{"video_id":"fp_sCneVgX28r","title":"FP Exclusive: Working for LMG Full Interviews (Pt. 1)","channel":"FP Exclusives","show":"FP Exclusives","published_at":"2023-04-15T00:08:00.062Z","duration_s":2134,"segments":[{"start_s":0.0,"end_s":6.08,"text":"I'm Anthony. I'm a writer. I've been working here since 2017, February of 2017. It's been over","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":6.08,"end_s":15.52,"text":"six years, which what? As a writer, my duties include writing, actually getting the video ready","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":15.52,"end_s":22.16,"text":"to go. So I need to do all of the prep work. I need to do setting up the set, although Andy often","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":22.16,"end_s":30.88,"text":"helps a lot with that. Setting up screen capture, setting up any other like props or or skits we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":30.88,"end_s":36.32,"text":"might have. Doing up guidance for the editor so that the editor knows what exactly they should be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":36.32,"end_s":44.72,"text":"doing with the video, like how they should cut it, how they should what they should drill at any given point in time and overlays, that kind of thing. And of course making those","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":44.72,"end_s":51.2,"text":"overlays as well in some cases. So graphs and tables and stuff like that. My duties have expanded","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":51.2,"end_s":56.96,"text":"slightly. I guess I'm what you would call a head writer or a lead writer at this point.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":58.0,"end_s":65.68,"text":"Senior at least, which is weird to say. But as a result, I've taken part in a lot of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":67.2,"end_s":72.96,"text":"consultations and even writing some of the different guides that we use for how to create","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":72.96,"end_s":78.8,"text":"graphs and how to do screen cap, that kind of thing. And for a little while I was doing some","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":78.8,"end_s":83.44,"text":"of the networking, but Jake has kind of taken over most of that at this point. I have watched","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":83.44,"end_s":90.96,"text":"the first video. I was curious as to because I was brand new then. I was curious as to how the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":90.96,"end_s":98.08,"text":"people who had been working with Linus for years felt about working with Linus. And obviously it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":98.08,"end_s":103.12,"text":"was interesting to see myself on screen, which is not something I really expected would happen.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":104.08,"end_s":110.32,"text":"I felt that I would probably be in the background most of the time, but things have changed.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":112.64,"end_s":118.24,"text":"I don't know how that happened. Honestly, it's going to sound cheesy, but the people, like the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":118.24,"end_s":124.48,"text":"team, working with people who are knowledgeable in shooting, for example, I've learned a lot about","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":124.48,"end_s":129.28,"text":"cameras. I've learned a lot about lighting. I've learned a lot about a lot of things that I had","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":129.36,"end_s":135.36,"text":"no idea that I even didn't know about, right? And I've also been able to help contribute that back","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":135.36,"end_s":141.36,"text":"to some of the people in the team as well, which I find very rewarding. I guess the other thing is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":142.08,"end_s":146.88,"text":"there's a lot of cool tech that I get to interact with that I never thought I would be able to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":146.88,"end_s":151.92,"text":"interact with, including some stuff that's like prototype, never seen the light of day. The problem","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":151.92,"end_s":156.0,"text":"is that a lot of that really cool tech is really high end and it's kind of spoiled me at this point","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":156.0,"end_s":164.08,"text":"and I can't buy a mid-range GPU anymore. Obviously, there was a call for writers. I think this was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":164.08,"end_s":170.96,"text":"the first call for writers that Linus had put out. And the reason I knew that this was happening","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":170.96,"end_s":176.56,"text":"is because I had been religiously watching everything, Channel Super Fun, Techquickie,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":176.56,"end_s":184.0,"text":"everything that LMG was putting out. And the reason for this is that in the years prior to me joining","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":184.0,"end_s":191.44,"text":"Linus Media Group, I was in a really bad place. My disability from my previous job, I had developed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":191.44,"end_s":196.64,"text":"extreme anxiety due to multiple factors. I don't quite understand all of it, but","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":197.44,"end_s":202.24,"text":"that spiraled into depression and basically they were cutting me off from my disability","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":202.24,"end_s":207.92,"text":"benefits as well. So more or less, I was like, well, I'm not going to be able to afford to live","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":207.92,"end_s":214.32,"text":"anymore. I'm going to be dragging down everybody around me. Well, the only thing I can think of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":214.32,"end_s":222.4,"text":"is very bad. So I'm going to lose myself in YouTube. And the fact that LMG posted YouTube","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":222.4,"end_s":227.52,"text":"videos every day, sometimes multiple videos a day because Channel Super Fun and Techquickie,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":227.52,"end_s":235.04,"text":"it was one of the things I had to look forward to. And in kind of the six month period to a year","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":235.04,"end_s":241.68,"text":"leading up to me joining Linus Media Group, I started to get a little better. Like I was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":242.56,"end_s":247.28,"text":"exercising more, I was trying to take care of myself and I was feeling more confident. