What do Logan Paul and Justin Bieber have in common? They both have passionate video editors working for them behind the scenes. We had a chance to chat with Hayden Hillier-Smith and Jordan Orme about their editing careers, balancing multiple projects, and their latest collaboration, The Editing Podcast. There, these two professional editors share their experiences and interview other editors and filmmakers.

Hayden Hillier-Smith
Subscribers: 266K
Uploads: 33
Video views: 8,056,152
Content type: Entertainment
User created: Nov 7th, 2008

Jordan Orme
Subscribers: 659K
Uploads: 218
Video views: 77,017,133
Content type: Music
User created: Jan 3rd, 2013

The film school option

These days, Jordan edits music videos for some of the biggest artists, but his first introduction to filmmaking was Vine. “It was so much fun,” Jordan says of the now-defunct short-form video platform. “I was like, ‘You know what, maybe I wanna do film.’” At the time, he needed to decide which major to pursue in college.

Fast-forward to Jordan’s first filmmaking class: “I was making a short film for the first film class that I was trying out … We did everything and got it pre-planned, got it filmed. And then once I got in the edit lab, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?’”

That feeling of uncertainty didn’t last long, however. “I got in [the edit lab] at 5:00 PM, and I just started looking up tutorials on one screen and trying to work on Avid and put this entire story that I had scripted out together,” Jordan says. “It was an amazing experience, as I truly describe it as existential and magical. And I look up at the clock after I’ve been working for a little bit, and I see that it says 5:00 AM. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve been here for 12 hours, and I had no idea.’”

With this realization, Jordan knew he had sparked a passion. “That was the first moment for me where I was like, ‘Shoot, you know, I think I could actually make a career out of this.’ I really, really enjoy editing and telling stories in post-production,” Jordan concludes.

The industry option

Hayden, on the other hand, took a more direct route into filmmaking and video production. “I think what it was,” Hayden says, “was that both me and Jordan came around a time when accessible cameras became, well, accessible.”

Hayden tested out the role of director and cinematographer. However, once he got the chance to edit the footage, that was the part of the process he enjoyed most. “I think it’s because me, I’m a little bit of an introvert, and so if you just leave me alone with the footage, that’s perfect. That’s beautiful for me,” Hayden tells us. He also sees editing as having the best creative opportunities.

From there, Hayden continued to find ways to get involved in the filmmaking community. His pitch went something like, “Hey, you film something, gimme the footage. Leave me alone. I’ll give you something great in a day or two.” Hayden also produced, filmed and edited a YouTube channel called “What’s Good London,” a tourism channel. That led to some work, and eventually, Hayden landed his first official gig with a company making videos for Facebook. He would later be let go from that gig, but it didn’t hinder his career. In fact, it did the opposite. Getting let go actually resulted in Hayden getting hired to edit for Logan Paul, the ultra-popular YouTube vlogger. Go listen to The Editing Podcast for the full story.

Hayden credits his success to having a clear focus. “I think a lot of it was simply because early in the process, I found what I enjoyed the most straight away and then doubled down on that.”

What’s so great about editing?

When asked what he loves most about the editing process, Hayden’s answer is succinct. He says, “When something doesn’t work and then I make it work. That’s the bit that excites me the most.” He finds satisfaction in solving issues that most editors would consider a lost cause.

Jordan’s answer is related. “I remember being in film school and where a narrative didn’t work and you’re like, ‘This film is just trash,’” he says. In those cases, Jordan and his classmates would sit down and take a long look at the story. “We would write out scenes on note cards and just start rearranging them.” Like Hayden, Jordan finds satisfaction in solving the puzzle. “The ability that we had with a single cut — to just be able to change the entire meaning of a scene or of a way a character feels. That’s, like, so magical. It’s crazy.”

The life of an editor

“Editing is unfortunately always so unpredictable,” Hayden tells us. “Something you might think would take 10 minutes will suddenly take four hours.”

“If you’re a freelancer, the schedule is different for every single job,” Jordan agrees. He emphasizes the importance of balancing work with other aspects of your life. “I think one thing that Hayden and I are really passionate about is about helping freelancers create healthy boundaries, because those boundaries usually aren’t in place for you.”

