08/17/2024
This is the case study we need
DropoutTV (formerly College Humor) is now a god-tier platform. If you've been living under a rock, awhile back, IAC, their parent company cut them lose and fired the entire creative staff.
Sam Reich, Director of Original Content, then spent nearly all of his own money to acquire College Humor, putting the entire IP on survival mode, relying almost entirely on their TTRPG live play show Dimension 20 (hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan)....until they were able to slowly claw their way back to sustainability. During this difficult time, they hired back the original cast and crew on a part time basis whenever possible here and there.
Eventually, they fully rebranded as Dropout (their subscription platform), and they have since doubled their subscriber count, doubled their content, AND have introduced profit sharing. The only reason they aren't a full co-op is because most people are hired on a project basis, however the profit sharing is for everyone, even people who only worked for them once, even people who auditioned (they also pay for auditioning).
Even before profit-sharing, they pay their employees and contractees significantly higher than the industry norm. To the point that the Unions exempted them from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, because they were basically the gold standard in the industry (of course, serving on the Writer's Guild of America West is Adam Conover...from Adam Ruins Everything, another show originally made by Dropout). Edited: I stand corrected, they weren’t covered by what the strike was against, and so was exempt, but it is true they already fulfill all requirements; and also acted in solidarity with the strikers.
Dropout also pushes the boundaries of representation, and diversity (Dimension 20's Dungeons and Drag Queens was a god tier season).
And of course, we all know Reich and Brennen are comrades. Or at least liberals on the more left-side of the spectrum. So we can trust them not to screw their employees, nor the audience.
(edited: folks are telling me Brennen is a 100% all in, no l**e, no hesitation socialist; and that Sam is probably pushing the boundaries for a Liberal and is likely a stealth socialist himself)
Anyway, all this is to say that I am re-subscribing to Dropout, and I suggest you do the same. I have never not laughed at their content.
Meanwhile, Netflex just has a rotation of TERFs and bigots as so-called Comedians on there. Bleh.
