Omar Parker and Charles Burt: Elevating Content Creation in the Digital Age | S2: E54

0:00I really need to dive into YouTube. I feel like YouTube is the future of cable. I was just reading that TV, traditional TV is down. It's like the worst it's been in decades. And I think it's because, as we know, YouTube and social media is really taking over our attention. And I want to get good at that. So today we have Omar Parker and Charles Burt. They are filmmakers, content creators. They're the duo behind Tumbleweed, which is millions, might be billions of views at this point, which is incredible. but they do so many other things besides just create content. They're also the co-founders of Edgerton Crescent Productions, and they just launched a book.

0:40But Charles and Omar, welcome to the show. Thanks. It's great to be here. Thank you. Great to be here as well. So let's dive in. I mean, before the age of 28, you were able to accomplish all of these things, which is incredible from filmmakers and YouTube and authors and all these things. So how do you balance doing so many amazing things? I mean, I think a lot of it comes down to just like workload management. It's so much, but it all kind of ties in. Like a lot of it for us, like when you look at it on paper, you're like, okay, they're making movies, they're making shows, they're making YouTube, they're doing books.

1:17But a lot of it is like, it's the same people that are watching it. It's the same audience that we're engaging with. And a lot of it is we're making stuff for them. So if we're looking at it, and you know, we're making a book, I mean, you're serving the same people that you're making content for, you're serving the same people that you're going to watch your movie. So a lot of it is just kind of while you're already in the space, you're writing, you're creating, a lot of times you'll have another idea, or you'll talk to someone, and they think that would be a great idea. And you find kind of that content.

1:42Yeah, that's amazing. And I love that you're helping a lot of people create their YouTube, but I think it's more than just content creating, it's really getting your voice heard, getting your voice out there. And I think the more voices, the more impact. Tell me about what you're doing there. Yeah. So I think just in general, when it comes to a lot of filmmaking, we believe that, you know, everyone can get this done. And I think as technology continues to progress, AI, a lot of other tools, cameras are on everyone's phone. I mean, you can shoot a whole movie on your iPhone. You know, people are getting famous streaming and doing YouTube from their couches and their sofas and, you know, sitting in their room.

2:17So I think a lot of stuff is possible nowadays. And even just underserved voices, you know, we've we worked with a lot of different institutions and things to help bring forward a lot of filmmakers. And I think what really comes from that is a lot of people just realizing that they can do it too. You know, everyone can get this done. Everyone can make a film. It you know, it takes dedication. But you know, the sky's the limit. It used to be back in the day, you know, 10 years ago, you needed 2000 people to make a movie. Now you need 10. Like anyone can make a movie so you can get this done it's something we talk a lot about is the cost of barrier to entry as well or before in the traditional space it was incredibly difficult to get into the film industry or into the entertainment industry where now so long as you have a phone smartphone which most people have you can go and film content you can post content you can start to build an audience so your general person who has a device in their pocket themselves can go out, film something if they feel passionate about it, share what they do, if that's comedy, if that's dancing, if that's some other special skill, if that's sharing ways of making money in the world, they can share that skill with the world.

3:22And just as long as they have that phone in their pocket, they can record it, they can use free places to post it, edit it, and start to share their message with the world. So the barrier of entry is extremely low to comparison to where it was years before. This reminds me of when Blair Witch Project came out and we saw the rise of like movies that didn't need massive budgets, but were successful. And I always laugh. I feel like at least the industry always is shocked when something is successful, even though it's what the people wanted, which I think is really what you guys do. I've watched your content.

3:56You really give the people what you want. And you said that, Omar, it's not just about creating the content. It's also they write, they want to read the book. They want to watch a movie. They want to do these other things. You're creating this community ecosphere. So tell me, how was it? And Charles, I see behind you, you have the YouTube plaque. How was that feeling? It's one of those interesting things where it's a great feeling to accomplish having 100 ,000 subscribers. And it's a great award to receive. And it's really, to me, it's an acknowledgement that we're making the correct content. because the content that we make, we get immediate feedback from our viewers and from our fans about.

4:32We know if that content will be good content and if it will then reach outside of our fan base. We know if that content isn't connecting with our fan base. And because we have the backend data and metrics for all of the platforms, we post that content. We have a very early indication. Is this content working? Do our fans enjoy it? And even if they're not leaving a comment, we can see they only watched it for a short amount of time and left. or wow, they really stuck around and watched this thing twice. And we know that that's really strong, powerful content and they enjoyed that. We can make more of that for them.