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":248.08,"end_s":255.2,"text":"when the call for writers went out, I thought, well, if I can't do anything else with my life,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":255.84,"end_s":260.88,"text":"as I am right now, I'm just sitting in a room surrounded by retro consoles. Like I was the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":260.88,"end_s":265.68,"text":"plan was for me to just repair and modify retro consoles that were broken and just resell them.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":266.24,"end_s":271.12,"text":"That was my plan if this fell through. But if I could do something that could give","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":271.84,"end_s":276.32,"text":"that kind of escape, if not like lifting people up, then at least give them something to,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":277.92,"end_s":283.2,"text":"you know, get out of their head for enough time that they actually can maybe recover in the way","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":283.2,"end_s":291.44,"text":"that I did, then, you know, it wouldn't be a waste. And so I felt like, okay, well, I have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":291.44,"end_s":297.84,"text":"nothing to lose, literally nothing to lose. I'll write a script, I'll put in an application,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":297.84,"end_s":305.68,"text":"I'll write a script, I'll do as best I can, and hope that it works. And a couple months later,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":306.4,"end_s":313.92,"text":"I'm in British Columbia and trying to find a place to stay. So yeah, I mean, I don't know, it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":316.64,"end_s":322.48,"text":"it's a bit of a heavy story, I know. But that is why I joined. I wanted to give that back.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":323.28,"end_s":331.52,"text":"How hasn't it changed? Really? It's gone from it's sort of a company to it's definitely a company.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":331.52,"end_s":335.84,"text":"Like it has grown tremendously, even over the past year, like I think we doubled our","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":335.84,"end_s":342.48,"text":"headcount of the past year, which is insane. I don't think any of anybody even Linus included","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":342.48,"end_s":347.68,"text":"would have thought that that would happen back in 2017 when they hired me on and, you know,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":347.68,"end_s":355.6,"text":"and James and Jake and Alex during that hiring spree. I think that was like, that was a big expansion","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":355.6,"end_s":365.12,"text":"back then. But now, like I'm going to level, I'll level with you, I don't actually know half of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":365.12,"end_s":369.92,"text":"the people who work here anymore. There are people who work here that I don't know exist.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":370.64,"end_s":375.04,"text":"And that's a weird feeling. As a result, we've had to get a lot more,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":377.36,"end_s":381.84,"text":"I guess the word that I want to use is corporate, but it's it's kind of like we have more structure","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":381.84,"end_s":388.0,"text":"where we're more rigid now than we were before. It feels less like I'm like a group like in a group","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":388.0,"end_s":392.0,"text":"of like peers who are trying to just do something. And I feel like I'm more of like a part of an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":392.0,"end_s":399.04,"text":"organization, which is it's got its pros and cons. It's not that it's bad. It's that it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":399.04,"end_s":406.96,"text":"different. And I I'm still trying to process how that all works out. I do. I do. There are some","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":406.96,"end_s":411.68,"text":"things that I don't miss, like just doing things wrong a lot like we still do. But","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":412.72,"end_s":419.2,"text":"like stuff like doing screencap at the wrong resolution. And then it looks blurry as crap on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":419.92,"end_s":427.04,"text":"YouTube because it has to be resized and squished. And it's basically like three different levels of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":427.04,"end_s":435.6,"text":"resize blur. You know, like things like hardware reviews before I started here, we didn't really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":435.6,"end_s":441.76,"text":"have much in the way of testing. I looked back at like some of the reviews that happened even in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":441.76,"end_s":447.76,"text":"the couple of