Hayden gives an example: “Anything past midnight, I very clearly shut it down. Even leading up to midnight, so I’d say even 11:00 PM.” He says he won’t pull an all-nighter for work. “The boundary that I now like to establish is, if you’re expecting me to be working overnight on this, it’s because you haven’t given me enough days to finish this.” When it comes down to it, it’s the client’s responsibility to give the editor enough time to finish the project.

Keeping reasonable work hours also allows Hayden to do his best work. “As soon as you go into the early hours of the morning, your quality diminishes drastically,” he says, “because you’re now having sleep deprivation. Regardless of the extra hours you put in, it’s not gonna get any better. I may as well rest.”

For Jordan, the time of day doesn’t matter as much as the total time commitment. “If you’re editing like over 8, 10, 12 hours, that’s when that quality really gets diminished,” he says. “Some people are more creative at night, so for them, working at night might be better, but they should rest during the day, then.” Jordan emphasizes that it’s all about maximizing creativity with a schedule that works for you.

Pros and cons of freelancing

Despite freelancing’s challenges, Jordan prefers it over traditional employment. “I’d like to say I’m a way more free, flowy person, so freelance just works better for my lifestyle and for my personality,” he tells us. At the same time, he recognizes that different editors may have different work styles. “There are other people that love structure, that love to have a routine, that love to be doing similar things every single day, and really thrive in that environment. And so I think staff is perfect for them.”

Hayden shares a slightly different perspective. He worked as a full-time employee for nearly a decade. “I was a full-time employee for Logan Paul for the past six to seven years, but even that had its flexibility with it as well. What I’m enjoying now is a bit more of a variety as a freelancer, but that does bring inherently a lot more risks, especially financial risks.” He continues, “I’m now switching onto the freelance and enjoying those pros and also enduring those cons.”

Making time for personal projects

Aside from client work, both Jordan and Hayden run YouTube channels dedicated to the art of editing. Balancing client work with making YouTube content can be a challenge, but Hayden believes it’s necessary in order for him to be a good creator. “For me to be able to talk about editing on YouTube, I should still be editing on projects,” he tells us.

Hayden describes his channel as a love letter to editing, especially YouTube editing. He says he’s always wanted to be a creator himself, but there are limits to the types of content he can create. “I don’t have $5 million spare to buy the most expensive Pokemon card in the world,” Hayden admits. “But Logan [does]. So I’ll edit his video. I can’t rent out SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles … my friend Jimmy [Donaldson, a.k.a. MrBeast] will, so I’ll edit his video.”

Hayden goes on to explain how this client work feeds into his own channel’s content. “Once I’ve edited [their video], that gives me the opportunity to then do a breakdown of it on my channel.” Hayden says he especially enjoys picking apart the theory and the psychology behind an edit.

Jordan started his channel because of the 2020 pandemic. “I had a friend that called me … and he was like, ‘Hey bro, I heard that you’re editing for Justin Bieber. You should make a YouTube channel and talk about that,” Jordan says. He was reluctant at first to follow the advice. “YouTube channels are so hard to start and maintain,” he explains, “And I was just very cynical about YouTube.” That changed when the pandemic hit and productions were shut down. With more time on his hands, Jordan decided to go for it. “My personal experience is a ton with music videos, so I just started talking about music videos right away because that was interesting to me.” Like Hayden, Jordan is most interested in the psychology of editing and discovered that not many YouTubers approach editing from this perspective.

Jordan agrees that balancing it all can be challenging. “But it’s fun,” he says, “and I don’t think we would have it any other way.”

The Editing Podcast

Always eager to share their passion for editing, Hayden and Jordan have paired up to create The Editing Podcast. “What I find the most beautiful,” Hayden says, “is that me and Jordan come into the podcast with two different perspectives that happen to align beautifully.” Hayden works mostly on YouTube content while Jordan edits music videos for more conventional clients. “I’m very excited in having conversations with all three generations … the TikTok generation or the Gen Zs, the millennials and the traditional generation as well.”

