I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Lindsay Ellis, host of the excellent internet reviews series, Nostalgia Chick and Loose Canon. Without further ado let the interview begin.

Goose: Where did the idea for Loose Canon can from?

Lindsay: Originally it was intended to be a sort of subcategory of Nostalgia Chick, something akin to Doug’s “Old vs. New.” I suppose it’s no coincidence that after I started doing Loose Canon, circumstances conspired such that I no longer wished to continue my affiliation with Channel Awesome or release anything under the name “Nostalgia Chick,” which very much sped up the process of Loose Canon becoming its own thing.

Goose: When you’re not working on Loose Canon what do you do for fun?

Lindsay: Honestly most pursuits have become something professional-related. Movies might be incorporated into reviews or something like that, etc. So almost all of the media I consume I do with a foot in the in the “is there anything I could say about this that hasn’t been said nine million times” mindset.

But beyond that and the rare occasion of getting out of town (again, usually for cons/business/etc), I do the only things there are *to* do in NYC, which is either overpriced speakeasies and karaoke bars. I also like jogging around my neighborhood. My neighborhood is awesome.

Goose: Do you have any advice for folks just getting started on youtube?

Lindsay: Well, I always start with, “don’t,” but if you must, prepare to do a lot of work that won’t be monetized before you get with a network. Don’t get strikes on your account. Do get with a network ASAP, unless you’re not using copyrighted material. Then it may not be worth your while, it varies so much from person to person to channel to channel. But have your lawyer friends look over the contract – a 70/30 split is common, the benefit of the network is that they get you ads that are worth more, so even with the 70/30 split you may make a lot more money with the network. It really depends.

Don’t obsess over comments. If you can’t handle the negative ones, disable them, but don’t obsess over them. It’s bad for you and it’s annoying for everyone else.

Goose: Do you think social media has improved, harmed, or had no effect on society?

Lindsay: It’s certainly had an effect, but I don’t like to think of things in terms of net gain or net loss. That’s like asking if the invention of the radio improved or harmed society. It’s changed it.

Goose: Do you think people take their entertainment too seriously? IE take any criticism of something they like as a personal attack.

Lindsay: Absolutely. Thinned skinness is one thing (and I can think of some high profile YouTubers who have a tendency to lash out) but entitlement is another big thing. I’ve had colleagues that had high expectations based on the amount of work/money they put in (and the assumption that they were of higher quality than more popular producers), and their work spiraled, fizzled and died when audience reaction didn’t meet their expectations. It’s one thing to have hopes for your potential audience; it’s another to feel entitled to it.

I cannot stress this enough, nobody OWES you anything just because you think you’re better than PewDiePie or whatever. When you accept this, you’ll be much better off and much better equipped.

Goose: What would you say is your best video?

Lindsay: Freddy Got Fingered. I’m also partial to What Women Want.

Goose: As a follow up do you have any topics you feel you could do better now that you are more experienced?

Lindsay: Pocahontas.

I also (after years of thinking about it) am better at articulating why I don’t like Dune, but I don’t think it would make for interesting video.

Goose: Would you say “internet fame” is a blessing or a curse?

Lindsay: More of a curse, honestly. You don’t get the barriers (such as agents and managers) that you have with real fame, and you also don’t get the money unless you’re on the very top strata of YouTube fame. Some of my colleagues live for it, it gives them energy. For me it does the opposite. I suppose some people love the accountability, but NO ONE in the professional world takes you seriously (except YouTube networks, some of the time). None of the perks of celebrity with all of the thousands of people who you do not know having opinions about you. What’s worse is unless you’re super connected, it makes you basically unemployable (unless you’re in something stupid, like the film industry). I’d say “Internet fame” is a pretty bad long term career strategy, but at the same time it’s so new there’s no real way to assert that for sure.

Don’t get me wrong; I do like having a platform, and I do like interacting with people, especially on twitter where it’s pretty easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. But if I had it to do over again, I’d probably pursue that by some other means.

Goose: I notice you no longer use the moniker Nostalgia Chick, why is that?

Lindsay: I always hated it when people called me that instead of my name, because we never called me that in the show. It was the name of the show, but in the snow I was always “Lindsay.” So when people called me that either at cons or online, it felt like they were denying my realness, like I wasn’t a person but a fictional character. That seems like a nitpick, but it always bothered me.

But the other big thing is because the term “Nostalgia Chick” is not mine, it never was. And when at the end of last year I decided it was time to part ways with CA, I realized I should have done it a long time ago.

Goose: Finally do you have anything else you’d like to say to our readers?

Lindsay: In the immortal words of Bill and Ted, be excellent to each other.

Thank you Lindsay for you time and too all of our readers I highly advice you to check out Loose Canon on Youtube and well as many classic episodes of “The Nostalgia Chick” Lindsay has been providing great entertainment for years and I suspect she is just getting started.

Until next time my name is Vega Goose and thank you for reading.