months before I started. And a lot of it was just like Linus standing there with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":447.76,"end_s":453.2,"text":"nothing else on the screen just talking about, you know, what this chip is, which when you think","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":453.2,"end_s":457.76,"text":"about it compared to today, we have a lot more production value, we have more information on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":457.76,"end_s":464.96,"text":"screen, we have more information to actually say, we have a lot of testing. And the testing is more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":464.96,"end_s":473.44,"text":"thorough. That's not to say that that was all me, but the focus changed a lot at that point in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":473.44,"end_s":482.72,"text":"time. And it seems like it's changing again to become even more in depth. So I guess I'm not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":482.72,"end_s":488.24,"text":"sure where I was going with that, but basically we're at a point where we're a lot more professional","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":488.24,"end_s":495.28,"text":"in what we do. And it's weird being thought of as a professional. Oh, yeah, absolutely,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":495.28,"end_s":500.0,"text":"still. Yeah, it doesn't, doesn't go away. Imposter syndrome, I had that the very moment","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":500.72,"end_s":503.44,"text":"that I sent off the application, I'm like, yeah, this is not going to work.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":505.52,"end_s":508.72,"text":"Imposter syndrome is just one of those things that I think everybody has.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":511.2,"end_s":515.2,"text":"For me, it hits a little harder because of where I was before I started here.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":518.24,"end_s":524.16,"text":"And just going from being nobody and throughout school being somebody that people just straight","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":524.16,"end_s":531.92,"text":"up didn't like to being seen on the street and like people like, oh, minus tech tips. Or like,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":531.92,"end_s":537.2,"text":"oh, hey, you're Anthony, right? And like, I'm totally fine with that just to be clear. But","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":537.2,"end_s":542.8,"text":"that is completely baffling to me. I have no idea that that was going to actually happen.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":543.76,"end_s":550.64,"text":"I thought that I would be invisible, right? The possibility that I would even appear on camera","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":550.64,"end_s":558.72,"text":"was in my mind very slim when I first started. I mean, I would probably say Colton. No,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":559.6,"end_s":566.72,"text":"the real worst part I think is because of the rising production values in our videos,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":566.72,"end_s":572.72,"text":"I feel a lot like I'm crunching more than I ever was that and we're much more strict about how","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":572.72,"end_s":577.28,"text":"much time we're able to work in the course of the day. So like, I can't stay a little longer","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":577.28,"end_s":583.68,"text":"in one day to make sure I don't have to rush the next day. So everything's kind of more compressed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":583.68,"end_s":591.68,"text":"and there's more to it. And I feel like a lot of the time I'm just like rushing. And I do kind of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":591.68,"end_s":597.28,"text":"miss the more laid back way that things were a couple of years ago. There's a few things that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":597.28,"end_s":602.48,"text":"I can think of. I mean, for one, like there are people who think that, you know, somebody sends","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":602.48,"end_s":610.48,"text":"us a product to review that we value having that product on hand. We could just go out and buy that.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":610.48,"end_s":615.92,"text":"It doesn't really matter that the value in that is having it before having to go buy it so we can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":616.56,"end_s":623.12,"text":"have a review ready for people to see on launch day. Like, realistically speaking, Linus has","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":623.12,"end_s":632.88,"text":"over 100 employees now. So, not EVGA anymore. AMD or NVIDIA sending Linus a GPU is not going","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":632.88,"end_s":638.56,"text":"to sway his opinion one way or the other. It's just not how that works. Not at the scale anyway.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":638.56,"end_s":644.24,"text":"It does work that way with smaller, smaller creators, right? Like that is a that is a concern.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":645.76,"end_s":652.0,"text":"But for us, it's not a big deal. I guess the other thing would be it's not an amusement park.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":652.0,"end_s":656.64,"text":"I mean, if you wander through the warehouse, you could spend hours looking at all the cool stuff","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":656.64,"end_s":661.52,"text":"we have, which I mean, we could probably charge tickets for that, right? Just have guided tours","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":661.52,"end_s":669.6,"text":"through the warehouse. Like LTX. But everybody here has a job to do, right? And whether you're a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":669.6,"end_s":675.76,"text":"writer, you're a shooter, you're logistics, you're the accounting team, business, create a warehouse,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":676.48,"end_s":682.88,"text":"it doesn't really matter. You have a job to do. And there's a bit of a notion that we're very","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":682.88,"end_s":690.88,"text":"laid back here. And we are in comparison to say, you know, a floor shift at Best Buy or Walmart.