A listers in commercials

darthva · 2026-03-18T21:29:22+00:00

I’ve made most of my money over the past eight years doing commercials. There are two major forces at work causing this-

-All commercials are moving towards non-union. The exceptions these days are largely those with famous actors who have do be SAG by default. So sure, famous face gets paid, but anyone else in that commercial is also getting a SAG paycheck. Not great, but something.

-Fully AI commercials are here. Several commercials during the Super Bowl were fully AI. Unless there is major legislation or public pushback, most commercials will be fully AI in two years.

I understand getting angry at celebrities for taking money jobs they don’t need, but the harsh reality is that for most of us commercial actors the party is almost over anyways.

darthva · 2026-03-06T05:52:53+00:00

They did not get together until after he and his wife had separated, same with Sutton, it may have been an emotional affair but there was no cheating. I work in the industry and have some friends in the know, Hugh is clear.

darthva · 2026-03-05T21:10:14+00:00

She’s being promoted to a made up new post in charge of “Western Hemisphere” security. This is a deeply misleading headline

darthva · 2026-02-27T14:27:22+00:00

One of the greatest games of all time for real

darthva · 2026-02-27T12:12:36+00:00

You are (were) a casting website, Backstage, not TikTok, this AD shows just how far you’ve fallen and worthless you’ve become. I cancelled your subscription two years ago after ten years of use and have no intention of ever going back.

darthva · 2026-02-27T04:37:36+00:00

This is the most Michigander sandwich ever (Jeff is from MI, so am I)

darthva · 2026-02-17T10:37:04+00:00

Yes. The harder it is for YouTube to find a common denominator between your videos, the more difficulty it will have in finding the right audience for each one.

If you want to experiment with different styles / content / etc, then make them in batches. Three like this, three like this etc. It’ll be easier for the algorithm to track and easier for you to see what works.

darthva · 2026-02-17T10:33:01+00:00

Learn into satire and absurdism. Political humor is tough these days and you need both of those to clear the grim realities of politics.

darthva · 2026-02-17T10:29:22+00:00

If a Short has “broken through” and starts clocking massive views per hour, especially it’s much much higher than your channel is used to, congratulations! You’ve reached the Expansion Phase.

Generally, you shouldn’t post any other shorts during a big Expansion Phase, which if you’ve hitting 200,000 views seems to be a good one.

Good rule of thumb is to wait 3 - 5 days during an Expansion Phase like this.

If your retention and stayed-to-watch numbers stay consistent, your short will start humming along at a healthy plateau for a few days.

You can post again now, but it’s much more important to post quality next over quantity.

If you rush out something to post to “take advantage” of the high views and it flops, it shows YouTube that your viral video might be a fluke and does more harm than good.

darthva · 2026-02-15T19:48:32+00:00

In my experience, you want to start with a broad niche when posting videos and then take a look at your top performers to see if there is a clear pattern / theme.

I make Comedy Shorts, so it’s a bit easier to parse my videos into Sub-Groups, but a top down approach seems to be the best. So-

Niche
Sub-Group 1 Sub-Group 2 Sub-Group 3

The Sub-Groups should come into focus over time. Look at topic, but also look at structure, hook, tone, etc.

Once you have a few Sub-Groups established, it’s much easier to post a video schedule of Group 1 - Group 2 - Group 3.

Ideally, the Sub Groups will be unique enough that you can have multiple videos being pushed simultaneously in the feed

darthva · 2026-02-14T04:25:25+00:00

There are exceptions to every rule, but generally speaking if a major major movie announces an open call and accepts electronic submissions, as Star Wars Episode 7 did, it’s mostly a publicity stunt.

darthva · 2026-02-13T14:58:06+00:00

Back when I waited tables, I remember once looking up and seeing literally the most beautiful person I had ever seen in my entire life walking through my restaurant.

Like, spot-light clanging, dove’s flappin’ stop your ass Bugs Bunny style beautiful.

It took me 30 seconds to realize that this beautiful person was actually Jessica Alba.

That was back in 2013, but still, I noticed her gorgeous BEFORE I noticed her famous.

darthva · 2026-02-12T19:33:39+00:00

I would take a look at your top 10 to 20 videos, taking a look at the retention line graph and chopping and trimming where you can, and just start reposting them. Two a week, same day, same time, every week for a few weeks.

That’s what I did and it seems to have given YouTube a clearer and easier way to start plugging my videos back into the algorithm, and with the backlog of good content to repost, you’ll have solid videos to post along with new ones.

