at least it's only 3 grand this time..

tag game ✨

tagged by @howdydowdy

1. why did you choose your URL?

So as far as participating in and really ~appearing~ in internet culture, that was late 90s-early 00s for me, and it was basically just like the tumblr username culture is now in some corners. Pick it up, put it down, sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn't. So one of my rinse-repeat cycles of this I chose heyninja for my LJ and it just... stuck. For EVERYTHING. The only through line is that I walk really quietly (if you can hear me coming either something out of my control has happened or I'm trying to put you at ease because that many people have freaked out about being startled) so people started calling me a ninja.

2. any sideblogs?

I have a couple snapped up but I don't use them.

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

Since the beginning. I snapped up the URL immediately. I haven't posted from the beginning but I've always been here.

4. do you have a queue tag?

No. I rarely queue anything, so I don't see the point in...mentioning it? I guess.

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

This kind of runs into the question of why I do anything on the internet, and the answer is: if you can figure out why I do anything anyone can see on the internet, you let me know. Before I made actual tumbr friends and started making content, mostly it was just to find things I liked and to hoard them for myself to look at. Now I just do all of it.

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

So Kenzi from Lost Girl is my Patronus. She's my kind of goth (I literally own one of her pairs of boots), she's brave and sweet and even if they did her kind of dirty later, the first couple seasons of her character were basically just a balm for my soul. Also I like characters that talk similarly to how I talk, and she's Team Dyson as am I. I chose this SPECIFIC shot though because this episode and scene shows her going from suspicious to smiling and I love that about her. It's also my discord icon.

7. why did you choose your header?

Desktop has no header, but my mobile is just a tiled header in different blues. I like things that aren't too busy (please see re: coming up in late 90s-early 00s - webdesign was hostile to your eyes, internet connection and any principles of simplicity)

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

This Yunmeng Bros meta post by 16 notes over this Cherry Maho meme - it's neck and neck, lads.

9. how many mutuals do you have <3?

Like...12? I don't know, I never check.

10. how many followers do you have?

Double digits

11. how many people do you follow?

Also double digits

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

I mean...the argument could be made that I am a shitpost but it's also likely I've made one.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

Like I'm in and out. Sometimes it's more or less, depending on how wild things are (the first week of November 2020 I was glued to Tumblr) but ehhh.

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

I don't think I did? Doesn't mean it didn't happen but either I forgot or I didn't classify it as important so ymmv. I did do my part in a massive call out of a toxic person in a certain corner of things but I did not receive backlash or anything from that.

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts

I feel about the same as I did when I got the "you have to send this to 15 people or else" chain emails back in the day. Imagine getting sent one of those and having a very self-righteous 13 year old reply-all back to you and a frillion of your friends about how causation, correlation, and idiocy are not the same thing.

16. do you like tag games?

Mostly. Sometimes I forget them or the questions are ones I either have answered or I feel weird about answering, but mostly I enjoy them.

17. do you like ask games?

I like talking about myself! lol

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

Quite a few of them - a lot of them are more "famous" then me. Though I don't get a lot of apparent traction though on posts - I don't talk much just off the cuff, I'm learning I actually do seem to be getting traction pretty well on my actual content creation posts - fics or memes. So I don't know. COME SAY HI PEOPLE. I like people. Talk to me. I chatter and love people and will be ridiculous but in a goofy fond way. But yeah, quite a few of my mutuals have much higher follower counts than me.

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

I do have a very large amount of love for one mutual in particular and she knows who she is ❄️ 💖... but I do have several, mostly bitty, little other crushes (but I'm poly and I know other people aren't so I try to keep those to myself)

Don't normally tag but if you haven't answered this and are willing:

@seokjingaycult @clockworkish @inkedscribbles @emrysmerlyn

you're an eremika fan so i figured i'll ask haha. i wrote my first EM fanfic and i'm so apprehensive about actually uploading it. i don't think i'm too bad a writer, but self proofing can only go so far and i'm concerned as to whether it'll actually gain any traction or not. do you know if people still read eremika fanfics/how do you gather the confidence to post your work? :/ also ur rad!

First of all, congrats on writing your first eremika fic! I wonder if by this time you already published it though? You sadly sent me this ask when I was focused on writing and editing an update to my own EM fic, so I probably was reserving my last two adhd braincells to be able to finish it lmao, which is why I didn’t reply in time and then... I forgot to do it and for that I’m very sorry!