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":692.24,"end_s":698.24,"text":"But at the end of the day, we do still have stuff we need to do, right? It's not like we're all just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":698.24,"end_s":701.84,"text":"sitting back and playing video games all day, which would be great. But","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":701.84,"end_s":710.24,"text":"it's just not how it is. This is an interesting question. Because when I first started, I still","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":710.24,"end_s":717.2,"text":"had that kind of starstruck feeling. So if you look at me in the first video, I say,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":718.56,"end_s":724.72,"text":"I'm working side by side with the CEO of the company. And I'm like, super impressed by that.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":724.72,"end_s":734.0,"text":"And now it's like, whatever, it's Linus, right? It's weird how that changes. But part of it is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":734.0,"end_s":742.32,"text":"because Linus is a really not quite genuine person who honestly and truly wants to do the best that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":742.32,"end_s":749.76,"text":"he can in pretty much everything that he does. So be it delivering an A-roll, like a lot of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":749.76,"end_s":754.64,"text":"time he'll stop after doing, say, an intro and say, how is the energy? Should I be more energetic?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":754.8,"end_s":760.96,"text":"I can do better. I'll do better. And that's something that he does a lot. He doesn't have any time.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":762.08,"end_s":768.56,"text":"That's the worst part. There's nothing specifically wrong with working with Linus,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":768.56,"end_s":775.44,"text":"aside from the fact that he's kind of ADHD and he's kind of said that that's true. I think I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":775.44,"end_s":783.6,"text":"might be too. But his, yeah, every writer is a little bit different. But Linus,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":786.4,"end_s":791.84,"text":"I feel like he has trouble letting go of the day to day, you know? So over the course of the day,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":791.84,"end_s":796.56,"text":"he's got so many meetings and so many different things that he needs to do now that trying to get","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":796.56,"end_s":802.96,"text":"a video shot is basically like, okay, we got to get everything ready for him to just walk on set,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":802.96,"end_s":810.8,"text":"deliver the lines and then walk off set immediately. I can't really talk to Linus anymore, you know?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":810.8,"end_s":814.4,"text":"That's not really a thing that happens anymore because Linus doesn't have any free time. He even","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":814.4,"end_s":822.32,"text":"has an assistant now to manage his time because he couldn't manage it himself. So yeah, that's the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":822.32,"end_s":827.68,"text":"big issue right now is that Linus as the CEO of the company and also the face of the company is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":827.76,"end_s":837.28,"text":"competing for two different goals. And when I'm on one side of those goals, obviously I want that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":837.28,"end_s":845.76,"text":"side to be more of his focus. But being the CEO, he has to have his detention divided like that.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":845.76,"end_s":852.32,"text":"No, I don't think Linus has changed at all. And that might be where some people get the idea that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":852.32,"end_s":859.6,"text":"he's out of touch because it's a big company now, but he hasn't changed how he looks at it.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":859.6,"end_s":867.12,"text":"Like he still thinks of LMG as kind of like a tight-knit group. And obviously as you grow in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":867.12,"end_s":874.4,"text":"size and you become a corporation saying that we're all one big family is increasingly hollow.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":874.4,"end_s":881.92,"text":"But I don't think to him that actually, I don't think he actually disbelieves it. I think that he","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":881.92,"end_s":887.28,"text":"really and truly feels like we're still like a cohesive group that all works together. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":888.56,"end_s":894.32,"text":"like I said, I don't know half the people who work here anymore. So that's kind of where","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":894.32,"end_s":901.12,"text":"that comes from, I think. From his perspective, nothing has changed. But the thing is that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":901.12,"end_s":905.44,"text":"everything else around him has changed and he hasn't. And that's what I'm trying to say.