Thanks for that encouragement.  (a couple of years huh?)  The shows and the characters do build.  I do think the music ties it all together.  Millie Haskins originally was going to be a guest but she is stealing the show  with her music.  If this is all I was doing I would be able to do better faster.  After your review I feel I need to get back to work. I have things in the works and new songs finished, I just want to up my game this time.  Thank you for taking the time to share my stuff.

The diversity of this site has made me even more aware of the international audience one might have on youtube.  Soooo, I feel I have to take a good look at the content I put in my videos.  I'm in the US so I gravitate toward subjects from the media.  Perhaps that's okay and I shouldn't stress over trying to reach the world.  Right now there is a big issue here in the east with people snorting bath salts and going nuts.  I already have begun to film a PSA with Patsy about this.  It should be very funny, but is this just a local issue?  Any thoughts on this. 

Well The Director, Good question. (this response  turned into  a bit  of a thesis.. grab a coffee) I would say, go with your heart. If it is something that inspires you, then do it(within the paramenters that Our Creator has set of course). The thing is,you have to enjoy the process regardless of the outcome. That's what keeps you making them. If you are making them just to satisfy your audience, you will loose the spark. Then,when you are making what you like to make, and get more experienced at it, you will build an audience who appreciates how your mind works,and your sense of humor.You will find them all over the globe. What might be just a local issue, might have its humor in some other odd way. It may not, but don't fret about it, just accept that not everyone will laugh at it, but some may.
   I am uploading a series that we did here. The topic, quite serious...prayer. But approached from a light hearted angle. Not roll in the isles funny. Over the years reactions to it have been interesting, ranging from causing one man to break out in tears, to others who could hardly follow the interview they were laughing so much. Most don't laugh out loud. Children certainly don't, and although aimed sort of at children, best comments have always come from adults. Production value was not high, and content variable, but nonetheless, I think they have some value. I had the honor of showing the idea to the worldwide general marketing manager of Lazytown once, and he encouraged us to continue doing what we are doing.That really encouraged me. He said 'no one is doing what you are doing', and there is an audience for it, and we do not need the big production houses to finance it, as we are already doing it on our own. I would add... youtube is a wide new world to explore, without Hollywood. Another international distributer said there is always a market  for  whatever  you produce. It is just a case of finding that  market. Your market might be a half a dozen people you mix with at the tavern, or they might be (like Freddie W) 50 million viewers a month. The success of an add campaign, and also your program, is whether  you  reach your target audience, not whether the  whole world saw it. In your youtube statistics, success is  not how many hits you got, but how many of those hits watched the video right through to the end. Right at the moment we are around the 64,000 a month, with one third to half the hits watching the tutorials through. That means really only around 30,000 real views a month. I am still very pleased with that.
   I am interested to see what happens once I upload all the  episodes. I will be putting a little effort  into 'marketing'them, to see if there is any trend that functions. I know now from My youtube channel, that  tutorials are something people look for.They stumble across them, but while looking for something. The theatrical/puppets groups seem to be a querky(yep, me included), but larger public than miniatures people. Wood workers is even larger, but  less forgiving and critical. Greenies recyclers mentality seems widespread, but not specific.
   But...as much as you analize etc, you can't really predict people. I know what will sell here, to the  buyers, but I can't bring myself to do it, so I just keep having fun, and  we will see where it ends up.
..and a last note, Jim Henson could NOT get a buyer in the USA for 'The Muppets'. It was the Brittish who took the risk on it... then,  OF COURSE the USA were proud of The Muppets  AFTER they became famous.

The diversity of this site has made me even more aware of the international audience one might have on youtube.  Soooo, I feel I have to take a good look at the content I put in my videos.  I'm in the US so I gravitate toward subjects from the media.  Perhaps that's okay and I shouldn't stress over trying to reach the world.  Right now there is a big issue here in the east with people snorting bath salts and going nuts.  I already have begun to film a PSA with Patsy about this.  It should be very funny, but is this just a local issue?  Any thoughts on this. 

