{"id":1494,"date":"2019-07-31T11:00:05","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T15:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/?p=1494"},"modified":"2021-11-16T00:38:42","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:38:42","slug":"five-or-so-questions-on-loading-ready-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2019\/07\/five-or-so-questions-on-loading-ready-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Five or So Questions on Loading Ready Run"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hi all! Today I have an interview with Brendan “Beej” Dery from <\/strong>Loading Ready Run<\/strong><\/a> about all of the amazing stuff Loading Ready Run does as a comedy troupe that touches on gaming and various geek media. Their community really impresses me, and I wanted to talk to someone in the leadership about the work they do and how they created the space. Check it out!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
An illustration of Beej.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the uninitiated, what is Loading Ready Run (LRR) to you and what is your role within the organization? What makes you excited about LRR? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m Brendan \u201cBeej\u201d Dery and I work as the Business Manager for LoadingReadyRun. LoadingReadyRun is a comedy troupe that does all of their work on the Internet, focussing on sketches, streaming, podcasts, and playing video games and tabletop games, including a lot of time playing Magic: the Gathering. Working for LRR is still work, but it\u2019s a lot of fun too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Business Manager, I spend my time working on managing our merchandise and taking care of office admin whatnot, but I also get to spend time acting in sketches or streaming games, so there\u2019s more variety to my job than just sitting at a desk. What gets me excited about LRR is meeting people who enjoy what we do and seeing them in Twitch chat or in our Discord (http:\/\/discord.gg\/lrr\/<\/a>), talking about the stuff we make, but also just interacting with each other in general. The fact that we\u2019ve built – and are still building – such a great, supportive community of people makes me really proud to be a part of something so positive to so many people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You seem to have a caring focus, ethically. As a group that\u2019s run their shows for so long, how do you work towards maintaining high quality and variety while not burning yourselves to dust? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we keep ourselves honest by listening to each other and to our fans. Integrity is one of those things that you can cultivate for a long time, but lose it immediately. So we try to train ourselves to be better people. It\u2019s not about \u201cacting\u201d a certain way, either. It\u2019s easier to write comedy that doesn\u2019t punch down when you have the kind of mindset that doesn\u2019t punch down. That\u2019s not to say we haven\u2019t messed up before, or that we won\u2019t mess up in the future. But I do think we do our best to acknowledge mistakes, listen to each other, and try to learn to be better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve also been making a ton of content for over fifteen years, so it\u2019s not as if some of us haven\u2019t felt burned out every so often. As the group has gotten bigger and taken on more projects, we\u2019ve also been having regular meetings to plan our production and streaming schedules, to plan editing, and to write upcoming sketches and pre-recorded bits. That\u2019s helped a lot, but we\u2019ve also adopted a new rule – \u201cGet to 80%\u201d – at our last annual \u201ctake-stock\u201d meeting. \u201cGetting to 80%\u201d means to limit the amount of projects we do, so that we\u2019re operating at 80% of our maximum capacity. That way, when special projects pop up throughout the year, we\u2019ll be able to do them (as opposed to missing great opportunities to do something fun or lucrative). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like, Road Quest<\/em> was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of work, a lot of time spent, and a lot of money. And with all of the other projects we\u2019re still working on, it\u2019s taken longer to finish Road Quest<\/em> than I think we\u2019d like, and that\u2019s meant having to do things like temporarily putting me on CheckPoint+<\/em> or putting Watch + Play<\/em> on hiatus. Getting to 80% has helped inform some of our production scheduling and I think it\u2019s going to get better and better for us as time goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experience and specialization has also helped a lot. Graham and Paul have been doing this for a long time, and over the years, they\u2019ve trained new people to do some of their tasks. And that\u2019s let everyone<\/em> learn new things in their specialties to improve how we make stuff and entertain people. And as we get more experience, I think we\u2019re getting better – and faster – at our jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those that make such decisions at LRR, how do you determine who to have on which shows, and how do you handle any problems that you encounter with personality conflicts, ethical concerns, and so on?