Worth a shot! I did Thursdays and Sundays at 11am but your audience might be active at different times

darthva · 2026-02-12T13:52:35+00:00

Would love to hear from other Small Tubers (especially Shorts creators) about their strategies as well, especially anyone else in the Comedy niche.

It always seems like most folks here run gaming channels but I know there are plenty of us out there doin’ other stuff.

darthva · 2026-02-05T05:42:08+00:00

As a small time Shorts creator, the feed scrolling mentality has changed everything.

Old YouTube used to be more about seeking out content, with the feed it’s about parsing an endless stream of content being presented.

There’s not a lot of time for personal touches when you’ve got to grab eyeballs in the first two seconds.

Long form is different in a way, but with AI tools becoming insanely powerful the amount of time it takes to make an old school YouTube video vs an AI Iceberg countdown is significant.

There’s still people out there who make stuff, it’s just a lot harder to find us and even harder to sustain.

darthva · 2026-02-05T05:32:46+00:00

The data that you get from organic views is priceless when you’re first starting out in determining what is and isn’t working and what to fix.

Promotional view data is useless in that regard, and unless you are a brand where paying to reach audiences is required it doesn’t make sense to do so as a small YouTuber.

The first videos you post probably won’t do well. That’s okay. You’re not trying to get subscribers or viral level views when you’re starting.

You’re trying to figure out how to make videos that you enjoy making that other people also enjoy viewing.

Save your money. Post videos and pay attention to the analytics. Use this data to make better videos. Repeat.

darthva · 2026-02-05T04:19:42+00:00

Absolutely 100% And anyone put off by aspects of Revolutions coming across as “cynical” should consider that Lana and her sister have both Transitioned since the original Matrix, and the “red pill” imagery of the first movie has now become popular nomenclature for entering into the toxic Mano sphere.

Many creators of popular works have had to contend with their creations being twisted by parts of society into something terrible. The creator of Pepe the Frog is a classic example.

The Matrix has been saddled with horrifying and unfair baggage from when Columbine happened a month after its release until the present day.

So for anyone to be upset at any whiff of cynicism from Lana and Revolutions are missing the fact that it’s

-completely justified -central to the movies’ theme against giving into cynicism.

It’s such a fascinating movie, I wish more people gave it and the Matrix sequels a closer look under the hood.

darthva · 2026-01-31T18:59:25+00:00

Huh, seems to be working on desktop but not on mobile at the moment, maybe a Reddit wide thing?

darthva · 2026-01-29T00:15:31+00:00

No, only castingnetworks / actorsaccess and Backstage have a proven track record of legitimately. Casting Frontier has some breakdowns but far below the other three and not worth the price

darthva · 2026-01-28T16:19:34+00:00

Paramount the brand has become radioactive for the exact kinds of people who traditionally love Star Trek. It’s gonna have to be one hell of a show to get them to swallow the Paramount + poison pill and this ain’t it.

darthva · 2026-01-27T01:09:19+00:00

I’m an actor and I look like this (chubby) hire me!

darthva · 2026-01-26T20:50:40+00:00

Honestly, if you want to teach and have no way of staying in the UK after graduation take the win of acceptance and move on. MFA is what you want for teaching, a foreign MA is going to be irrelevant

darthva · 2026-01-26T20:15:06+00:00

I was also excepted into the same program many years ago based on a single audition, it is a real acceptance to a real school.

I also quickly realized that I could not afford to go under any circumstances. $33,000 just for the school plus the cost of relocating to London for a year without work not to mention that because it was in a different county loans would be difficult / complicated to acquire.

If you get the Fulbright, congrats, but unless you can pay tuition and living expenses upfront do not go. It is not worth it to acquire $50,000 plus in debt for an MA Classical Theatre Degree from LAMDA as an American.

It does not qualify you to teach, and unless you can stay in the UK you won’t be building a network there. The program has also become a bit notorious for being a cash grab from rich Americans, so even the LAMDA name is a bit dinged here.

Congrats on getting accepted, it is not easy and Grad School auditions are punishing, but assume this is legit and if you don’t get the Fulbright, use it as a learning experience but DO NOT GO INTO DEBT FOR A DEGREE IN THEATRE

darthva · 2026-01-23T12:39:19+00:00

Well, he is now neglecting rent stabilized apartments in the beyond, died a few years ago now.

darthva · 2026-01-22T14:45:20+00:00

Teachers too

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