5:02And I think that's a good tool to kind of just leverage in general. A lot of streaming services are using that now. Like if you look at Netflix, Hulu, anything like that, they're all using backend metrics to tell how long you watched. At what point did you click off? When did you lose interest? Did you watch this three times? Like we'll even see clips on our YouTube where someone rewound it a couple of times and you can see a boost in watch time from those viewers of a lot of people really wanted to see this two or three times. So a lot of times, I think what it comes down to is watch time, we'll see a lot of times where you'll see a blip where something will go up in watch time, and someone rewound it three times to watch that clip.

5:36Or a lot of times you'll see, you know, okay, everyone dropped off around this time. You know, clearly our content there, it just was losing people. And I think it's important to use those tools now before you're at a big stage, and you're talking to Netflix or Hulu or anything like that is, they're all going to use those tools too. Learning how to keep your audience engaged, how to get to the point that they really care about is so important in creating any successful content. It sounds like it's really a business. It's not just like, hey, I'm going to create content. You're doing all this analytics, data.

6:05You're doing a lot of research. You're spending a lot of time, which I think a lot of people maybe don't realize that it's not just turn on the phone, make something and post it. It's really a business and a lot goes into it. Something I've always struggled with is figure out like, what's the process of making the content? Like, what am I going to make? Can you walk me through what you do when you're like, okay, this is the content we're going to make. And then the next stages. I was going to say personally, I make content for an audience of one. And our audience of one is Omar, myself and our friends.

6:39And if our friends and spouses and Omar and I enjoy the content, there's other people out there in the world who are like us who will enjoy that content. And if we are making the content that we truly enjoy, there'll be other people out there to enjoy it as well. And so we start with ourselves and we expand from there. Absolutely. And I think kind of adding to that, like nowadays with the Internet and YouTube and all those things, there's so many niche audiences that you can find. You don't have to be the most appealing person to every single audience. You can find a group of a million people around the world that share your interest.

7:11And now you have an audience. It doesn't have to be every single person on the planet. So I think, you know, in this day and age, it's okay to find your niche. It's, you know, if you're feeling this way, other people are too. I guarantee it. Yeah. Every time I scroll through YouTube and I just fall into the hole of YouTube, I find videos and sometimes I'm shocked about the ones that are hitting like millions of views. And I'm thinking like, wow, you know what? There really is something for everyone. So let's, how do you feel the future is going to be now with AI and technology and everything really transforming how we operate?

7:44How do you see content creation and filmmaking going into the new tech era? I personally feel that AI is not as scary as everyone thinks it is. For the most part, I think it's a new and exciting tool that if utilized correctly, can create some amazing, powerful content. But with everything, like everything else, it's a new and powerful tool that we aren't exactly certain of what its capabilities are yet. So once we start to learn its capabilities, we learn how to use it correctly. we learn how to adapt it for us and to create content with it, then I think it's a powerful tool for the creator. I think there's a concern that's going to replace the creator.

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10:00But it itself can't think alone and won't come up with those stories unprompted. It still needs a creative of some capacity to give it something to work with, to come out with something amazing on the other side. I also think it's just an additional tool in the sense that you can look at it in multiple different ways. A lot of times what new tools will do is they'll kill a lot of an industry side of something, but it also gives a lot of power to people to create what they want to create. I mean, got a camera on their phone. But photography in general, more people are consuming photos, taking photos and being involved in photography than ever before.

10:37So, you know, there's a give and take with any of this AI can be scary, because it might take away some jobs. But also, it allows anyone to tell their story, you know, things like that, as you encounter changing technology can really broaden what is possible for you. I mean, look at YouTube, look at streaming, look at all this stuff. That's just another tool. Hey, more voices can be heard, right? Before it It was only the certain voices that had millions and millions or billions of dollars could be heard. Now anyone can be heard. I think comedy has really, or I guess I should say social media algorithm has changed how we look at comedy in the sense of I'm seeing a lot of companies and organizations who are now doing comedy in their social media, which I find fascinating.

11:22They're not funny companies. They have nothing to do with comedy, but they're putting comedy within their social presence. Why do you think that is? And how have you seen this transform when it comes to comedy and funny content being integrated among things that are not in the comedy realm? I think that something comedic resonates with us at a human level more than just some heavy marketing. And I think it allows small people, you know, smaller companies to market the way that they want to. So, for instance, we have a Lebanese restaurant and they built a social media following because the head chef is absolutely hilarious.

12:01And he posts his content and markets his business through social media and being funny. And that has driven a large amount of viewers to what would be a unviewed traditional space of marketing for him and has now brought new customers to his restaurant. And I think that that's something which we're noticing is when you can connect with your audience in a more authentic way, the consumer feels that they enjoy the product, what you're involved in, things like that, I mean, more human basis, then here's a company offering a product, please purchase it. I also think how people consume content is changing.