“We just wanna have the opportunity to go in deeper,” Jordan adds, “and meet the best editors in the world and really learn from them. Because we know, I mean, we’re pretty young still. We know a little bit about editing, but there’s still so much that we can learn. And so much room for us to grow. So for me, it was a huge opportunity to learn from other people.”

“We love the idea of bringing on guests with their own life experiences,” Hayden says. For him, Edgar Wright, the filmmaker known for ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Last Night in Soho,’ is at the top of the podcast guest wish list. “He was the filmmaker that made me fall in love with editing and a fundamental key into my life and to where I am today. And so I’d love to have a conversation about him and his philosophies and his ideas.” Jordan names Joe Walker, editor of ‘Arrival’ and ‘Dune,’ as his ideal guest: “I think he’s my favorite traditional editor … And his work is — phenomenal, and I admire it so much. So I’d just love to pick his brain about his thought process.”

Hayden and Jordan’s parting advice

As we conclude our interview, I ask Hayden and Jordan to share their best advice for aspiring editors. “For me,” Hayden says, “stay curious. It’s easy to assume you know everything straight away. And the moment you can let that go, what you can learn becomes beautiful.”

Jordan had this to add: “Be passionate … like what Hayden said [about] staying curious, being passionate really helps you to stay curious … if you can be passionate about something, it’s gonna be very easy to learn and become very good at that. Because you want to, anyway.” Jordan concludes with a cautionary note: “Really love the art for the art. And not because you can make money, or because you can get famous, or any other ulterior motive. Because that’ll never last you.”

It’s clear from our chat that Hayden and Jordan are both living by their own advice.

To learn more about becoming a professional editor, check out Hayden Hillier-Smith and Jordan Orme on YouTube or tune in to The Editing Podcast.

Featured image courtesy: Adam Duffy

Building a career as an online personality doesn’t always happen the way we expect. It takes determination, consistency and a bit of trial and error. Fortunately, we had a chance to chat with Twitch streamer, YouTube creator and “Valorant” coach Jollz to learn how he carved his path to streaming success.

Let’s dive into Jollz’s streaming career and his advice for growing an online audience.

Jollztv
Subscribers: 249K
Uploads: 676
Video views: 33,810,955
Content type: Gaming
User created: Oct 22nd, 2007

Early ambitions

“I actually first started streaming when I was like 18 or 19. I was just out of high school, and I played a lot of video games in general,” says Jollz. From the start, he knew he wanted to make a career out of playing video games.

“I was pretty good at them,” Jollz tells us, “And because I was playing them so much … it was a dream of mine to make it so I can make a living off of playing video games.” It didn’t matter whether that dream materialized as a career as a professional gamer or a successful streaming channel. Jollz admits that this was unheard of at the time, but he gave it a shot anyway. “I thought, well, I’m playing anyway, so I might as well turn the stream on.”

Unfortunately, Jollz found that just turning the stream on wasn’t enough to attract viewers.

“I streamed for like three years and it got — I didn’t get anywhere, right? Like, I didn’t get to join any competitive team or anything like that. My stream had three viewers. I didn’t really go anywhere.” Jollz decided the streaming idea wasn’t working out. He switched gears and went back to school to earn his bachelor’s degree.

“After that, I ended up getting a job at NASA,” Jollz says. “I worked there for two years or so. I was a software engineer … And about a year and a half ago, I quit.” Jollz explains his reasoning in his video “From NASA ENGINEER to FULL-TIME STREAMER,” but, to sum it up, he just missed making content.

A second attempt

After one failed attempt at launching a streaming channel, Jollz knew he had to make some changes to his strategy: “For one, back then, I was strictly putting all of my eggs in one basket. So what I mean by that is, like, I was doing only streaming.” Jollz knew he needed to put in more effort, but he was still focused on streaming as the primary outlet for his content.

“My effort was to stream longer,” Jollz recalls, “but that, that didn’t really add up.” He saw that spending more time streaming didn’t automatically lead to more viewers. It’s notoriously difficult to get discovered on Twitch — even harder when you only have a few viewers tuning in. “Even if I stream for like 12 hours, 24 hours,” Jollz reflects, “if nobody watched that, did I even really stream? Right?”