If you still don’t publish your fic or you’re still interested on my answer, I’ve seen other people go through a similar struggle, and as a fellow writer I can understand your concern regarding of whether your fic will gain traction or not. When it comes to this last thing, it often depends on many factors, like on how active the fandom is by the time you publish your fic, on what people are looking to read about lately (i.e. fluff, angst and/or smut) and on the ship developments (or lack of it) currently going on in the manga. For example, as far as I remember, after chapter 123 dropped people were writing and reading oneshot fics about the “what am I to you?” flashback, and basically the same happens whenever we get some tasty (?) and especially angsty EM-related scenes in the manga (including chapter 112, lol). Writers get inspired to “fix” or develop these panels further and readers crave that content as well, so they kinda jump on it right after it gets published. In these cases, authors often get a quick and decent amount of feedback in a short span of time, which is amazing. When you are one of these authors with the ability to swiftly pull out a wholesome oneshot related to a fresh eremika scene, I guess you don’t have to worry THAT much about whether it will get at least a bit of attention or not, because people are going to be thirsty for that content and will consume it as soon as it’s available. Most of these readers are going to show appreciation for it in terms of likes, reblogs, kudos, comments, etcetera, without you having to wait too long. 

When we publish fics that aren’t related to the manga current developments and stuff, the first thing to do is to be able to get the reader’s attention with a catchy summary and the proposal of an interesting plot / situation between Eren and Mikasa. To increase the chances of people reading your stuff, it’s also important to make a post with the fic’s link and info here on Tumblr and on other social media platforms like Twitter, always using the eremika tag. 

And yeah, I assure you there’s a lot of people who still read EM fics. There’s even been an interesting influx of new eremika shippers thanks to what’s been going on during the timeskip and in latest chapters. However, between 2013 and early 2015 the SnK fandom overall was way more active and also fic writers got way more feedback. We have to consider that there was a more limited supply of EM fics back then of course, especially in 2013-2014, so I guess the feedback was also way more concentrated while the demand was kinda bigger than nowadays. If you’ve checked old fics mostly on FFnet that were published years ago, you probably already saw and know what I mean. I mention this because it’s important to not compare the amount of feedback that most EM fics receive today with what those older fics got. The reality of the fandom is too different now after the initial hype...

Regarding your question about gathering confidence, well, in my case I don’t have confidence issues in general and less when it comes to fandom. What I do is to just do something I feel like doing, enjoy the process of doing it and then put it out there without further questions. I don’t think I’m the best writer or anything, but I do believe in the value of what I write and of the other things I make. There are a few times when I look at what I’ve written and I’m like “pfft this sucks” and get very critical about it, while at other times I’m like “ohh, that’s some good shit! I really wrote that myself, huh? *pats own back*”, though most of the time I’m mainly conscious about the effort, love and creativity I pour into what I write among the enjoyment (and suffering lmao) I experience when I’m on it, which makes me appreciate it more. In your case, you already wrote something and you know it involved a degree of effort and time, so why not going ahead and sharing it? Even more so when showing it to others was your intent since the very beginning~

I think it’s totally worth it to share what you’ve written rather than never allowing it to see the light of day because of self-doubts. As with many other situations, you take a risk when you put something out there for others to see and dissect, but you also get the chance to receive nice responses that can make your day and, since readers provide you with feedback that help you to be more aware of your strengths and weaknesses, you also get the chance to improve your writing skills.  

We love the same amazing pairing and it deserves way more content and love, so please, give it a try and share your fanfic with the fandom! 

Fugitives- Chap 4

Poor Elmer (#fugitives for all chaps)

Ship: Eventual Ralbert

Warnings: Gunshots

Albert felt his heart rate increase as he searched Race’s face, looking for any sign that he was joking. When he found nothing but a cold, hard stare, the blood rushed away from his face.

“So the only other option is to kill me, right?” He asked.

“Yeah, that’s the idea.”

Albert laughed hysterically, “Fine then, just fucking shoot me.”

Race shrugged, clicking the safety off his gun and pointing it at Albert’s forehead, “I mean, if you insist.”

Albert reeled backwards, raising his hands defensively, “Wait, don’t actually, dude. Please.”

