2018, Welcome.

2018 has begun and there is plenty to look forward to! At the end of 2017, Alpherat Films found a footing in several film festivals, between ‘Begin’ and ‘Bater’, and now there is also a line of sight for production on ‘Bater’ in the coming months and year. More news on that as it develops and you can read some more over on Alpherat Films most recent post.

There are also several scripts in the works for both long-term and new projects, but those will be discussed when they are nearer to fruition. In the meantime, here is a brief teaser from Alpherat Films Instagram.

Elsewhere, YouTube has decided to cull mass amounts of creators and channels from their Partnership/Monetization programme. This means smaller channels will now have to meet 2 new requirements (4,000 hours of viewing time a year and a minimum of 1,000 subscribers) which make them even more isolated among the noise of louder, lower-serving content channels. It ultimately becomes more of an uphill struggle for new people starting out on YouTube, and it will push more people to look for other funding, from such sites as Patreon.

My original channel is now near to 12 years old, almost 7 years as a “YouTube Partner”, and while I can never claim to have made buckets of cash from the programme (Around €200 or less in that 7 year period), it is clear that even the smallest incentive help early creators stick with the format. YouTube claims they “need more safeguards in place to protect creator revenue across the YouTube ecosystem.” – meaning spammers too – but this is somewhat of a short-sighted method when they still have not fixed glaring problems in false copyright claims and flagging.

It will not affect the planned films and videos I have lined up to make this year and beyond. As has been the case, I have never used YouTube as a revenue stream. It’s just not profitable unless you have regular videos with views in the millions.

All of my associated channels are being demonetized, but videos will still be created for the Seán Wrenn channel, Alpherat Films and the other venues that receive occasional uploads.

Happy belated new year, and keep an eye out for all sorts of new antics!