Looking back now, Jollz can see where he went wrong. “I didn’t post on YouTube. I didn’t grow my other social media,” Jollz says, “and I think that was a big hindrance for me personally.” Even though his content was good, it wasn’t finding an audience. At this point, Jollz realized he needed to try other tactics. “It doesn’t matter if you post good content, but nobody sees it.”

Reaching new viewers

Since Twitch wasn’t giving him the traction he needed to get his streaming career off the ground, Jollz turned to other platforms. “I started posting on TikTok, YouTube, YouTube Shorts — just every single social media that I think right now currently is doing well. I’m just on there.” The idea is to get as many eyes as possible on his content in the hopes that these viewers will eventually find him on Twitch.

Posting to a variety of platforms allows you to attract viewers you may not have been able to reach otherwise. However, it can be hard to predict where you will find the most success. Jollz has noticed that new viewers often arrive in waves.

“Like a couple months ago, I was getting a lot of views from TikTok, and then, you know, probably the last four or five months, now I’m getting it from YouTube.” Jollz notes that it depends on the video and what’s trending on each platform. “But they come from everywhere, right? I’ve had people come in from Twitter, the browse section now on Twitch because I’ve been getting a little bit more views, Reddit even … it’s just from everywhere.”

Still, Twitch remains at the heart of his content strategy. It’s where all of his content originates, which has allowed him to create a more streamlined production workflow. “I plan out how many YouTube videos I’m gonna have in that stream,” Jollz reveals, “and that gets cut up and then posted onto YouTube — gets recycled into TikTok, YouTube Shorts, etc.” In essence, Jollz can record all the content needed for his other social media channel during his Twitch streams, trimming down clips as needed.

Teamwork

Of course, maintaining a presence across so many different platforms takes a lot of work. Jollz has a team of four managers and 26 editors to keep up with all of his different accounts. “I was editing videos myself,” he tells us. “I’m like, this is time-consuming. I suck at this. After stream, I was just dreading like four hours of just cutting through the VOD and editing.” He decided to outsource: “I think I went on like Fiverr or something and just hired some random person.”

Soon, however, Jollz realized he had too much content; a single editor couldn’t keep up long-term. “I put it all on one editor,” Jollz says, “and after like a month, they’d get burned out.” It became a cycle: “I’m like, ‘Okay, these people are getting burnt out and I think it’s my fault.’” That’s when Jollz started hiring more editors, scaling up as he moved into a more frequent posting schedule.

With more editors, Jollz had more to keep track of. “It was very unorganized … sometimes I would, I would lose a video and I’m like, ‘Oh shit’ — Like I forgot who worked on what. It was a mess.” Jollz needed a manager. Luckily, he had a close friend who was up for the task. Together, they started to home in on a style and production workflow that worked for Jollz’s content.

Each platform has its own requirements: “For short-form content, I just need something that’s either trending or something that is super quick-paced,” Jollz tells us, “It needs to be fast because people will scroll.” On the other hand, Jollz has found an audience for longer videos on YouTube. “For my YouTube, I’m focusing on educational content, collaboration content, long-form content.” Jollz emphasizes, however, that content still needs a hook to draw in viewers: “Titling, thumbnails, all that is very important.”

These days, Jollz can hand over most of that creative responsibility to his management team. The managers relay Jollz’s vision to the editors, who then cut down Jollz’s Twitch recordings for other platforms. “Now it’s like, I don’t even know what gets uploaded on my YouTube videos anymore … I don’t know anything. Like, I don’t even know the thumbnails, the titles, unless it’s like a really good one and he really wants to show off or something, then he’ll show me … Only thing I do is network, plan out my streams and stream. That’s about it.”

Building a community

Spreading content around on social media has proven to be a good way to attract first-time viewers, but getting viewers to your stream is just the first step. Once they find you, you’ll need to give them a reason to stick around. For Jollz, that means providing value in the form of community building and educational content.