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":905.52,"end_s":912.96,"text":"And that's where some of the the idea that Linus is out of touch because, I don't know,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":913.76,"end_s":917.28,"text":"spending a thousand dollars on a GPU doesn't sound like a bad idea anymore,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":917.28,"end_s":922.16,"text":"but that's mostly because the shock is worn off. Like it's been like that for years now.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":924.4,"end_s":929.92,"text":"I wish it weren't the case. He's got so many hot takes. The people who want to work here,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":930.64,"end_s":934.24,"text":"well first of all, they need to know that they need to be a Canadian citizen or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":934.24,"end_s":938.8,"text":"legal to work in Canada. For some reason, the legal to work in Canada thing is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":939.6,"end_s":943.92,"text":"so difficult to understand because a lot of Americans think they can just come up here","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":943.92,"end_s":949.68,"text":"and work, but they can't. They need a work permit. But aside from that, like institutionally,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":949.68,"end_s":953.44,"text":"which I think is the spirit of the question, I mean, don't expect it to be a cakewalk. It's not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":953.44,"end_s":959.76,"text":"easy working here, no matter what you're doing. It's still a fast-paced environment. It's still a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":960.72,"end_s":965.04,"text":"growing company. Like we're not stopping the growth anytime soon. There's still job postings,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":965.04,"end_s":971.36,"text":"I think, on LTT Stood, like the LNG, the Linus Media Group website. Don't expect to see Linus very","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":971.36,"end_s":977.68,"text":"much. That's part of it too. Yeah, it's not a cakewalk and don't expect to see Linus very much.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":977.68,"end_s":984.96,"text":"That's not because Linus doesn't care. That's the big thing. He very much does. One thing is that I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":984.96,"end_s":993.68,"text":"think some of the conversations around Linus don't really understand that Linus actually","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":993.68,"end_s":998.96,"text":"isn't like a rude person or anything like that. Like any of the banter that you see in the office","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":998.96,"end_s":1007.12,"text":"is just banter. People trolling Linus and Linus trolling other people, that's more of a friendly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1007.12,"end_s":1012.0,"text":"thing than you might think, even if people don't seem to react in the way that you would expect.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1012.56,"end_s":1018.72,"text":"He's very aware. He tries to do his best whatever he does, and that includes with his","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1018.72,"end_s":1025.28,"text":"interpersonal relationships with people in the office. He doesn't always get it right,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1026.08,"end_s":1029.36,"text":"but he tries to make it right, and I think that is the important thing.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1031.68,"end_s":1038.0,"text":"And if any of the things that I said throughout my interview here have made it seem like things are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1038.08,"end_s":1046.96,"text":"really negative, that's not really my intention. My intention is that things have changed from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1046.96,"end_s":1059.04,"text":"when I started. And I guess the only way that I know how to, I guess how to express that,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1060.08,"end_s":1066.88,"text":"is all the stuff that kind of affects me directly. The stuff that doesn't affect me","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1066.88,"end_s":1072.88,"text":"directly, like we've got processes that make things much smoother now. We've got dedicated HR,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1072.88,"end_s":1080.96,"text":"we've got an accounting department that works really hard, we've got procurement,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1080.96,"end_s":1088.08,"text":"they do actually affect me directly, because I used to have to reach out and talk to people like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1088.08,"end_s":1095.04,"text":"from AMD, NVIDIA directly and like say, hey, can we get this product for review? Or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1095.76,"end_s":1103.04,"text":"with the arcade machine, I reached out to, I don't remember what the site is called now,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1103.04,"end_s":1114.8,"text":"but Andy, not that Andy, over in the UK for Ultimark. And that was harrowing, because that was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1114.8,"end_s":1118.72,"text":"the first outreach I had to do, and it's like, yeah, get on a call with them. And I'm like, oh,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1119.44,"end_s":1124.72,"text":"and Linus is like, yeah, they should know, they should want to do business with us.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1125.44,"end_s":1133.36,"text":"And I'm like, but, but I, what? And like, not having to do that, like, I'm, I'm more comfortable","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1133.36,"end_s":1139.6,"text":"doing that now. But not having to do that is a lot of time out of my day that I don't have to take","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1139.6,"end_s":1144.32,"text":"anymore. And there's lots of little things like that, that all of the procedures and processes","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1144.32,"end_s":1150.96,"text":"and all of the extra structure that we've been building have built up to. And I feel like things","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1150.96,"end_s":1157.12,"text":"are getting more streamlined, even though it still feels pretty stressful, at least for me.