Maker Studios

In 2015, I was a part of the YouTube Partner Program. I enjoyed creating videos centered around 3D modeling, drawing, painting, sewing, building cosplay props, toy collecting, and general fandom discussion. The majority of my content was focused on my favorite film, Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Though I also made videos highlighting other entries in the Disney animated canon. During this time, I became a part of the Disney-owned multi-channel network, Maker Studios. Multi-channel networks, or MCNs, were third party companies that partnered with YouTube and offered services to promote creators within their network - in exchange for a percentage of the creators’ revenue.

In 2016, Maker presented their network with two really fun opportunities. They would provide funding for a group of creators to make pilots for potential web series and develop a handful of the concepts they liked best. Creators had to submit pitch videos explaining their ideas, and Maker Studios would select who to fund based on that. There were two banners under which creators could be funded; Maker Spark and Disney XD by Maker. I submitted pitch videos for both, and both got the greenlight for funding.

For Maker Spark, I pitched an edutainment web series that would introduce young teens to 3D

art. My plan was to create short episodes where I guided aspiring 3D artists through simple

modeling and CG effects projects centered around famous Disney iconography. I created a pilot

episode where I modeled, lit, and rendered the Pixar ball.

For Disney XD by Maker, I pitched a 3D animated web series where the protagonists team up

with Anansi the spider to battle or outsmart ancient villains from African folklore. The series

would encourage critical thinking and teach problem solving skills to a younger audience - while

also putting a spotlight on myths from different African cultures. I created a 3D animatic of the

intro sequence, featuring the brother and sister protagonists and Anansi.

Neither of my pilots were chosen to be developed into series, but I did really enjoy working on the projects. The most tragic part of this story, in my opinion, is what happened to the original files. I created both pilots on a laptop, which became irreparably damaged in an electrical fire. I lost years of work, not just the Maker project files. Anything that I hadn’t uploaded to the internet was gone for good. This incident taught me a very important lesson about having backups and backups of your backups for digital work.

I’ve long since wanted to remake those pilots and flesh them out into series independently. While Disney presumably owns the rights to the original videos; I’d love to reimagine my concepts and create something even better one day.