A lot of Jollz’s community building happens on Discord. “I basically use Discord as the main hub for all my other socials,” he says. “I think getting a lot of people in your Discord is a very good start.” He admits that the chat can be a bit hectic: “We do have a lot of people in there. Sometimes I do message in there as well, but I can’t consistently always be in there spending all my time, you know, messaging. But I do sometimes.”

Discord can be great for growing a community, but there is some etiquette to keep in mind. “I’m trying not to be too annoying with like mass pinging everyone now that we built a pretty big community,” Jollz says, “I have moderators that I trust, and they keep the community pretty wholesome, lively — you know — welcoming.”

An educational incentive

As with any other platform, to grow a community on Discord, you need to give people an incentive to join. For Jollz, that was video game coaching. “My goal was in “Valorant,” right? I needed to get the highest rank, which is Radiant,” Jollz explains. After reaching Radiant, Jollz would offer free game coaching: “Who wouldn’t want free coaching from, you know, a top 500 player in the respective game?”

The plan worked: “I got a Radiant, and then as soon as I did that, I’m going on TikTok. I’m like, ‘Hey guys, free coaching. All you have to do is hop into my Discord.’ That was it.” Jollz goes on to explain how these new Discord community members naturally converted to Twitch viewers: “They started flooding the Discord, trying to apply, trying to get advice. I’m like, ‘Okay, tune into my stream. If you guys want advice, I’ll go over some educational content.’”

Jollz notes that many of these new viewers would stick around after the coaching session just because they enjoyed the content: “They come in, they tune in for a bit and they’re like, ‘Okay, now that the coaching’s over, that was pretty cool.’ And then they stay around a little bit longer. And then they’re like, ‘Oh, his personality is actually not that bad.’ Right?”

But while coaching eventually turned into a steady source of income and new viewers, Jollz says the experience has also made him a better player. “Usually, when you’re explaining something, especially like, you know, concepts that you think you know to other people,” Jollz says, “it further solidifies what you do know, and it helps you sharpen the knowledge that you learn along the way.”

Coaching has also helped fine-tune his communication skills: “I’m a little bit more patient with people when I’m talking to them. I can explain things a lot better than I used to.”

How Jollz makes a living

Jollz continued to offer free “Valorant” coaching for around three months. After that, demand had grown so much that Jollz could justify charging for his time. “If I’m booked out for like a month at $5,” Jollz explains, “I need to increase the price … So I would just keep increasing the price until I stopped getting this booked.” Coaching now represents a significant portion of his income, along with ad revenue from YouTube and Twitch.

He says it hasn’t always been this way, however: “When I first started, [my main income stream] definitely was not YouTube. I was in the red. I was actually in the red for the longest time paying for the editors.”

During that time, Jollz made sure to invest the little income he made from Twitch and TikTok back into growing his audience. “I had money saved up for my previous job,” he says, “so I was able to basically be in the red while I started off.” For Jollz, that investment paid off: “It’s gonna be very hard for you to grow if you’re not going to be willing to spend money for it. And if you’re not getting any money in return from your socials, you’re not gonna have any money to invest in yourself, which is gonna delay your growth.”

Keeping things interesting

These days, Jollz streams five to six days a week for around six hours or more each session. Coaching is one way he adds structure to his streams, but educational content is not the only thing attracting viewers:

“The way that the stream is structured, usually I will do a coaching session at the start of the stream. After that … I’m doing a challenge or something, or a collaboration. And then after that, I’ll do some react content or something for my other channels. And then after that, I will play a different game, whether it’s whatever’s hot for the month … or whatever I’m enjoying to play for the next like two, three hours just to kind of chill.”

Jollz admits that he does often see a drop in viewers as the stream progresses:

“My peak viewers are definitely when I’m playing ‘Valorant’ because that’s where I came up from, and anytime I swap games, the views slowly decline.” He says, though, it’s important not to fixate on the numbers. He tries not to see fluctuations in viewership in a negative light. “It’s more of just like a positive light. I’m like, ‘Dude, I have this many viewers who wanna watch me play anything.’ That’s huge. Like, to me.” For Jollz, it all comes down to mindset.