The two men froze when they heard a key turn in the lock of the apartment door. They looked over to see Elmer enter, then let out a shout of surprise.

“Albert, what the fuck is-”

Race immediately turned towards Elmer and shot the wall next to his head, then aimed it towards his chest, “Close the fucking door and put your hands up.”

Elmer stared in horror at the bullet hole, “What the fuck, what the actual fuck-”

“Now!” Race shouted. Elmer jumped and slammed the door shut with his foot, simultaneously lifting his hands and placing them on the back of his head. From where he stood, Albert could see that he was shaking.

“Man, seriously?” Albert spoke up, causing Race to look at him, “I know that you’re supposed to be some badass gang member or some shit, but did you have to go and shoot the wall?”

Elmer was still standing in shock, looking between Race and Albert rapidly.

“Well, would you rather me shoot your friend?” Race growled, “‘Cause I can do that, too.” He cocked the gun again.

“No,” Elmer squeaked, “The wall got your point across beautifully.”

“Lovely,” Race smirked, “Do you agree, Albert?”

“Y-yeah,” Albert stuttered, “I agree.”

“Awesome!” Race said, “So, Albert’s friend, what’s your name?”

“Bro, fuck you-”

“Maybe later when I don’t have a gun pointed at your heart. Don’t fucking smart-talk me. What’s your fucking name?”

Elmer gulped, “It’s, uh, it’s Elmer. Listen man, I don’t know what your deal is, but I just forgot my laptop so-”

“Shut up, my god. You and Albert both talk way too much.”

Elmer slammed his mouth shut and Race walked towards him. He pressed the gun under his chin and leaned in to hiss in his ear, “You listening?”

Elmer nodded vigorously, “M’listening.”

“Good. Now, you’re going to leave this apartment and go back to wherever the fuck you were and pretend that you never fucking saw me or Albert, got it?”

“G-got it.”

“Perfect. Just know that if you run your mouth to anyone, I will find out and I will kill you.”

“I understand,” Elmer heaved a sigh of relief as Race lowered the gun.

“Get out,” Race spat and Elmer left quickly.

Albert stood, gaping, as Race bolted the apartment door, “There, so we won’t get rudely interrupted again,” he turned towards Albert, letting the hand holding his gun drop to his side, “Do you need to pack any extra clothes?”

“I-I guess so?” Albert threw his hands up, “Give me five fucking minutes and don’t shoot anything else.”

Race leaned against the door and crossed his arms at his chest, “I’ll be here.”

Albert went into his room and emptied his class backpack onto his bed, then dug through his drawers, haphazardly throwing various shirts into it. He swooped down and picked up an extra pair of jeans and a few discarded socks to bring as well. The weight of the situation was starting to take a toll on him and suddenly, his legs didn’t feel like they could support him. He slid to the ground, knotting his hands in his hair; the sound of Race’s gunshot rang in his ears and he had to remind himself that no one was actually hurt. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He technically got himself into this mess, but he had no idea how he was going to get out of it. To say he was fucked was an understatement.

“It’s been five minutes,” Race called from somewhere outside Albert’s door. Albert groaned and used his doorknob to haul himself up. He swung his backpack over one shoulder and took a deep breath before leaving his room.

Race had moved from his place by the door and was now perched on the arm of Albert’s couch. His gun was no longer in his hand, which made the knot of nerves that had permanently settled in Albert’s stomach unravel a bit.

“Excellent,” Race smiled, pushing off the couch and bouncing on his toes lightly, “Ready to roll?”

Albert rolled his eyes, “Imagine sounding like a white fucking dad while a gun is somewhere in your pants.”

Race laughed and opened the apartment door, nodding for Albert to walk ahead of him, “I’m surprised you’re not freaking out more.”

“Believe me,” Albert said, looking over his shoulder to glare at Race, “I’m freaking out.”

“You’re doing a damn good job at hiding it. Another good quality for Empire. Stoicism.”

“Can I punch you in the face?”

“I have a gun.”

“You’re right.”

“I know,” They didn’t say another word as they entered the stairwell and began to descend down to the main floor. When they got there, Albert could see blue and red flashing lights outside the entrance way.

“Shit. Are those police cars?” Race cursed, “I bet someone called about the gunshot.”

“That’s what happens when you shoot a fucking gun, asshole. It alarms people.”

