The Disney Beat
The Disney Beat
Special Guest Jack DSNY Newscast: Part 3 - Covering Disney as a Disney YouTuber
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Part three, the final section of our in-depth conversation with Jack Kendall from DSNY Newscast. In this segment we discuss what it is like to cover The Walt Disney Company as a YouTuber and the pitfalls and joys of reporting on Disney Theme Parks.
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Welcome to the Disney beat a podcast brought to you by The DisInsider.com. My name is Sean Nyberg and I will be covering all of the Disney headlines to keep you informed as you start your week. Hello there This is Sean Nyberg and this is a very special edition of the Disney beat podcast. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with one of the most popular and beloved Disney youtubers around jack Kendall from dsny newscast. Our conversation lasted two and a half hours and we covered a wide range of topics. I released the conversation in three parts I previously released part one, where we focused on Disney theme parks and part two where we discussed Disney plus upcoming Disney films and The Walt Disney Company as a business. This episode is part three and here we are going to look at Jack's YouTube channel dsny newscast and talk about the pitfalls and joys that come with being a Disney YouTuber. We also look at the different styles of news coverage and how one stands out in a crowded field. So sit back and enjoy part three of my conversation with jack Kendall from dsny newscast already in progress. All right, so let's do a little bit about the dsny newscast. So you know, just give me the Give me the let me just tell you real quick. The reason, you know when I got into this, and I started really looking at the YouTube channels for information, I mean, your videos just stand out aesthetically. Like they're just, they're just a try. I mean not to be creepy, like they're attractive to look at, in the sense that you've got good colors, you've got good lighting, like is that something that's important to you?
Jack DSNY:Well, I mean, I've got graphic design past. So like when I look at everything on the channel, like even the dark wall in the background, like originally, if you actually go right back to the very beginning of my channel back in April 2017, you'll notice I was stood in front of a cream, and very quickly, I was like, Yes, need to do something with the contrast, you know, to make myself pop a bit more out from the background. So I was like, I'll paint the wall, dark gray. And it makes everything else pop, you know, the colors pop up more and things like that. So just a matter of standpoint. Yeah, the colors and the brand aesthetics really matters with a YouTube channel, I feel and and then it's also just persistence, dedication, and just the frequency to get those videos out to build that audience to begin with. And don't sometimes just
Sean Nyberg:sometimes, yeah, sometimes you just got can't be you can't always be in the mood to make videos, right. But you just have to write because you have
Jack DSNY:this this past year has been pretty difficult to be honest, going up and down trying to you know, as it has been in February of the pandemic, but trying to find the motivation to be nimble and positive about some of the parts of which you can't always be. And then personally, it's been a bit of a difficult year, lots of grandparents. So that was that was pretty difficult, but also just the COVID things in general, you know it, and then the election cycle and everything, it was just all it gets difficult sometimes to stay dedicated and write the scripts and get the videos out.
Sean Nyberg:Well, especially because you're on such a positive channel, right? Like it's one thing if you if your whole job was to be complained about things, but you're such an upbeat guy, at least you know, according to your videos, you got you feel like you feel that stress to maintain that.
Jack DSNY:Well, you see, the thing is, it's the I don't ever see it as positive and negative it is energy. Like I don't like to look low energy in a video I don't like to be like over the top and energy wise in front of a camera because it comes across as fake. Like, hi there. Yeah, haha, you know, please watch me that kind of like manic kind of personality, I don't like that kind of feel. So I try and just be level headed energy because you know, you don't want to see someone at the end of their workday, you want to see someone who looks like they're a bit more engaged with what they're talking about. And, and then I provide just honest, if I don't like singing, I'll say I don't like it. But I always try and provide a more a better way of doing it. Well, it's like the old Walt Disney quote, which was, you know, was never used to like, people who would just slashed down an idea. He was like, if you're going to slash down an idea, give me a better one. Don't just come to negatives come to me with a negative, but also an alternative. And that's what I try and do my videos. So if I don't like being in the parks, which I'm important on news wise, I'll always be like this is a better way that they could possibly do it. So hopefully that keeps it kind of upbeat and a bit more positive than just having an agenda which showed us what do you think what do you would you say your point of view,
Sean Nyberg:what do you think? I mean, we kind of covered it, but what do you think that separates? You know, what's your brand?