Connecting through chat

Jollz emphasizes the importance of engaging with the chat throughout the stream, especially as a newer creator. “You need to bring something to the table that other streamers don’t,” Jollz says, noting that bigger streamers often don’t have the option to engage with chat simply because it’s moving too fast to keep up with. “If you are gonna ignore chat and play your game, what’s to stop them from watching a bigger streamer?” Jollz says he tries to read and engage with the chat as much as possible, even as his channel has grown.

“People like being heard, right? And they like that sort of interaction, especially with the streamers. So yeah, I still try and do that.”

That doesn’t mean that anything goes in the chat pod, however: “If they’re being annoying … I’ll just tell ’em straight up — let ’em know. And, you know, if they keep it up, they just, you know, they get banned. It doesn’t really affect me too much.” Jollz also has a moderator team that will take care of any chatters making inappropriate or offensive remarks.

For Jollz, streaming is meant to be a positive experience for everyone: “The big picture is just that I just wanna make their days better. That’s really it.”

Strategies for stress

While Jollz is confident in his content and his audience, the volatility of sustaining a career as a creator is still a source of stress. “It can very much slip right under you, especially if you let off the gas,” he reminds us, “This is the type of field where you need to sacrifice a lot to make things work well.” Luckily, Jollz keeps up a couple of healthy habits to help him manage stress and prevent burnout.

“Working out definitely helps me out. It’s basically like a stress reliever. It’s my form of my body, like, sort of meditating in a sense … It really does help me a ton, as well as also journaling. I usually write down anything that sort of bugs me, anything that is annoying me for the day. Anything that I’m noticing.” Keeping up with these daily habits helps Jollz stay ahead of any potential buildup of stress.

“That’s something that I see a lot of other creators fall into,” he warns, “into that sort of category where they let something kind of buildup and sometimes you’ll see it, right?” This is when you see uncharacteristic outbursts or creators disappearing altogether. “I noticed the gym definitely helps with that. And journaling.”

Parting advice

Along with being consistent with your healthy habits, Jollz says the key to online success is being consistent with your content: ”You have a consistent schedule. You’re uploading at a certain time every, you know, every week or whatever, because people look forward to that … Even if you’re doing this for three days a week, having those three days consistently every week is very important.”

As Jollz notes, people need to know your streaming schedule if you want them to tune in regularly. “I really think consistency on all fronts, on all social media, is the biggest take.”

It’s clear that dedication and consistency have paid off for Jollz as he’s built a career online, and he promises even more “very interesting projects” on the horizon. We can’t wait to see what’s next.

When it comes to creating engaging online content, there’s plenty you can do to keep your viewers’ attention. New Rockstar’s livestream “The Breakroom” has discovered a way to provide highly engaging content on a consistent basis. They leverage livestreaming as a time-saving tool for production. We talk with New Rockstars Producer John Costa about what it takes to produce “The Breakroom.” He shares how creators can maximize their resources to create consistent videos they love.

New Rockstars
Subscribers: 3.86M
Uploads: 2,719
Video views: 1,622,535,517
Content type: Entertainment
User created: Oct 8th, 20011

Background 

The New Rockstars YouTube channel has been around since 2011. Initially, they focused on interviewing new media YouTube creators, then dubbed the ‘new rockstars.’ Today, the channel focuses on pop culture and entertainment. Their programming includes BREAKDOWN, a show dedicated to finding Easter eggs and missable details from popular movies and TV shows. There’s also “The Breakroom,” a live show that talks about the latest news in entertainment.  

John joined the New Rockstars team in 2019 as a freelance editor. At the time he wasn’t a dedicated editor, but he had experience editing his own projects in the past. He shares, “I know how to string a story together, and I know the technical aspects of how to edit. I went to film school where I had to edit all my own stuff.”

WHEN I WAS A BEGINNER, YOU HAVE TO EDIT ALL YOUR OWN CONTENT, AND I DIDN’T REALLY HAVE ANY GOOD EDITING QUALIFICATIONS BUT I HAD A FRIEND WHO WORKED HERE AND NEEDED PEOPLE TO EDIT VIDEOS AND I WAS LIKE, ‘HEY, I’LL TRY TO TAKE A SWING AT IT.’

