the years of support.

Do you envision Lazer Team being the first of multiple feature length films produced by Rooster Teeth? Or a one-off masterpiece?

This a move to open up a whole new branch of production.

What inspired you to change Red vs. Blue from a goofy and satirical look at Halo multiplayer to a more dramatic sci-fi story in the Halo universe?

What made you decide you wanted to have CGI animations in Red vs. Blue?

What's the Red vs. Blue episode you're most proud of?

And, lastly, how did Monty approach you when he came up with the idea of RWBY?

1. Everything has to evolve or it gets stale. I would rather take a risk and have something pay off than guarantee that something just eventually fades into the same old, same old.

2. Years of writing scripts where the only verbs I could use were the names of buttons on a controller. Grif jumps, Simmons turns, Sarge crouches.

3. Last episode of Season 6. SPOILER Making the very last word of a script the twist for the story took a ton of crafting.

4. We approached him for ideas. He has lots.

Why don't you make porn, you dick?

Check your inbox.

Will RTX be the only place you hold casting sessions and/or crew call, or will you be spreading out to bring in talent across the country?

We have casting directors. RTX is our only opening casting call.

Hey Burnie, with the IndieGoGo campaign nearing its two million dollar mark what excites you the most going foward with LazerTeam?

A feature was always our next project. I mean always next. As in, we will do the feature after this next thing. After five years of that, it's great to know we begin production on it next month.

Plans for SDCC this year? I'm going this year for the first time and I'd like to meet some RT peeps.

RT will be there. I won't.

What're they doing?

Who knows. Fucking dickheads always doing something.

Hey Burnie! Feel free to only answer one or two or none of my question! :D

What advice can you give for starting community meet ups for a place/country that RT is not really that well known in?

Will Ray be directing the Strangerhood season 2 if the campaign reaches that stretch goal?

Also, are there any plans to open up more spots for the loot crate perk?

Love you guys btw! :D

Just added new Loot Crates today.

There are communities everywhere. Try searching by country on the RT site.

I've been a big fan since day one and I'm wondering if you had complete freedom artistically and budget wise what is one video/show/movie you would love to make?

The Doormen

Hey Burnie, thank so much for doing this. I've been a huge fan of Rooster Teeth since a buddy of mine introduced me to RvB in 2008, and it's been amazing to see how much things have changed since then (I can't even begin to imagine what the growth was like before then).

You mentioned on a recent podcast how the focus nowadays seems to be on the number of views a video gets or the number of subscribers a channel has, and it's actually a shame because part of what makes social media great is the interaction you can have with fans and viewers. As a company, Rooster Teeth has always been incredibly connected with the community to the point where it is actually a part of the community, rather than existing outside of it like other types of communities centered around a person/organization/youtube channel (if that makes sense?).

My question to you is with the constant pressure from external sources to increase viewership, increase subscribers, get more likes, etc. how do you as a company maintain the level of commitment to the community that you do? In other words, what conscious efforts do you take to ensure that you are a connected part of the RT community, rather than existing outside of it?

Regardless of whether you answer this question or not, thank you so much for everything you guys do!

This IndieGoGo campaign is a big talking point in that regard. We're breaking all kinds of records, but we aren't doing it with our 15 million YouTube subs or the 3 billion views on the RT channel. It's all happening thanks to (as of right now) 30,000 engaged fans. Thirty thousand is not a number you hear very often in online media. Everybody likes those millions and billions -- they sound great in press releases. But it's the 30,000 that are driving the content for those tens of millions.

Scale is important, don't get me wrong. Rooster Teeth is in a rare position in online media and I have a full appreciation for that. So far, .25% of our YouTube audience has contributed to the campaign. If we got all the way up to 1% that would be insane.

But we got here by understanding the power of dedicated, engaged audiences because we are those people ourselves. We're the guys who camped out for Star Wars Episode 1 (don't judge). We go to midnight releases. We support the things we love.

Burnie with the kickstarter movie nearly at $2 million will you add many more stretch goals or will Strangerhood Season 2 be your last?

IndieGoGo. We are loading up the $2.25 stretch goal with everything at this point. We have four days to get to #1. That's our goal.