One of the masterminds behind the widely popular YouTube channel Reckless Tortuga, Jason Schnell, talks about creating hilarious shows like Psycho Girlfriend, The Online Gamer and Racism in the Elevator.
Jason explains how the channel was born in a modest way about seven years ago when he teamed with fellow founders Lindsey Reckis, his wife, and his friend Eric Pumphrey. “We kind of just went, hey, what if we just stated making stuff – just for us – no real plan for anything, let’s just make stuff.”
Elevator was the group’s first viral video, which in the beginning meant it had about 100,000 views on YouTube, “It was huge for us,” he recalls. By now the video has about 8 million views. Within the first three months, Elevator blew up and they began making videos ever week from that point forward.
“It was our first kind of hit, and I think it really struck a cord with a certain type of racism in modern day. I think racism has gotten a little too cartoony, the way it’s portrayed. So we kind of had this approach of really trying to find racist scenarios that were real that could really happen, and parody those.”
The Basement was the channel’s first actual series – a spoof on horror and 80s pop culture – which went eight episodes that were all shot over two weekends. The first major series was Psycho Girlfriend, starring his wife. “It literally went on and continued for I think three or four years.”
Watch the full episode to also hear Jason talk about Reckless Tortuga’s other popular shows and for his tips on creating a successful YouTube channel.
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