After some time, John was hired as a full-time editor. After that, he became the post-production supervisor for New Rockstars. 

During this time, John oversaw all of the video projects that went out at New Rockstars. Each piece of content shares a common goal — resonance. “It’s so easy to forget that there are people that you’re creating content for,” says John. “You’re not creating content for a number…[what] we’re trying to do is give people just an hour of a day. If they need an hour of [non-sense], we want them to have fun with these people they feel like they have gotten to know.” 

First production

At the beginning of 2022, John Costa moved out of post-production and into a producer position. The first project John produced was a series called Fitness Origins. This series revolved around hosts competing in a series of superhero-inspired fitness routines.

This was a unique project for John. “We had a sponsorship deal with DoorDash, and we were trying to figure out how to integrate food with what we do, which is pop culture and entertainment. We settled on this weird idea, which was getting nerds into shape… an origin story of people becoming their superhero selves.” 

This project was fun and served as a proving ground for himself and the team that they were able to do more than they thought.

The beginning of “The Breakroom“

“The Breakroom” is a five-day-a-week livestream show that discusses the latest in pop culture media. The goal of the show is to be both informative and fun, shares Costa. 

“We’re so busy now; it’s hard to get together with your friends. If you need someone to hang out with, we’re always going to be there. If we can give that to people, that’s awesome. That’s the thing that I find the most satisfying, is giving people something that they were maybe missing.”

The first episode streamed on May 2, 2022, but the show was in development well before that. 

At the time, New Rockstars was interested in getting into live productions. 

John recalls, “After ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ came out, we thought it would be fun to get together on a Zoom call and give our initial impressions.” The team livestreamed a Zoom call to see how their audience would respond.

The responses were overwhelmingly positive, shares Costa. With that, they spent the next five months developing the show. It took a lot of work because it was a live show; there were many elements they needed to test out live. “We really wanted to throw [the show] on its feet,” John shares. They recorded several live shows and took time to decide what worked the best and what didn’t.

Feedback was critical, so they leveraged Discord as a test audience for their private streams. Describing the process, John shares, “Once we got comfortable with a product that we could show real people, we had 45 to 50 members of our Discord just like, ‘Hey, here’s a cool show that we’re working on; we’re just trying some things out. Check it out if you want to come to watch.’” This test audience gave valuable feedback that let them know they were headed in the right direction with the show. 

“IT’S ALWAYS DIFFERENT WHEN YOU PUT SOMETHING OUT IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE, BECAUSE YOU START TO SWEAT A LITTLE BIT MORE. AS SOON AS YOU PUT SOMETHING OUT YOU’RE LIKE, ‘OKAY, I DIDN’T REALLY LIKE HOW THAT WENT; I DIDN’T REALLY LIKE HOW THAT WENT — THAT ACTUALLY WENT PRETTY WELL. PEOPLE ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS THING BUT I REALLY THINK THAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT THIS OTHER THING, SO THAT STARTED TO BECOME REALLY HELPFUL AS WELL.”

Livestream workflow

Preparing for a livestream is imperative because it’s — well — live. There are no second takes or do-overs. Through their livestream tests, the New Rockstars team has developed a workflow that has allowed them to create more content in less time.

Tech 

“The Breakroom” is primarily run through an ATEM Mini Extreme ISO live production switcher. The switcher allows them to run and operate four Blackmagic Studio Camera 4k Pros that can record independently.

From there, the show is operated through an interface that gives John and his team all the capabilities they need to run the show. They also make use of a plugin called Bitfocus Companion. This software allows them to set presets for the show at the press of a button. One example John displayed was their “starting soon” preset. Once pressed, it mutes all the microphones, brings up a scene in OBS, and starts playing music immediately. This has been the most game-changing resource, John shares. “This is a $200 piece of equipment — the stream deck — and with this piece of software, we got to be saving $10,000 or something.” 