Race bit his lip, surveying the area, “We’ll leave through the back door,” he murmured, grabbing Albert’s elbow and pulling him along behind him. Race pushed open the back door and the two of them were dumped into the alleyway behind Albert’s apartment complex.

“What street are we on?”

“167th.”

“Fuck, okay. We better get moving, we’ve got a bit of a journey.”

“Where are you taking me?” Albert asked, staying close behind Race as they exited the alley.

“The headquarters for Empire.”

“Where’s that?”

“Shut up and you’ll see,” Race said, turning down another street and heading towards a subway station. He stopped at a map and scanned it quickly before saying, “Blue line it is. You got a MetroCard?”

“Yeah,” Albert answered, pulling out his wallet and extracting his MetroCard. They paid for their ride and caught the incoming blue line. The train was completely empty, which relieved Albert more than he could say. He didn’t think he could handle the risk of anyone finding them out right now.

He and Race sat down near the train door, “How many stops ‘til ours?” Albert asked.

“Six,” Race grunted, pulling out his phone and opening Instagram.

“You have an Instagram? Aren’t you supposed to not be public with anything?”

Race didn’t look up from his phone as he answered, “No one knows it’s me. It’s a meme account. I like memes.”

Albert stared at him, mouth slightly agape, “You have a meme account? Wait, how old are you?”

“I’m twenty-two and yes I do,” Race said, chuckling at a post, “It’s actually gained a lot of traction.”

“Good for you?”

Race hummed and pulled out a pair of earbuds, ignoring Albert for the rest of the ride. As promised, they got off six stops later. Albert didn’t recognize the part of the city they were in, but Race seemed to know where they were going. They walked for another twenty minutes, then Race turned abruptly into a little alleyway near an abandoned theatre. He pushed aside a large piece of scaffolding that was leaning against the side of the building to reveal a stage door. Albert watched as he lifted his fist and knocked twice, then once, then twice again. The door swung open a few moments later and the barrel of a gun pointed out from the shadows.

“Jack, hey, it’s me,” Race said, holding up one hand in front of him, “I think I found us our guy.”

“Did you brief him?” A man’s voice sounded from the other end of the gun.

“Sorta? I mean, he knows he’s gonna die if he tries to run.”

“Perfect, bring him in,” Race nodded pulled Albert into the theatre. Inside, it was dim and smelled distinctly like cigarette smoke. From what Albert could see, there were several hallways leading to other parts of the theatre. A taller, dark haired man, who Albert assumed to be ‘Jack’, was sitting in an old desk chair by a table with several laptops on it. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Albert could make out silhouettes of other people sitting around the table, focusing on whatever task they were doing.

“Welcome to The Bowery,” Race said, holding out his arms dramatically, “Home to the Empire Gang of Manhattan.”

TAG LIST:

@bencookisagod

@we-dont-sell-papes

@suddenly-im-respecsable

@aw-jus-let-em-spook

@well-the-kids-do-too

@spot-conlon-king-of-brooklyn

@thatpoorguysheadisspinning

@newsies-of-nyc

@andthewoildwillknow

@the-newsies-justice-for-zas-blog

Once Upon a December (Chapter 2)

Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Ty Lee & Zuko (Avatar) Additional Tags: Thriller, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Modern Era

Read on ao3 or below the cut

I pulled up to the station as the night shift pulled in. The morning shift would be here soon. I walked up the steps of the station, the snow crunching under my boots, to see Suki leaned against the building. I nodded, “Mornin’.” She trailed behind me as I unlocked the front door. I turned the coffee pot on and said, “I take it Ty Lee didn’t come home yesterday.”

Her voice was hoarse, “She did not.” She paused biting her lip, “You don’t think she’s really missing, do you? People just don’t disappear...”  I poured us each a cup. No, people usually didn’t just disappear, but how could I comfort her when I knew the homocide statistics for Ba Sing Se?

We walked into my office and even though we were both exhausted I had her tell me everything she could about Ty Lee- what her schedule was, who she hung out with, who she dated, her lack of familial connections. To Suki’s credit she never flinched. She answered each progressively invasive question as openly as she could. I made plans with her for a few detectives to stop by the sorority house later that day and then I sent her out. Hopefully she could get some sleep before her classes started.