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1157.12,"end_s":1168.0,"text":"It's something that I have trouble acclimatizing to. I kind of chafe under, I guess, the additional","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1168.0,"end_s":1178.4,"text":"restrictions and, you know, management. I don't, I don't like management, you know. But having all","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1178.4,"end_s":1183.68,"text":"of those systems in place definitely does make life easier for a lot of people here. And I think","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1183.68,"end_s":1188.96,"text":"that the benefits of that outweigh all of the things that I've been saying that have been like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1189.92,"end_s":1198.32,"text":"more negative. So I wouldn't say that what I've been saying so far is like an indictment or anything","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1198.32,"end_s":1203.6,"text":"like that. It's just how things have changed. And, you know, change is both good and bad.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"I'm Anthony. I'm a writer. I've been working here since 2017, February of 2017. It's been over six years, which what? As a writer, my duties include writing, actually getting the video ready to go. So I need to do all of the prep work. I need to do setting up the set, although Andy often helps a lot with that. Setting up screen capture, setting up any other like props or or skits we might have. Doing up guidance for the editor so that the editor knows what exactly they should be doing with the video, like how they should cut it, how they should what they should drill at any given point in time and overlays, that kind of thing. And of course making those overlays as well in some cases. So graphs and tables and stuff like that. My duties have expanded slightly. I guess I'm what you would call a head writer or a lead writer at this point. Senior at least, which is weird to say. But as a result, I've taken part in a lot of the consultations and even writing some of the different guides that we use for how to create graphs and how to do screen cap, that kind of thing. And for a little while I was doing some of the networking, but Jake has kind of taken over most of that at this point. I have watched the first video. I was curious as to because I was brand new then. I was curious as to how the people who had been working with Linus for years felt about working with Linus. And obviously it was interesting to see myself on screen, which is not something I really expected would happen. I felt that I would probably be in the background most of the time, but things have changed. I don't know how that happened. Honestly, it's going to sound cheesy, but the people, like the team, working with people who are knowledgeable in shooting, for example, I've learned a lot about cameras. I've learned a lot about lighting. I've learned a lot about a lot of things that I had no idea that I even didn't know about, right? And I've also been able to help contribute that back to some of the people in the team as well, which I find very rewarding. I guess the other thing is there's a lot of cool tech that I get to interact with that I never thought I would be able to interact with, including some stuff that's like prototype, never seen the light of day. The problem is that a lot of that really cool tech is really high end and it's kind of spoiled me at this point and I can't buy a mid-range GPU anymore. Obviously, there was a call for writers. I think this was the first call for writers that Linus had put out. And the reason I knew that this was happening is because I had been religiously watching everything, Channel Super Fun, Techquickie, everything that LMG was putting out. And the reason for this is that in the years prior to me joining Linus Media Group, I was in a really bad place. My disability from my previous job, I had developed extreme anxiety due to multiple factors. I don't quite understand all of it, but that spiraled into depression and basically they were cutting me off from my disability benefits as well. So more or less, I was like, well, I'm not going to be able to afford to live anymore. I'm going to be dragging down everybody around me. Well, the only thing I can think of is very bad. So I'm going to lose myself in YouTube. And the fact that LMG posted YouTube videos every day, sometimes multiple videos a day because Channel Super Fun and Techquickie, it was one of the things I had to look forward to. And in kind of the six month period to a year leading up to me joining Linus Media Group, I started to get a little better. Like I was exercising more, I was trying to take care of myself and I was feeling more confident. And when the call for writers went out, I thought, well, if I can't do anything else with my life, as I am right now, I'm just sitting in a room surrounded by retro consoles. Like I was the plan was for me to just repair and modify retro consoles that were broken and just resell them. That was my plan if this fell through. But if I could do something that could give that kind of escape, if not like lifting people up, then at least give them something to, you know, get out of their head for enough time that they actually can maybe recover in the way that I did, then, you know, it wouldn't be a waste. And so I felt like, okay, well, I have nothing to lose, literally nothing to lose. I'll write a script, I'll put in an application, I'll write a script, I'll do as best I can, and hope that it works. And a couple months later, I'm in British Columbia and trying to find a place to stay. So yeah, I mean, I