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of content is driven by the people that are interested in making it in the first place. We don\u2019t assign people to do shows – people volunteer. We\u2019re trying to change up the ensemble shows more and more (like AFK, The Long Game, or Friday Night Paper Fight), because we think the variety helps keep things more entertaining. When it comes to pre-recorded content like Friday Nights<\/em> or commodoreHustle<\/em>, that\u2019s driven by the needs of the script or by how simple we need to make the filming process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like, we don\u2019t have time to film more than a six-minute commodoreHustle<\/em> during a LoadingReadyLIVE<\/em> filming day, so it\u2019s usually solved during the writing meeting that happened weeks before. Who hasn\u2019t had an episode focus on their character yet, how are they getting into trouble, who else should be involved, etc. As far as streaming or other pre-record content goes, it\u2019s like I\u2019ve said previously – if someone wants to do a thing, we see if we can support it. Not all stream ideas will ever make it to air, and not all pre-record ideas are going to get filmed. But if an idea has a champion, it\u2019s going to get a lot further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all like working with each other, but that also doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s no conflict. It\u2019s hard for me to address a question about personality conflicts, because I just straight-up don\u2019t like having them. And I want to keep the focus of LRR on what we produce for people to enjoy. When it comes to solving<\/em> conflicts between people, it\u2019s down to Graham and Paul, largely, as they\u2019re the co-presidents of the company. Same goes for ethical concerns – most of us in the office will become aware of a problem pretty fast and then we\u2019ll end up talking about how we\u2019re going to address it. We don\u2019t always agree on how to handle things, but again, it\u2019s a business and an organization and everyone wants our decision and our message to be unified, so that no one is confused about our position. We owe that to our audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What kind of content do you most enjoy bringing to streaming, whether it\u2019s games or sketches or larger things like Road Quest, and how do you make the decision for what\u2019s \u201cgood for TV,\u201d so to speak?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like making stuff that focuses on our strengths as entertainers – we\u2019re funny, we\u2019re positive, we\u2019re doing our best. Road Quest<\/em> was amazing but it\u2019s not the kind of thing we can make all the time. Logistically, it requires a ton of planning and effort and funding just to get to Day 0, and then we have to start making the thing. And after that<\/strong>, there\u2019s a lot of post-production, and that involves even more people. And the impact that a large project like Road Quest<\/em> has on the rest of the production team is easy to see – reorganizing streams, allocating editing resources, etc. But I think it\u2019s exactly the kind of content we want to bring to our fans. Road trip shows have been done before, but I think us<\/strong> doing the road trip show brings that kind of \u201csurprise and delight\u201d that we hope keeps everyone entertained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, I\u2019m happy that we\u2019ve been able to split our production into a wider variety of things. In the early days – when I was just an actor coming in on weekends – I wasn\u2019t sure how all-year streaming was going to benefit us, but looking at it now, it\u2019s clear that providing the variety has allowed us to attract more people to work with LRR and let us have a lot more immediate fun with our audience. And I think that\u2019s what helps us decide what\u2019s good for TV: is this going to be interesting or fun for us to make, and do we think that the majority of our fans are going to respond positively to it. And then after that, can we afford the money to make this, and can we afford the man-hours to make it. We\u2019re still a business and we still want our employees to be able to make rent every month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be best known for your charity event, Desert Bus for Hope, which is an annual playthrough of the Desert Bus video game for the Child\u2019s Play charity. It seems like a real logistical challenge! What has kept you coming back to this event every year, and what does the planning entail for each of you? How do you keep safety in mind?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to answer this question properly, I\u2019d have to go into a ton of detail about different departments and the number of planning meetings we have and managing a project that\u2019s grown to involve fifty people on-site, as well as multiple people from around the world making contributions in other less visible ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So instead, forgive me for answering it purely from my perspective and involvement. I started doing Desert Bus for Hope during DBfH 5, and I showed up because I knew LRR and I wanted to be up there, performing for people and having fun. The charity aspect didn\u2019t enter my mind. These days, I\u2019m the de facto Zeta Shift producer, meaning that I take my job of getting Desert Bus from midnight to 06:00 very seriously – and I do that by trying to not to care too deeply about it. There\u2019s a \u201cscrew-it-let\u2019s-do-it-live\u201d aspect to DBfH that I\u2019ve always loved and if we ever lost that, I\u2019d probably be done. So I try to bring that sense to the Zeta Shift by prepping only a few things, but mostly just seeing where it goes. It\u2019s fun to come in at the start of the week and see \u201c$0.00\u201d and then see \u201c$700,000\u201d at the end of the week and just marvel that so many people came together to raise that money in exchange for a week of sleepless broadcasting. That\u2019s pretty amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone else has different feelings about DBfH and I\u2019m glad they do. It means that everyone found a piece of the show that they love and want to preserve, and I think it means that the bus is always going to keep running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for safety? There\u2019s enough people on-site that safety is critical. We tape our cables to the floor, we leave as much room as we can to move around the equipment, we have food volunteers that do their best to adhere to FoodSafe guidelines. We also try to look for volunteers who have first aid training or better – we\u2019ve even had off-duty paramedics on-staff before. While we mess around on camera, the audience doesn\u2019t want to see any of us choke or break a bone. So it\u2019s very important for us to be as safe as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the tools and decision-making you consider essential as a streamer and a performing professional in games that you would recommend others ensure they have before starting streaming on their own? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most important tools are also good life advice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grow a thicker skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get a good emotional support system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breathe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your time may not be worth that e-mail in your inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We lucked out when we started because we had already built a good community from our sketch comedy videos and from Desert Bus for Hope. So don\u2019t tie your hopes and dreams of streaming fame to what we did – we had to make videos for over ten years and also engage with our audience in our forum and try to build things that would keep that relationship growing. Unless you have done some amazing stuff already, you are not going to step into an instant audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when you are getting started, you will have to hustle. You\u2019ll probably need a day job, or a partner with a day job. You\u2019ll need to project integrity and confidence – and that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re not allowed to change your mind about things, but you\u2019ll need to show your audience that you\u2019re trying to do the right thing and that you\u2019ll willing to admit when you\u2019re wrong. And that might also mean not taking every opportunity that comes into your inbox because it\u2019s a quick $200. Or maybe it\u2019ll mean that you need to take it to make rent, and you let your audience know what\u2019s up about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a streamer or influencer or social media whatever is a rough gig these days. Not everyone can do it. And it\u2019s not an easy ride. But whatever you do, be honest to yourself about what you want to do and why you want to do it. Play the games you want, host the streams you want, talk about the subjects you want. Don\u2019t pander to your audience, but don\u2019t ignore them either. Be willing to put in the work to push your career forward, but also – and this is really hard – be ready to recognize if it\u2019s not working out. Maybe you can pivot to a different kind of stream. Maybe you\u2019ll need to find partners to stream with. Maybe you\u2019ll need to stop altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I believe firmly in leading in place and skills transfer, and it seems like LRR does too! How do you each act as leaders in your own roles at LRR, and how do you handle skills transfer with the team? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is kind of a difficult question, actually. With hiring so many people, we\u2019ve been trying to provide training and also write documentation so that we can have processes and procedures to refer back to, if employees have questions about e.g. running tech on a podcast, or what style guidelines we use for our videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is new territory for us, because LoadingReadyRun hasn\u2019t had to do this before. With the amount of work we\u2019re already doing, finding time to document what we do is really hard. BUT! We have recognized that it\u2019s important and we\u2019re trying to find ways to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve also established more people in specific roles. Graham and Paul are both co-Presidents of Bionic Trousers Media Inc – our operating company. James acts as our scheduler and producer for the bulk of our shows. Kathleen is our Managing Editor and also performs the vast majority of our writing. And I\u2019m the business manager, meaning my eye is on the bottom line (and also on merchandise development).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone is trying to involve team members with more projects and teach them more skills, but given the nature of our office and how we do business, we don\u2019t do things like seminars or group teaching. The most instruction you would get was by working on-the-job – here\u2019s how you hold a boom correctly, here\u2019s how you operate the camera, here\u2019s how we use J-cuts when editing, etc. I\u2019m hoping that developing some documentation will help make training easier for both the trainers and the employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We absolutely have a long way to go, but I\u2019m optimistic that we\u2019ll get there – especially if we can get to 80% first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks so much to Beej for the interview! I hope you all enjoyed it and that you’ll <\/strong>check out all that LoadingReadyRun has to offer<\/strong><\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi all! Today I have an interview with Brendan “Beej” Dery from Loading Ready Run about all of the amazing stuff Loading Ready Run does as a comedy troupe that touches on gaming and various geek media. Their community really impresses me, and I wanted to talk to someone in the leadership about the work … Continue reading “Five or So Questions on Loading Ready Run”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[390],"tags":[126,188,38,52,154,20,4,17,89,25,39,44,84,139],"class_list":["post-1494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","tag-actual-play","tag-briebeau-leads","tag-business","tag-card-games","tag-film","tag-five-or-so","tag-games","tag-gaming","tag-geek","tag-interviews","tag-leadership","tag-streaming","tag-video","tag-video-games"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/LRR-JOJO-FINAL-lowres.png?fit=1764%2C1044&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paHOcG-o6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":449,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2013\/09\/talk-about-geek-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":1494,"position":0},"title":"Talk about Geek Culture","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"September 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I hear a lot about Geek Culture, and I know a lot of Geeks and a lot of geeks. 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