Knowing I should, but dreading it, I contacted the family. Granted it was super early in the morning, so I wasn’t too surprised to hear Ty Lin’s voice mail greeting. I left a message just asking her to call me back. Maybe by the time she actually contacted me I would have some good news to give her, instead of what I had now- which was nothing. Even though I got the impression that this lady could care less about her sister.

I was rubbing my temple when Aang suddenly poked his head in my office startling me. He greeted too cheerily,”Mornin’ Chief Hotman!” I crossed my arms, “Anything useful come up last night?” Aang paused and then replied, “Define useful.” I brushed him off, “Get out of my office.” I followed him out and mentally prepared myself to deal with the press before the 7am news.

I braced myself and stood on the steps of the police station to debrief the press. I gripped the podium and gave them the information I had- Ty Lee Ping, 21 years old, last seen fifteen hours ago. I knew this story was going to get a ton of traction. A pretty girl was missing for fuck’s sake. It would send the media into a frenzy. Hopefully, the attention would translate into someone actually finding her.

Toph and Sokka finally dragged themselves into the station as the press conference wrapped up. I hauled them into the conference room so we could make a game plan. I filled them in on everything I learned from Suki. Sokka put the most relevant points on the white board. I glared at Toph as she put her boots on the table and criticized most of the ideas Sokka came up with it.   We finally decided Sokka would take a few officers to the sorority house and do interviews with the girls and also go through Ty Lee’s things to find any leads. Toph and I would head to the mall, where Ty Lee had last been seen.

I let out a breath. I felt slightly better now that we had a plan. I still had that nagging feeling gnawing at my stomach, but there was nothing I could do about it. I went to greet the morning shift. I stood in front of my officers, briefing them on their assignments for the day. They took it as any other day and it settled my nerves enough. It was just a missing girl. She hadn’t even been missing that long. I had dealt with worse before, but that those things didn’t leave a sinking feeling in my gut like this situation inexplicably did.

I corralled Toph to my Tahoe and hit the sirens. It wasn’t technically an emergency, but neither of us had the patience for Ba Sing Se traffic. We pulled into the mall seven minutes later and I parked obnoxiously up on the curb.

My phone started buzzing. I recognized the number as Ty Lin’s. I hit the answer button on the Tahoe’s screen. A sultry voice responded, “Hi Officer. How are you?” I saw Toph about to speak, so I put my hand over her mouth. I cleared my throat, “Hi ma’am. I’m fine. I was just calling to check in with you regarding your sister.”

Toph bit my hand and I grimaced, but still kept my grip firm. Ty Lin’s voice dropped at the mention of her sister, “Oh, her,” It took all my effort not to snap at her. Maybe Ty Lin had done something to Ty Lee. This lady seriously seemed to hate her, her own sister. I would have Sokka add it to the idea board later. I took a deep breath and then responded, “Yes, ma’am. Your sister still has not been located at this time-” “Okay, well I have a hair appointment, so talk later, yeah?”

And just like that the call was over. Toph wrestled out of my hand. I asked her, “That was weird right? That’s not a normal sibling relationship right?” She shrugged, “Fuck if I know. Did you have phone sex when you informed you yesterday. You two seemed real familiar-” I ignored her and hopped out of the truck.

Toph, Sokka and I had all started at the BSS police department right out of academy, each of us working our way up to our current positions. Over the years, I had become more familiar with the mall than I wanted to be- from shoplifting to indecent exposure calls, the mall was one of our frequent stops.

My boot tapped impatiently on the linoleum tile as we waited for our boba, which Toph had insisted we get. We finally grabbed our cups and headed towards the security office. We popped in through one of the doors that led into the interior hallways.

Toph brusquely opened the door and the older security guard in the corner looked terrified. “Mornin’ Chief Hotman!” Teo greeted me. Toph sniggered and I seriously considered firing them both. Instead I asked, “How’s it going?” I stood behind Teo looking at the dozen or so screens in front of him.

He answered, “I’m almost done copying all the video we need. She worked a four hour shift and then shopped for two, but I just copied everything from yesterday.” I nodded, “How long is it gonna take to go through.” He ran his hand through his messy hair, “Uh, well. There’s sixty four cameras- twenty four hours of footage from each cameras…”

Fuck. Toph made a chair appear and kicked her feet up on the desk, “Let’s just focus on the entry and exit points when she was actually here to start.” That sounded better. I added, “Focus on the store she was at too.” Teo still seemed overwhelmed. I pulled up my walkie, but Toph beat me to the punch. She hit the mall intercom button and said, “Haru and the Duke, paging Haru and the Duke, your father is waiting for you at the security office. Lost children, Haru and the Duke your father is waiting for you at security. I glared at her, “We’re supposed to be a little professional, you know.”