You forget that news is mostly international these days - what I mean by that is that a lot of people get their news from websites, rather than print or TV. Also, with cable TV, a lot of people would get CNN, etc. I know just on free-to-air here we have multiple news programs from around the world. I actually know of the news story you're talking about because I've seen it mentioned online.

I wouldn't worry too much about whether or not subjects are too local. If it's in your national media then it's likely that other people have heard about it. If it's in your community newsletter... yeah, it's going to be too specific.

But remember that universal themes can appear in community items too: the underdog, the love triangle, the tragic death. All themes that can appear in any story, no matter how well-known.

(I also deal with problems like this. The majority of visitors to School of Puppetry are American; I've recently lost readers because I'd been putting up more Aussie-related news than normal. Whilst you have to cater to your audience, you also should stick to your aims. If readers don't like it, they have plenty of other avenues to find info more to their tastes)

Yeah I wouldn't worry about it too much. Remember you should always write about what you know. Also even if someone is not aware of the specific issue of "bath salts" (by the way this is happening here in KC also) then the subject of abuse itself is going to be something they can relate to.  In fact you may not need to make your PSA specific to "bath salts".

Yeah I wouldn't worry about it too much. Remember you should always write about what you know. Also even if someone is not aware of the specific issue of "bath salts" (by the way this is happening here in KC also) then the subject of abuse itself is going to be something they can relate to.  In fact you may not need to make your PSA specific to "bath salts".

This is a great point. The example itself might seem overly regional-specific, but the larger issues can be discussed: the way we 'fight' abuse of drugs, the need to improve medical literacy, the need to treat underlying problems that lead people to take drugs, the way governments deal with the issues, the way "alt med" or "natural" items are not as regulated (which leads to people taking things that may or do cause harm), the way the media hypes things and can lead to confusion as to what is safe and what's not...

Etc.

The point is that you are also talking about more general and universal themes; with the added bonus that using a more specific incident might actually help make a story more relatable. Personally I like the "Breaking Bad" version: it's all well and good to talk about drug problems, but understanding how a person got to their situation makes us more willing to see someone else's point of view and be more likely to treat the underlying problems than to treat the resulting behaviour.

Well I saw one report saying that the bath salt thing may just be the next epidemic.  I also need to say to those who are not familiar with my videos or my sense of humor, that what I do is a mixture of serious subjects somewhat sabotaged by satire. I will be also tackling domestic violence and cyber bullying/hating soon which are very serious subjects, but once my cast gets a hold of these things it all becomes a twisted politically incorrect experience. So don't expect anything too profound or serious here.(I also don't use profanity). That being said.  I was very taken back by all the hating on youtube and I have had "Patsy Hoolahan" give nice comments and support to many of those being hated, so I really do take that one seriously.  we'll see how it pans out. 

I think you'll find that any topic that is controversial will attract "hating", especially on Youtube. In this day and age there are still people who think evolution is bullshit - and you'll find a lot of arguments if you go looking for it.

I think some people just like to flay others verbally. They do not feel strong or impressive in real life, but if they put down others in the web and anonymously they think they are both. Poor little sausages (okay, this looks strange in English. But it's the best expression those fellow). And there are some people motivated by their believs, religiously or philosophically. There Einstein comes into play: "There are two things that are limitless- the universe and human stupidity. With the universe I am not quite certain, though."

I think some people just like to flay others verbally. They do not feel strong or impressive in real life, but if they put down others in the web and anonymously they think they are both. Poor little sausages (okay, this looks strange in English. But it's the best expression those fellow). And there are some people motivated by their believs, religiously or philosophically. There Einstein comes into play: "There are two things that are limitless- the universe and human stupidity. With the universe I am not quite certain, though."

This is true: for trolling at least. Others out there are either: genuinely interested in a conversation (whether to promote better information or a better understanding of someone else's viewpoint); trying to change opinion where it is in/correct (any discussion involving politics and science for instance); or trying to challenge ideas which are not proveable but still need discussing (anything religious/spiritual).

The problem is that a mix of the two (trolling and serious discussion) happens with every forum, Youtube or not. The trick is to weed out the trolls I guess.