don't know, it's it's a bit of a heavy story, I know. But that is why I joined. I wanted to give that back. How hasn't it changed? Really? It's gone from it's sort of a company to it's definitely a company. Like it has grown tremendously, even over the past year, like I think we doubled our headcount of the past year, which is insane. I don't think any of anybody even Linus included would have thought that that would happen back in 2017 when they hired me on and, you know, and James and Jake and Alex during that hiring spree. I think that was like, that was a big expansion back then. But now, like I'm going to level, I'll level with you, I don't actually know half of the people who work here anymore. There are people who work here that I don't know exist. And that's a weird feeling. As a result, we've had to get a lot more, I guess the word that I want to use is corporate, but it's it's kind of like we have more structure where we're more rigid now than we were before. It feels less like I'm like a group like in a group of like peers who are trying to just do something. And I feel like I'm more of like a part of an organization, which is it's got its pros and cons. It's not that it's bad. It's that it's different. And I I'm still trying to process how that all works out. I do. I do. There are some things that I don't miss, like just doing things wrong a lot like we still do. But like stuff like doing screencap at the wrong resolution. And then it looks blurry as crap on YouTube because it has to be resized and squished. And it's basically like three different levels of resize blur. You know, like things like hardware reviews before I started here, we didn't really have much in the way of testing. I looked back at like some of the reviews that happened even in the couple of months before I started. And a lot of it was just like Linus standing there with nothing else on the screen just talking about, you know, what this chip is, which when you think about it compared to today, we have a lot more production value, we have more information on screen, we have more information to actually say, we have a lot of testing. And the testing is more thorough. That's not to say that that was all me, but the focus changed a lot at that point in time. And it seems like it's changing again to become even more in depth. So I guess I'm not sure where I was going with that, but basically we're at a point where we're a lot more professional in what we do. And it's weird being thought of as a professional. Oh, yeah, absolutely, still. Yeah, it doesn't, doesn't go away. Imposter syndrome, I had that the very moment that I sent off the application, I'm like, yeah, this is not going to work. Imposter syndrome is just one of those things that I think everybody has. For me, it hits a little harder because of where I was before I started here. And just going from being nobody and throughout school being somebody that people just straight up didn't like to being seen on the street and like people like, oh, minus tech tips. Or like, oh, hey, you're Anthony, right? And like, I'm totally fine with that just to be clear. But that is completely baffling to me. I have no idea that that was going to actually happen. I thought that I would be invisible, right? The possibility that I would even appear on camera was in my mind very slim when I first started. I mean, I would probably say Colton. No, the real worst part I think is because of the rising production values in our videos, I feel a lot like I'm crunching more than I ever was that and we're much more strict about how much time we're able to work in the course of the day. So like, I can't stay a little longer in one day to make sure I don't have to rush the next day. So everything's kind of more compressed and there's more to it. And I feel like a lot of the time I'm just like rushing. And I do kind of miss the more laid back way that things were a couple of years ago. There's a few things that I can think of. I mean, for one, like there are people who think that, you know, somebody sends us a product to review that we value having that product on hand. We could just go out and buy that. It doesn't really matter that the value in that is having it before having to go buy it so we can have a review ready for people to see on launch day. Like, realistically speaking, Linus has over 100 employees now. So, not EVGA anymore. AMD or NVIDIA sending Linus a GPU is not going to sway his opinion one way or the other. It's just not how that works. Not at the scale anyway. It does work that way with smaller, smaller creators, right? Like that is a that is a concern. But for us, it's not a big deal. I guess the other thing would be it's not an amusement park. I mean, if you wander through the warehouse, you could spend hours looking at all the cool stuff we have, which I mean, we could probably charge tickets for that, right? Just have guided tours through the warehouse. Like LTX. But everybody here has a job to do, right? And whether you're a writer, you're a shooter, you're logistics, you're the accounting team, business, create a warehouse, it doesn't really matter. You have a job to do. And there's a bit of a notion that we're very laid back here. And we are in comparison to say, you know, a floor shift at Best Buy or Walmart. But at the end of the day, we do still have stuff we need to do, right? It's not like we're all just sitting back and playing video games all day, which would be great. But it's just not how it is. This is an interesting question. Because when I first started, I still had that kind of starstruck feeling. So if you look at me in the first video, I say, I'm working side by side with the CEO of the company. And I'm like, super impressed by that. And now it's like, whatever, it's Linus, right? It's weird how that changes. But part of it is because Linus is a really not quite genuine person who honestly and truly wants to do the best that he can in pretty much everything that he does. So be it delivering an A-roll, like a lot of the time he'll stop after doing, say, an intro and say, how is the