They showed up a few minutes later. I took a sip of boba, “Get anything from the store?” The Duke nodded, his too big police hat almost falling off his head, “Sure did, Chief. Uh, apparently there’s a group of guys that just leer at the Victoria’s secret. They watch the workers, the women shopping, they just stand across from it for hours on end.” Toph wrinkled her nose, “Gross.”

Haru rubbed his boot on the floor, “Yeah, but the manager June confirmed that Ty Lee had plans to Christmas shop after work and she also confirmed that Ty Lee is always on time. Said she has too many commitments to just disappear.” I nodded, “Good job guys. Ru, help Teo out with going through all this stuff. The Duke, get those notes typed up asap and send them to me. Toph, let’s go see what’s up with these weirdos.” “Sir, yes sir,” the three of them answered, giving mocking salutes. I rolled my eyes and headed back out into the mall.

Sure enough, when we got to the Victoria’s Secret, there was a group of dudes just leaning against the opposite wall. We were at the mall all the goddamn time. How had none of us noticed this? They started dispersing when they saw us approaching. I shoved my hands in my pockets, “We either do this here or at the station, up to you all.” They grumbled, but stayed where they were.

I let Toph take the lead, even though I didn’t have much of a choice. She gestured in their general direction, “So you fucktards just come here and perv on women while they shop?” One of the guys grunted, “Look lady, there’s no law that says we can’t stand here.”  I pulled Ty lee’s picture out of my wallet, “You guys ever see her?”

They stared at the picture just a little too long. I stuffed it back into the safety of my wallet. The same guy answered, “So what if we have?” Toph chimed in, “You obviously haven’t been watching the news.” She pointed to a TV in a storefront that was running the story. I forgot how good her hearing was sometimes. She continued, “She's missing and you creeps seem like prime suspects, don’t cha?” The guy huffed, “You can’t arrest us.” She swung her handcuffs on her finger, “Nope, not yet, but might be a good idea to break up this creep fest.”

We turned and left. We didn’t exactly get anything helpful from that.

How long had she been missing now? Nineteen hours. Fuck.

We climbed in the truck and I called Jet. He sounded like he was half asleep when he answered, “Sup.” I rested my head against the headrest, “New assignment for you. At the mall there’s a group of guys that just kind of loiter across from Victoria’s secret. Go post up and see if you overhear anything about the girl. I’ll have The Duke send you everything we have on the case so far.” Jet just responded, “Over and out,” and the line went dead. Without me telling her, Toph sent a voice memo to The Duke asking him to catch Jet up on the case.

I pulled off the curb, hit the sirens and started driving across town to BSSU to see what Sokka had found, if anything. The clock on the dashboard seemed to be mocking me as each minute went by, it reminded me that time was not on our side.

Filmmakers On Ep2.1 - Transcribed without edits

Thought it’d fun to publish my video/podcast transcript without editing. 

Thanks Buzzsprout.