Jack DSNY:So this past year has made me think a lot about this because obviously, the new slowed down all this sort of stuff happened and I thought to myself, What can make me different to everyone else, everyone else started to cover the news and it's the difference of me as I explained the news, I like to try and pull people along for the ride. Not just be like, here's a headline. And you know, people who watch it, depending on how successful I am explaining the news, hopefully views will match it. But I always try and, you know, let we're going to start at a certain level, and we're going to talk at this certain level, I'm going into a video with the understanding that most people know roughly what I'm talking about. And we can just start to dive straight into it, as I say in the videos, but try and explain the news.
Sean Nyberg:No, that's, that's great. You know, there's a lot of ones. There's some people who walk the parks and that's the thing and that's great. There's other people who just are you know, serial complainers, and you know, not my cup of tea, but that's their thing. You know, um, there's an audience I just love some
Jack DSNY:people who who want then you know, they want a bit more criticism of Disney like I will get critical of Disney when I feel it's warranted. But I don't feel like many people are Disney fan because they hate the company. Sure. You sometimes gotta separate your love of the brands and love of the company because the company is a company you know?
Sean Nyberg:Do you ever get feedback that you're too easy on them?
Jack DSNY:No, I never get I never get any of that sort of stuff. I never get called anything like what would be called a cheerleader of Disney or anything like that i
Sean Nyberg:corporatist Yeah, like
Jack DSNY:you know, yeah, that sort of thing. I mean, with the whole Gina Carano thing recently I've had a couple of comments being like you know, you know fire Kathleen Kennedy higher back Jean. I'm not going to stop my news videos for a while now.
Sean Nyberg:Oh, good. You said her name. I wasn't gonna bring her up for tonight.
Jack DSNY:500 comments about Gina Carano I want to talk about Star Wars hotel not necessarily manage Oh, yeah, whatever. Yeah,
Sean Nyberg:that's so funny. You just bring up something like Star Wars hotel. I'm sure you get flooded, which is not just bought I mean bots probably sometimes, but like just super fans. Yeah,
Jack DSNY:yeah. Yeah.
Sean Nyberg:How are you in your power? I mean, not you because you're the UK but how are people who have loggers in Orlando gonna survive if this thing waits a few more months? I feel I feel so bad for them. I mean, are they already there almost every day waiting for a soft open
Jack DSNY:case coming out all the time.
Sean Nyberg:Maybe you take a picture of the garbage can
Jack DSNY:I do you feel from blogging community and the community I feel for most is the design vlogging community. Because Yeah, but then again, it's kind of part and parcel of like, when you base your whole business model around being geographically in a certain place. That's what's a bit risky. And like I started up DSI, newscasts from the UK, I mean, you know, I went to Disney World, but like, it wasn't a necessity for me on my channel to be in Walt Disney World every day. And when people start to lean too hard into that that's when it gets a little bit yeah
Sean Nyberg:well, here's a deep question for you We'll get back to the partial if you were to if you live with your artist with your girlfriend without Yes Do you live in Orlando or in Anaheim? Do you think you would have been as you are your channel is so much more in depth and you really talk about things more so than just like here's a cool picture I got the no one else got now if you live near these parks, do you think a channel would be more like the other one so or do you think you still would have had the in depth analysis overview
Jack DSNY:here's the thing, when so 2019 I spent quite a bit of time out in America. And I was meant to make a move to America last year. I was planning on making a move COVID hit it to everything sideways. But um, so then my channel had to pivot and all of a sudden I saw the pivot happen. I was like I already had the itch to start doing different types of content. armchair Imagineering you know, some deeper dive topics more explainable is getting really into the nitty gritty of these news topics. Because the news is slowing down. Instead of trying to make I made a conscious decision to be like, I'm not going to take small news items and try and make them big, which some people did. You know, it's just what they did. You know, I can't say any way but like if the Polynesians gonna get a new hotel entrance arch, you know, I'm not going to turn that into a whole video. I mentioned in the video, but I'm not turning into a whole video but other people did decide to turn stuff into big, big topics. And I understand the reason why because it's like yeah, lack of news. But so I just like sat back and like I'm gonna make better videos. Now your question about whether is if I was out there would have made the same decision. I was already starting to think that way when I was out there in 2019. I had started the transition on my channel Stan's happen. I spent 25 minutes or 20 minutes on a Disney plus review in 2019. When I was actually out in America at the time, and when it was released, I didn't get as many views but I was like I want to be thorough with with this. Yeah. The view and Tower of Terror and stuff like that. I did like long Form videos then. So I was already signed to get the itch, like do more, more in depth videos and stuff. But you, you do make a point of like it, it becomes very, it's not lazy, it's, I wouldn't use Word lazy at all. But you know, people may think it's a little bit late and just go to a park and point a camera. But it becomes very easy. And I did fall into that sometimes, you know, if you don't have a video ready to go for a certain day, you may be like, I feel really bad to this video taking longer than usual, I'll just go to the parks and zero quick live stream, you know, and, and I did do that a couple of times. And you can slip into that kind of like, hey, and then live streams make quite a bit of money. I might keep doing live streams. And it's just like, you fall into it by mistake. Rather than being like strategical about like what you want to actually do with the direction. But when I do eventually move out to America, I'm gonna do just as much content inside the studio now, as I always do. Good. Yeah.