12:37I think the reason, like a lot of times, you know, when you see the Duolingo bird on TikTok or things like that, you know, that'll do a funny dance as it's trying to sell you Duolingo. A lot of it is just, it's like commercials. Like I remember Super Bowl commercials used to be super funny. You know, like the humor is what draws you in. But a lot of the reason we've seen all those brands start to get on social media is that they realize more people are looking at their phones than TV nowadays. A lot more people are consuming their content that way, especially certain demographics too. you know, and even streaming shows, a lot of them, people are watching them on their phone.

13:08It's not necessarily bad. It's just changing how people consume content. I find myself watching hours of tumbleweed and other comedic people. I think I only watch comedy nowadays. And really, it makes you feel good. Like, you know, life can be tough. And if you can turn to your phone and you can laugh. And I really, I really agree with you, Charles, as you said, it's like comedy brings authenticity. When you laugh, you really build trust with somebody. And I think it breaks down that barrier. So what's next for you guys? I mean, you just wrote a book, which is amazing. So everyone check that out.

13:43But what do you what's next for you? So we're working on a bunch of new and exciting projects. The one thing we're really looking forward to is we're coming into back to New York in October to be working on a project, which we're really, really stoked about. We have nothing we can say about it yet, but it's new and big and exciting for us. And we're really looking forward to returning back to the East Coast to kind of find our roots a little bit and get to be involved in the community a little bit more. Also not confirmed yet, but there's some chitter chatter and we're talking about it of SideQuest was a really popular series for us.

14:15It's us traveling around and going to different destinations and places and things like that. And it's really kind of a travel show for a lot of Zoomers, as you would call them, like Gen Z and things like that. And so we're talking about doing some more next year. So we're really excited to do that. And I know a lot of people are really excited to see more of those. We take an idea of a travel show in a traditional sense of that primetime slot or that bingeable show. And we didn't really feel connected with our age group or demographics. And so we decided to kind of give it a go. Went to a couple of destinations.

14:45We went to Japan. Then right after that, we went to the United Arab Emirates. And we made these short videos, posted them on social media. And it was this new way of looking at travel content and the way it could be approached in both a comedic sense and as an informative way. And it actually really resonated with our audience. And we had an amazing engagement on it. And so we're hopefully moving forward with more of that concept. Yeah, I enjoyed the side quest. I think if you were to ask somebody under the age of maybe 30 or even 30s and below what they want to do with their money, and I think it's travel.

15:18I think really, really people want to travel. They want to experience the world more so than buy things. So they want to see it. They want to watch it. They want to experience it through you. And I even I enjoyed watching it myself. And I'm not even in my 30s. But I although I do, I need to get better with the Gen Z lingo, though. That's something if people want to if they want to reach out to you, they want to get in touch. And I can't wait to see you guys in New York, by the way. But if you want to get in touch with you, they want to find out more. How can they do so? So we're on YouTube, Tumbleweed Gaming.

15:48also official tumbleweed on Instagram and TikTok and then Charlie he has Charles Canning Burt I have Charles Canning Burt on Instagram so anyone can DM me there and I do my best to try to filter through those and get back where I can when I have time so you've mentioned that you're coming back to New York can you tell me why is that a special place for you yeah so my grandfather moved from Houston Texas to New York City in 1968 put the whole family in the car drove to the city for a new opportunity and then became the executive vice president of Gulf and Western, which is now their office is the Trump Tower building on Columbus Circle.

16:27And he spent his entire career in the city. My mother grew up in New England. All of my aunts and uncles were educated there. And it's been a real happy place for me. And my grandfather lived there until the day he died. So we would spend all the time in the city, at museums, at the restaurants, at all of his old haunts late at night. And so for me, it's a very special city where I have a deep connection to it. And I've always had a real love for the city. And I really, really do look forward to getting back in whatever capacities that is. And Omar can tell his bit. For me personally, I actually, I went to school in New York.

17:03I went to high school in New York. My dad actually, he went to Bronx Science as a kid. He grew up in New York for a long time. So for me, I, you know, I left New York a while back and I've had a blast down here in Texas, but I am excited for returning back to New York and spending some more time in there. So I do miss it for sure. Absolutely. There's nothing like New York City, right? There isn't. There's nothing like it. The good, the bad, the amazing, the ugly. There's nothing like New York City. But thank you so much for being on here today. And I can't wait to see you guys in New York. Do a side quest in New York.

17:38I want to follow along where you go, what food do you eat? Is it pizza? There's great Lebanese food. I mean, there's so much amazing food in New York. I want to see you guys eating that food. But I can't wait to see you here in New York. And thank you so much for all that you do and the impact and inspiration that you give to millions of people around the world. You know, we're all about impact. So thank you for that. We appreciate you having us. And thank you so much. We look forward to seeing you around. Thank you so much. Looking forward to it.