“WE’VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOREVER, PROSUMER OR CONSUMER PRODUCTS ARE GETTING SO GOOD AND SO INEXPENSIVE, AND WITH THAT COMBINED WITH THE SOFTWARE, WE CAN PUT UP A SHOW THAT IS AS GOOD AS THE THINGS YOU SEE ON TV.”

Pre-show prep

With the technical side of the production set, the next step is to create the content. Several members of the New Rockstars team contribute to the process, including dedicated researchers and writers. Because the show is primarily a news show, the show revolves around headlines. The second half of the show is ‘Mandatory Fun.’ In John’s words, it’s just the team going to do something stupid.

“We have a great researcher and she pulls a bunch of headlines for us at 2:00 AM when she’s ready to go to bed. She’s a night owl, so it works out well.” From there, he puts together an outline for the show. Next, John leads a meeting with another producer and the cast to get feedback. It’s important that the cast has a buy-in as well. “ … if they’re not into it, the show’s not going to be good. If they’re not into it, the audience might not be into it. Having a bunch of people’s opinions that I trust [is] so useful. Maybe that’s not actually a good idea, and they’re all super smart — a couple of them are producers and writers themselves, so that’s really helpful.”

Once the meeting wraps, the New Rockstars team works to get the technical aspects of the show, giving them three hours to finish.

Because they treat the production like a news show, they have to plan for when news breaks after they’ve prepped the show. 

“SO, THAT’S THE REALLY COOL THING ABOUT THIS SHOW IS WHEN NEWS BREAKS 30 MINUTES BEFORE WE’RE ABOUT TO GO LIVE. THAT’S SO ENERGIZING, THAT’S SO FUN!”

The workflow John and his team have created for “The Breakroom” has. Other shows have taken advantage of their setup, allowing them to shoot the footage and effectively edit in real time.

THAT HAS BEEN A HUGE BENEFIT OF DOING THIS SHOW. WE SAVED A LITTLE BIT OF MONEY ON EDITING COST, AND WE SAVED A TON OF TIME. IT WOULD TAKE FIVE OR SIX HOURS TO EDIT THAT VIDEO AND NOW IT’S DONE BY THE TIME WE’RE DONE TAPING IT, WHICH IS AMAZING.

Advice for creators

If you’re looking to get started livestreaming, don’t fall into the equipment trap. John advises you not only to start with what you have, but to start with who you know. Relating, he shares, “The stereotypical answer is, ‘Hey, our phones are so good right now; you can livestream from your phone on TikTok. You can have a huge audience just on your phone.’ That’s totally true, but I think that doesn’t always resonate with [everyone]. Some people are like, ‘my ambitions are bigger than my phone.’”

Recalling a time when he first moved to LA years ago, “The best piece of advice I got was from a screenwriter that I ran into at a screening. He was like, ‘Stop asking people like me for help and advice. Get the people together that you know and come up with them. You will make friends in this industry, and the friends that you make in this industry [will be how you make it].’” 

It’s more than just knowing the right people, John elaborates; it’s about making use of your resources. You may not have the equipment you want to get started, but you may know people who do. 

PEOPLE ARE LIKE, “OH, DON’T GO TO FILM SCHOOL. IT’S NOT GOING TO TEACH YOU ANYTHING.” THAT IS ALMOST TRUE, BUT THE THING THAT I GAINED THE MOST OUT OF FILM SCHOOL WAS THE FREEDOM TO MAKE A TON OF MISTAKES, AND I MET SO MANY COOL PEOPLE THAT WANTED TO MAKE THE SAME STUFF THAT I DID.

Reflecting, John says, “Our first livestream test was probably March 20th; we didn’t go live until May 2nd. We had the luxury of being able to do tests that were not public. As soon as you can make something, you’re going to start learning, and you’re going to start getting better. You’re going to learn so much by making things.”

New Rockstar’s “The Breakroom” uses livestreaming to create highly engaging content and save time for creators. Producing a multi-camera live show takes a great deal of tech and coordination. As John has pointed out, the important first step to take is not to buy equipment — but to utilize your resources. If your aspirations are bigger than your camera, connect with other creators. Your first production isn’t going to be perfect, but it will get you started down the path of getting better.