Sean Nyberg:Good. No, I, the weight from someone from the outside is looking at, I gotta tell you, it's like, those people who are there all the time. That's great. They're like cable news, right? They're like CNN or Fox News, whatever. Yeah, there they are. And like, everything has to be a big deal, right? Like, Oh, my God, Trump email or Biden said this, and is that and then there's like, you're more like, I don't know if you guys get it's a PBS thing frontline, where they like, we'll talk about like, Jamal Khashoggi and Khashoggi and his death. And then it's more like an hour. And then and then there's people like, Who's the guy? Kevin perjure? Who will do like, Yeah, really long. Those are great, too. And, and you're more what I would look for in news like, Yeah, when I'm like, Oh, I want to know about what's going on with the water situation in Flint, Michigan. I'm like, Okay, this frontline half an hour long special on it, cuz I want to know about it is,
Jack DSNY:it's, it's actually not. Okay, so we're gonna be off topic. But it's also do like how we've all grown up with news. So American news media has very much pivoted towards on the ground in the moment. You know, there's 18 inches of snow in Texas, breaking news, breaking news. And when you're covering breaking news, you don't have the flip side of that is yes, you're breaking news. But you also don't have all the facts. And you also don't have the time to properly think about something and give a proper reaction and, and thoughtful analysis. When Disney changed CEOs last year, I was at the time I was on holiday with my girlfriend. And, and it happened and I remember being in a hotel room at night in Paris and being like, Oh, god, this has just happened. We've just done it on a random Tuesday, March in February. And I wasn't going to run off to disempowers the next day and try and film something in the parks. I was like, I'm going to sit on this. People who got the news have got the news, I'm going to sit on this, I'm going to think about it, I'm going to really have an in depth look at what happens. And I predicted quite a few of the changes of Alan Bergman and stuff like that. I was like, you know, he's going to take over, and zeny muku and people like that, as I spoke about the whole executive change, not just like, yeah, breaking news, Bob cherry picks the new CEO. And so it I think it's a it's a changing of how our news media has provided us content. And in the UK very much. We still have in depth news reporting like that news pieces, you know, they are five minute news pieces. And now in America, you know, you can watch a lot of news pieces on YouTube and they're like a minute two minutes. And they're not that in depth. Yeah, but
Sean Nyberg:you guys screwed us up with with that taught you guys you guys invented the tabloid journalism
Jack DSNY:Yeah, we also made his name over in the UK and then we gave you Fox News. So yeah,
Sean Nyberg:then he plays it poisoned us too. But I want to say though, and I'm gonna I'm gonna name one just because and this is a compliment. I like all ears. Right that there are very opposite of you. Right? They've got they've got people who go out to the parks almost every day. They do fun challenges. I mean, like, I don't even Yeah, I don't think of you guys. You're both Disney but like, I don't know, not one's not better one's worse. But like for me, like I'm making I'm planning my trip and I'm such a control freak. I like to watch Molly walk around animal kingdom because then like for me, it helps give me Okay, so that's really how far things are. Yeah. And but then when I hear like, oh, there's there's a change with the Galactic starcruiser the Star Wars hotel I'm like, I want to see what jack has to say about it because he's gonna have a really good breakdown of how the whole buildings laid out. And so it's just cool because you guys all can can exist in the same universe. And you provide different content now within I think what's cool about you, sorry, real quick, is you are kind of on your own like, like I said, Kevin perjure does some deep stuff but that's more like historical like, you know, our you know, that one he did about the rock band and Disneyland like that was cool. I don't
Jack DSNY:know how seen Well, yeah, that was a
Sean Nyberg:Halcyon Feel Oh, that was Yeah, you don't really have no one's really up to your standard in terms of what you do the more in depth stuff and I just love that you're not on the ground like trying to fight with, like, I want to see you like, do you see that picture of everyone the velocity coaster like? Yeah, well vloggers with the same camera thing.
