The other day I posted this random thought I had about YouTube writers publishing scripts:
And the conversation brought up a lot of mentions about open sourcing videos entirely - sharing Thumbnails, scripts, etc. so someone could learn from them.
I’m kinda liking the sound of it - wouldn’t be too difficult to package up final export, thumbnail PSD/JPG, script PDF (or Google Docs link) and etc. but uncertain about logistics.
I can’t share raw video files. Each project is like 300GB minimum, some can hit 2TB. I just can’t afford to host that, and most people couldn’t reasonably download that. I could still share project files that could be opened, just with missing source footage/any plugins if someone wanted to learn about the timeline structure or something.
What do you think? Should it just be non-footage files? Focus on script/thumbnail? Is this worth it at all?
Second question angle I had was with regards to whom I share it with. I don’t have many avenues of monetization ATM - is this something that would be worth making a Patreon/Discord/Ko-Fi/forums subscription exclusive thing, or does that defeat the purpose/value? It is added work/cost on my end.
Would love to hear what you all think!
EDIT: I should note my use of “open source” here does not include re-use of my work. Simply to learn from.
At minimum, I could release my scripts here and attached to the IA upload copy. While I think it’s reasonable to push this kind of transparency behind a paywall, I don’t think (combined with my experience trying to drive subscriptions) it would be that compelling of a value proposition for many to subscribe.
I have been thinking about this, and I have a couple of thoughts:
I think if you do share it, you have to be extremely clear on the usage rights, i.e. you still have all rights reserved. I don’t think any Creative Commons license will work for how you want it to be used, so making it clear that this cannot be distributed outside where you share should be a top priority.
As for format of what can be shared, I think that scripts are the easiest since that is just a Google Doc/Notion Page/Text file of some sort that can be shared easily behind a Google Drive, a website you own, or Internet Archive.
Thumbnails would also work, since PSD files and most other image manipulation file formats embed all the info into the project file. The only issue with those is any missing fonts or custom plugins, which the user would have to get for themselves.
Timelines might have some value in structure, but if someone wants to know how you achieve a certain effect I am going to assume that is going to be a no go unless you provide a list of used plugins for that project. That might have some value in it. As you said, footage doesn’t make any sense so
If you think it makes sense to put it behind a paywall (which I do), I think adding it as a perk to Pateron/YouTube Members/Discord Subs would be a great way to help add more value to those subscriptions. ESPECIALLY if they would take a minimum amount of time and effort (like one hour max to prep the resources for public release).
