An interview with Alex Meyers
I recently had the opportunity to conduct a small interview with Alex Meyers through email. For those of you who don’t know Alex Meyers, he owns a YouTube channel where he makes animated content of movie/TV shows reviews, story time etc.
He has 2.2 million subscribers, over millions of views and a warm hearted, loving audience.
I really wanted to have a talk with someone who actually liked what they were doing. So, when we were given the task of CEO outreach program, I really wanted to speak with a content creator. That’s where I emailed Mr. Meyers, not expecting a reply but, to my surprise, he kindly agreed to the interview and I was ecstatic.
I got to ask him things a lot things.
When I asked him he got into animation, he mentioned that in 2017 animation stories getting popular so, he decided to make the video “Riverdale is a mess”. Which a big hit for his channel, with over 4 million views.
I wanted to know what content creators do when they get into a slump, he replied,
“I just kind of push through it. It does get hard to make jokes sometimes, if I’m tired or sad or whatever. But, I also work through pain using humor anyway, so I think my jokes just become a bit darker.”
Another fact about Mr. Meyers is that he moved to Japan when he was 18. He says this about this experience:
“I had to grow up really fast. I never had that “crazy early 20s” time that most people had, but I feel like it made me a much better person in the long run. Learning how to learn is something that has helped me more than anything. I learned Japanese, then I learned IT stuff, and ultimately this led me to learned animation.”
It was really interesting to see how learning Japanese led him to animation and hence his YouTube channel. THANK YOU, JAPAN!
After this, there were some basic questions like:
Q. So, you’ve done quite a lot of reviews. What is the one thing that you wish to see or you want to see in this genre of movies that you think is missing?
“I mean, for the sake of my job I hope they don’t change anything. I think a lot of people think my videos/commentaries are trying to “fix” these movies, but I think they should exist just exactly as they are.
Being cheesy and dumb is not inherently “bad”. ”
Q. Which movie you never want to see again? And why?
“Sharkboy and Lavagirl. I watched it twice for the video I made about it and I haven’t slept in a week.”
(Based solely on your video, I understand you on this)
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Q. Which movie you’ve seen that you think was the closest to perfection?
“Probably Back to the Future.”
Q. Favorite thing about making YouTube videos?
“The fact that I get to do and say theoretically whatever I want for a living is the literal dream of every creative person. Of course I have a style, format, and an audience to consider, but for the most part I can just make cartoons about whatever I want, or video essays, or livestreams.
It is quite literally a dream job. Very stressful, but things could be A LOT worse.”
Q. What do you love about your audience and what do you wish that they would understand about you?
“Having an audience of so many people who all share in my similar sense of humor is a dream. My style of humor is rather different, I think. So, the fact that they tune in every week to see my videos is amazing.
I wish they would understand just how much work it takes to make these videos.”
Apart from this, I wanted to know what the struggles of a YouTube content creator were, so I asked, what changes would you make to YouTube if you were the CEO of YouTube for one day?
“The biggest change I would make is to get rid of the ability of these companies to block videos. If they want to make a copyright claim, or file a DMCA take down notice, then do it. Blocking videos worldwide means no one can see the video AND the company doesn’t have to worry about legal repercussions.
It’s completely unfair.”
I mean, this is true, it just throws the creator’s effort down the drain.
I really wanted to know his thoughts on the cancel culture that is going around these days, so he replied:
“That’s a very multilayered issue. But, I do think its silly to not allow people to grow up and change. Like, just because someone did something stupid 10 years ago doesn’t mean they are even the same person today.
If I had had a YouTube channel or twitter when I was 20? Oh man, I would have said some seriously stupid things.”
I can relate to this on so many levels. Imagine if every stupid thing you said since you were born was recorded for everyone to see, everyone would be #cancelled.
Last but not least, I asked him to for advice for animators and content creators out there.
“Don’t talk about doing it. Just do it. You’ll never be good enough until you practice a bunch. But if you keep practicing and never put anything out, your channel will never go anywhere.
Embrace flaws and imperfection.
My first videos are HORRIBLE, but I kept trying to make each new video just a little bit better. And now 2+ years later, I think my animations are much better.”
I’m honored that I had the opportunity to interview Alex Meyers. It was fun to get to know his channel. I recommend you check out his channel. As a member of his audience, I can say this, you will not be disappointed.