I'm Jay Horton and I'm making sell movies, and this is filmmakers on Amazon Prime. I'm engine Amazon prime a lot for those that don't know. Back in 2006 Amazon launched a service called Amazon on box in the US Later, it was renamed Amazon Video Direct and even later than that renamed Prime Video Direct. For our purposes, I'll just refer to it as Amazon Prime, which BTW Amazon doesn't like. See, they don't want independent filmmakers referring to their movies as Amazon prime movies because that infers that you have some kind of special deal with Amazon. They asked filmmakers when marketing that they use prime video or hash tag prime video when marketing their movies. Amazon became the first and still is really the only major streaming platform to allow filmmakers to directly upload their movies without a distributor or an aggregator. See, this was huge. For the first time ever, Joe's most Struthers in Indiana could upload his 60 minute, ultra low budget vampire movie with little to no gate keeping and still have it listed on the new release wall right next to Pirates of the Caribbean. For several years, hardly anybody knew about it. I think I first stumbled upon it around 2011. I was using create space toe self distribute DVDs. You know, I was looking to re release a couple of my older library titles after they had finished their initial runs with distributors. See, back in those days and basically still today when you license the movie to a distributor, it's for 5 to 7 years, typically, and at the end of that time, you can either re up that license or take the rights back. In most cases, in these make 95% of what they're gonna make in the 1st 2 23 years. The returns get so low after that that they usually become non existent. So it makes sense if you have the means to release yourself and make a few bucks on those older titles. So I did just that. I think it was around 2011 or 2012. I got the rights back. I discovered Amazon Prime and put a couple movies up. They were literally making a few bucks a month, and after a little bit, I honestly kind of forgot about him. Then of your two later, like out of nowhere, one of them started making some riel, well, some relatively riel money. It jumped for making a few bucks a month toe a few 100. That particular title went up a size $1200 a month. At one point that year, this little tiny movie made almost $10,000. That year alone. F Y I. It was made for much, much less. For the first time ever, self distribution seemed like a viable option. At the very least, it was a great place to put my movies after they had finished their original license with the distributor, which was pretty much my m O all the way up through 2016. Now let me qualify something here for the purposes of this discussion. I'm talking about very low budget movies, movies independently produced for well under $100,000 most of them actually between 5000 and 50,000 with no big stars being sea level, it best in 2000 and 16. These types of movies were starting to become much harder to make money with through traditional distribution. Between 2005 and 2015 I worked for a few companies producing and directing these kind of features, and they were cleaning up. You know, to this day, I regret that I didn't strike out on my own earlier, but the time I gotthe balls to do so it was 2016 and the bubble was bursting. There were so many filmmakers doing it now, you know, back in 2005 if you told somebody you'd made a feature phone for $20,000 got it distributed, made some money, they would most likely a not believe you or be think it was freaking incredible. And how did you do it? Tell me how you did it. You know, it just wasn't all that comment. By 2016 equipment costs had gone down, equipment was better, editing systems were affordable, and independent movies flooded the marketplace like never before. And now, with Prime Video, direct filmmakers had a platform to get these movies into the marketplace in a major way, without the permission of the distributor. And for about another year or so, it was glorious. I forget the exact amount they were paying out, but I think it was around 15 cents an hour, and there were no riel algorithmic or content restrictions. I had one older library title around that time that made almost $20,000 that year. Ah, little tongue me $4000 shot mini DV movie that was way, way, way past its prime. It made MAWR that year than it ever did in this initial release. But by 2017 things that started to change more and more filmmakers were discovering prime video direct, and it was no longer this little buried secret and content. In most cases, very bad content flooded the market and Amazon started to walk back. They lowered their rates, their algorithms started yet smart. They started pulling movies that didn't adhere to their vague definition of audience expectations. I lost a couple of movies myself, and the ones that remained were making much less, and suddenly I was kind of right back where it started. I really don't want to be one of those naysaying filmmakers, like piling on about the villainous Amazon narrative. I really don't think Amazon's in the wrong. Even with all of the changes that they made, they're still the only major platform that allows us to directly upload our movies. Let that sink in for a minute. They are the Onley major platform that allows us to directly upload our movies. It's their world. We're just living in it. So how do we move forward? Well, first off, if you're counting solely on Amazon for the income from your projects, that's a mistake. It's hard, but you have to diversify your income stream. Seek out other platforms for your content, new ones, air emerging on a daily basis. And, sure, most are worthless. But eventually some of these will gain more traction. I, for one used film hub, they are an aggregator. They take nothing up front and 20% off the back end. You won't load there much like you do on Amazon, and they submit your movie for you. To many, many platforms. My projects had an average of five alternate platforms of peace through film hub. And yes, for now, the returns air small, a fraction of what I'm making on Amazon alone. But over the past year, that gap has started to slowly, very slowly narrow. It's not enough just to make your movie and promote it. You have to make a brand. Start a YouTube channel to a podcast. Start up a tree own. I've done all three and keep trying new stuff. Are you just on Facebook and not Twitter? Get both hate Facebook. Too bad. There's a lot of stuff Code hard there in advertising. Get on there, man. You're not on instagram. Get on it. Read it. You bet. Start a Facebook group. Join a face. Quit group, but do something different. Think outside of the box. In a nutshell. That's filmmakers on Amazon Prime. If you like this, subscribe to my channel. And don't forget to check out my patri on over at www patri on dot com Backslash Jay Horton.