energy? Should I be more energetic? I can do better. I'll do better. And that's something that he does a lot. He doesn't have any time. That's the worst part. There's nothing specifically wrong with working with Linus, aside from the fact that he's kind of ADHD and he's kind of said that that's true. I think I might be too. But his, yeah, every writer is a little bit different. But Linus, I feel like he has trouble letting go of the day to day, you know? So over the course of the day, he's got so many meetings and so many different things that he needs to do now that trying to get a video shot is basically like, okay, we got to get everything ready for him to just walk on set, deliver the lines and then walk off set immediately. I can't really talk to Linus anymore, you know? That's not really a thing that happens anymore because Linus doesn't have any free time. He even has an assistant now to manage his time because he couldn't manage it himself. So yeah, that's the big issue right now is that Linus as the CEO of the company and also the face of the company is competing for two different goals. And when I'm on one side of those goals, obviously I want that side to be more of his focus. But being the CEO, he has to have his detention divided like that. No, I don't think Linus has changed at all. And that might be where some people get the idea that he's out of touch because it's a big company now, but he hasn't changed how he looks at it. Like he still thinks of LMG as kind of like a tight-knit group. And obviously as you grow in size and you become a corporation saying that we're all one big family is increasingly hollow. But I don't think to him that actually, I don't think he actually disbelieves it. I think that he really and truly feels like we're still like a cohesive group that all works together. And like I said, I don't know half the people who work here anymore. So that's kind of where that comes from, I think. From his perspective, nothing has changed. But the thing is that everything else around him has changed and he hasn't. And that's what I'm trying to say. And that's where some of the the idea that Linus is out of touch because, I don't know, spending a thousand dollars on a GPU doesn't sound like a bad idea anymore, but that's mostly because the shock is worn off. Like it's been like that for years now. I wish it weren't the case. He's got so many hot takes. The people who want to work here, well first of all, they need to know that they need to be a Canadian citizen or legal to work in Canada. For some reason, the legal to work in Canada thing is so difficult to understand because a lot of Americans think they can just come up here and work, but they can't. They need a work permit. But aside from that, like institutionally, which I think is the spirit of the question, I mean, don't expect it to be a cakewalk. It's not easy working here, no matter what you're doing. It's still a fast-paced environment. It's still a growing company. Like we're not stopping the growth anytime soon. There's still job postings, I think, on LTT Stood, like the LNG, the Linus Media Group website. Don't expect to see Linus very much. That's part of it too. Yeah, it's not a cakewalk and don't expect to see Linus very much. That's not because Linus doesn't care. That's the big thing. He very much does. One thing is that I think some of the conversations around Linus don't really understand that Linus actually isn't like a rude person or anything like that. Like any of the banter that you see in the office is just banter. People trolling Linus and Linus trolling other people, that's more of a friendly thing than you might think, even if people don't seem to react in the way that you would expect. He's very aware. He tries to do his best whatever he does, and that includes with his interpersonal relationships with people in the office. He doesn't always get it right, but he tries to make it right, and I think that is the important thing. And if any of the things that I said throughout my interview here have made it seem like things are really negative, that's not really my intention. My intention is that things have changed from when I started. And I guess the only way that I know how to, I guess how to express that, is all the stuff that kind of affects me directly. The stuff that doesn't affect me directly, like we've got processes that make things much smoother now. We've got dedicated HR, we've got an accounting department that works really hard, we've got procurement, they do actually affect me directly, because I used to have to reach out and talk to people like from AMD, NVIDIA directly and like say, hey, can we get this product for review? Or with the arcade machine, I reached out to, I don't remember what the site is called now, but Andy, not that Andy, over in the UK for Ultimark. And that was harrowing, because that was the first outreach I had to do, and it's like, yeah, get on a call with them. And I'm like, oh, and Linus is like, yeah, they should know, they should want to do business with us. And I'm like, but, but I, what? And like, not having to do that, like, I'm, I'm more comfortable doing that now. But not having to do that is a lot of time out of my day that I don't have to take anymore. And there's lots of little things like that, that all of the procedures and processes and all of the extra structure that we've been building have built up to. And I feel like things are getting more streamlined, even though it still feels pretty stressful, at least for me. It's something that I have trouble acclimatizing to. I kind of chafe under, I guess, the additional restrictions and, you know, management. I don't, I don't like management, you know. But having all of those systems in place definitely does make life easier for a lot of people here. And I think that the benefits of that outweigh all of the things that I've been saying that have been like more negative. So I wouldn't say that what I've been saying so far is like an indictment or anything like that. It's just how things have changed. And, you know, change is both good and bad."}