Jack DSNY:Yeah, I've experienced that. Okay, I didn't like it. And when Ed cots with illuminations reflections final night, and it caught forever, the amount of loggers that were around that part that night, like I didn't even take a video of illuminations reflections or finite or Epcot forever? I don't think I did. Are you there? I was there for, I don't think I've caught it at coffee. I don't think I did. Because I was like, people gonna, I think I may record it for like a review later on. But like, I wasn't gonna post it individually. because number one is a copyright nightmare. And number two, I was just like, everyone's doing it. And this is very much this mentality within the Disney community of who's going to be first. That's the problem. And YouTube kind of rewards people who are first, Robin boos who really put in the time, and there are many small creators out there who really spend a huge amount of time working on this stuff aren't getting the traction, because they're not first, you know, or they're not as quick at editing, or whatever. Yeah, it's like muscle memory, you do get quicker at it. If you if you edit, you know, longer videos, you do get a bit quicker editing short videos. That's why I found anything. But there's so much just mentality of if you're not first, you know, you have breaking breaking news, this kind of thing. And when I was running that train, when I was on that train, I was running, running alongside it, whether in 2019 and 2018 2017. My life actually wasn't that good. Like, if I'm being honest, I'm being really honest, when you're having to find three videos to do each week. And when you finish one video, you don't even get time to look back and think I'm proud of that video. And you are instead thinking about the next video. Everything becomes it just becomes temporary. Everything becomes
Sean Nyberg:an affiliate you never would ever complete. You never get to like like never, always,
Jack DSNY:when's my next hit? Yeah, they have views. Yeah. And I feel like that kind of mentality in the blogging community is not great for them the mentality of a lot of bloggers, because it's all about well, I need to I need to post video every day, cuz you know, I need my next hit. people rely on me. And if it just, it takes a lot to be like, I'm going to sit back, I'm going to not be lazy, I'm going to sit back and and provide a really good video. And I'm going to do a couple of times. And yeah, the views are going to be a bit of a hit. And I'm going to get a bit of a hit in terms of monetization as well. But I am going to have something which I'm feel a bit more accomplished about and proud of. And when I produce a video now I'm I'm really proud of the video. But yeah, back in 2018, last video, video video video, it was it was so I just wasn't enjoying the channel as much because it was so much about what's my next film, what's my next topic, you
Sean Nyberg:know? And it and i, you can see that with you you enjoy, you can tell that you you are comfortable in the skin that you're in right now. Yeah, like you've kind of found your voice.
Jack DSNY:Yeah. And I would say that when I was in 2018, or 2018, I wasn't giving as much of my voice in videos, because it was so here's the news, here's the headlines, you know, and I wasn't giving myself like my page, but I bought my scripts, and they were like a page and a half. Like that was it. And they're double spaced as well. Like, you know, it wasn't much like I know, a page of a4 for me is about three minutes of voiceover. And so like I was doing videos, which are like six minutes long, that's what the end and outro and all the other stuff. Now my videos last like four pages, I'm like, oh god, that's gonna be a 12 minute video or 30 minute video, and it's gonna go on and on. But I know the products better because of it. It's I feel like having this could be a whole discussion by itself, we should be talking about Disney park. It is and I love it.
