Defending Thomas's Patreon-
-as someone with a BA in English.
So, I have seen a lot of people hating on Thomas and Co because they opened a Patreon. Here's my two cents on the matter:
"Good job Thomas and Co for realizing what you need and acting upon it." - Me
"But Kristen," some of you might say, "they don't post a whole lot and 99% of their fanbase comprises of children. Why would anyone give Thomas and Co money? They're just posting infrequently and milking us for money. Why would I give them money?"
Let me rebut your statement with a few words:
That's entirely the point of the Patreon.
As I said, I'm a writer and a performer. 99% of my friends work in the arts as musicians, artists, writers, performers, teachers, etc. We are in a field where people demand stuff from us, yet refuse to take us seriously. From talking to my friends, they do not have a stable income. Most money comes from gigs, large projects, and even donations. They do not have a stable income from month to month. Sometimes they can afford to spend a few extra dollars on stuff they need, whereas other months they don't even know if they can pay rent.
Patreon can give them the stable income that many of us artists need.
Having an unstable income means that projects have to be scrapped, rewritten, or revised on a new schedule in order to offset costs. I wouldn't be surprised if there is content we haven't seen because the Co couldn't afford to make it.
Another thing you may not know about me is that I did film club in high school. I was in two fifty-minute movies. Let me tell you, there's so much that you don't see. This is just the bare bones of the life cycle of a script:
Script edits/more research(x however long it takes to create a final draft)
Filming on/off set (and some script changes)
Compiling the good takes and stringing them into a first draft of the video
Creating cleaner transitions
This is the BARE MINIMUM. There's plenty more steps to this. Not to mention, these take place over the course of MONTHS. AND health needs to be addressed - Co can't spend every day working. They have their own lives. It's dangerous for them to put their health on the back burner in order for them to finish a vid a few weeks early.
Not to mention - fans only see the final draft. You see the final product and think: "That's it? Why did it take so long?" And I, the artist, thinks: "Oh god, I can't believe it only took us 53 drafts to finally settle the plot."
Creating content is not easy and I think a lot of you forget that.
The whole point of the Patreon is to help them be able to have a strong foundation. This way they can have more elaborate costumes, sets, and props. This way they can comission people. You remember "Learning New Things About Ourselves?" The puppet episode? Two people were comissioned for that. Remus's costume? Comissioned. The last Aside? Comissioned.
We all gotta pay bills, that's why a lot of people turn to Patreon as a solid resource so they can have a monthly income. This is how they begin to create a regular schedule. This is how creators can finally have stability in their lives.
A stable income will make it easier for the Co to create stronger schedules and, possibly, more frequent vids. I cannot stress enough that artists cannot do what they do without having some sense of stability. If we don't have a stable income, we won't have a stable schedule. It's as simple as that.
(As a side note: YouTube takes up to 30% of YouTube Memberships whereas Patreon takes only 5%. It makes sense for them to switch platforms.)
As for the other half - that this fandom is mainly kids - no it is not. I have met so many Fanders at college and, heck, most of the Fanders in the discord I frequent are around my age (22). But, that's not really something that is important.
I recently graduated college. I get it, money is tight, especially now. But, this also means money is tight for artists. Broadway is closed till June 2021, my musician friends have lost most of their income, and my other artist friends are currently unemployed. Trust me, I know things are hard. Thomas and Co have said time and time again that your support is enough. You sharing their content, commenting on their vids, and showing the Co support is enough. You don't need to spend money. What you are doing is helping boost their vids in the algorithm and helping the content reach more people.
Lastly, stop sharing Patreon content if you are a patron. It is hurting everyone. When you leak content, people are more likely to not buy a tier because they can get the same thing for free via a leak. This in turn hurts Thomas and Co and causes them to lose money. You're also showing your fellow patrons that you don't care about them. They are paying for content and are disrespecting them by giving it to people who haven't paid.
Stop bashing Thomas and Co for this decision. Just because you like them doesn't mean you are entitled to their content. I think a lot of this fandom needs to learn to step into other people's perspectives and stop taking their own lives as what the basis of everyone else's is like.
This move makes sense. A lot of you are looking at it as a fan and are viewing the Co as people who just make content. You need to step into their shoes and think about what it is like to create content in the year 2020.