Sean Nyberg:I think a lot of people in the community actually have it or they think it. But you know, I just think we both can be politically correct. And you just say, you know, those people who do the instant stuff. There's an audience for that, and people like it, and maybe for them, it's not so uncomfortable. And maybe that for some reason, that just brings them the joy that it does. But for someone like you and maybe the reason that I asked you to do an interview is because I'm more attracted to your kind of style. And so to you and I are like oh my god living like that and like five second clips are like people that would be crazy. But some people are like God, I don't want to sit and listen about to a 20 minute video about Of course, you know, the layout of remedies, Ratatouille, a
Jack DSNY:great film and the beginning when I started doing these kind of longer form videos will be all instead of me. I'm not going to be covering for the the quick news flash kind of stuff. And I'm not I think that there's always a place of this kind of like you know this on the part vlogging kind of stuff. But I also feel like I want to say to the rest of the community, like, it takes a lot to step back, but it's better for your mental health if you do. Because I know a lot of things stuff that isn't spoken about is youtubers in general. You know, we all have like, very privileged and lucky to have the jobs that we have, I'm always grateful and fortunate for what I do. But like any job, it, you've got to have a good work. Good work life balance, too. And you choose one of those things where you have the fame, the the being spotted things like that you you don't, you can go down this very dangerous path of being like, oh, I've got to produce something every single day. And just step back, take a break, and actually enjoy the break and actually rethink your channel direction.
Sean Nyberg:I love that. And I want to say like when I when I start working as a designer, and Skylar like he would send me like, there'd be like an announcement like today, like, new mass policy, and I'll get on He's like, dude, like, get it to me later tonight or tomorrow, like, unless we're breaking a story, because, you know, Schuyler does do some, you know, that's one thing where you want, but like, hey, like, especially with the way we you know, I like to write long things like I'm working on I have five stories that are half written right now just because I like that. But you know, some people like the, the short stuff, and a lot of people love to watch it so good for them
Jack DSNY:that way, and Scott is white, like you do will burn people, like people can only run, you know, full speed for so long. And I definitely felt that in 2017. Like, I worked 23 weekends that year. And I didn't I barely slept like I worked for three days straight, and I barely slept. And like at the end of it, people were even commenting on videos. Like you look tired, like I looked. And I pretty much conked out for like, 20 hours after that, like I slept for nearly a day, because you worked, but it's not sustainable. And that's the thing like you should always try and find a healthy balance. But yeah,
Sean Nyberg:well, there's so much toxicity in a lot of the does Twitter, Disney community and I think some of it is sexism. I think some of it is racism, I think some of homophobia, I think some but I do think a lot of it is this You're right, this race this rat race. And this like we don't like them and they don't like them. Oh, they got you know, and it's just it's tribal?
Jack DSNY:Yes. Yes, you've got different tribes of different people being like, Oh, I'm, I'm riding with whoever and it becomes very much I've got my gang. And, and I also feel that like, I don't know it, it's just not a very healthy environment to constantly live within that kind of headspace of, of, you know, I need to beat whoever you know, it takes a lot of willpower and, you know, strong minded outset to like, look at No, we need to get back to Disney Parks gone.
Sean Nyberg:Let's let's get you know, I know. But hey, this is something that I think just doesn't get talked about enough because I think everyone's too. They don't reflect on themselves enough to be able to talk about it anyway. Well, there you have it. Part Three. The conclusion of our conversation with jack from dsny newscast. I want to give a huge thank you to jack for green to speak with me and cover so many different topics. Don't forget to subscribe to Jack's channel on YouTube by searching dsny newscast. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram using the handle at d s ny newscast. Please rate and review this podcast and make sure to subscribe along with exclusive interviews like this one. The Disney beat podcast also releases a weekly show that covers all the Disney news for that week, keeping you informed of every aspect of the Walt Disney Company. Follow me your host on Twitter and Instagram at the handle at Sean Nyberg s n ny BRG. This podcast is brought to you by the Disney insider to find all the latest Disney news, please check out the Disney insider.com or follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at the Disney Insider. You can find links to all of these accounts in the show notes to this podcast. All three parts of our conversation are available now to streaming so make sure to check them out. With that I want to again thank jack from dsny newscast and thank everyone for listening. Have a great week. See you Monday morning.