Philosophy Tube 2020 Roundup!

Hello lovely Patrons!

As you know I like to keep you all in the loop financially, so here's my end of year roundup and finances post!

It's been a fairly good year for the show: since January I've made ten very solid videos (the 10th of which comes out tomorrow), broken through 750,000 and then 800,000 subscribers, and brought out some new merch. I was also honoured to do some live speaking engagements including at TEDx Warwick and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and to work with a group of senior journalists and academics on a secret project that I can't yet talk about! Four of this year's episodes I made totally alone whilst quarantined inside my flat, which was a challenge. Despite the constraints I'm proud of the work that resulted, especially Charles Darwin Vs Karl Marx and Antisemitism: An Analysis, the latter of which received some very touching praise from Jewish viewers. Even before COVID it was a rough year: you may remember that Artists and Fandoms had to be entirely reshot and delayed because I had a nervous breakdown. This year has been life-changing for reasons I can't yet talk about publicly, so thank you all for supporting the show. More than ever your love and help has meant a huge amount to me.

Here are some ideas for episodes I might pursue in 2021 - none of these are set in stone, they're just topics I'm curious about:

- Judith Butler
- Identity
- Jordan Peterson Rides Again
- Mary Midgley
- Debt
- Schools
- Something about old age, and social care?
- Islamophobia: An Analysis
- Copyright and Intellectual Property
- Why Do People Ignore Lockdown Rules? (something about reasons and motivations)
- Virtue

In terms of finances, money comes in from you patrons, from advertising, and from merch. The biggest slice comes from you: most episodes don't have a sponsor and as an educational channel I make pretty negligible amounts from ads. Money coming in is spent on the show, the main costs being studio and equipment hire, locations, props, music, costumes, and research materials, which all vary a lot. Sometimes it comes in under-budget like Darwin Vs. Marx, sometimes I have to reshoot the whole thing or suddenly buy a whole load of equipment I didn't realise I needed and it ends up going way over-budget (as happened multiple times this year!) Thanks to your support I was able to properly pay musicians, crew, and script consultants when I needed them, which means a lot to me. This year the money from the merch store has gone towards professional subtitles in German and Brazilian Portuguese, my two biggest foreign-language fanbases. I've also invested in Adobe After Effects and taught myself to animate titles onto the screen; I hope you appreciate the little extra bit of polish that brings to the videos! The money also goes towards my living costs, which are a fair amount since I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world. The acting industry has taken a big hit from COVID - I have managed to find work here and there but these are lean times sadly. Like I said last year, the amount pledged on Patreon is kept private for a few reasons: firstly it bears very little relation to how much I actually get, and secondly, once I started getting enough to make this my job I was bombarded by companies, journalists, and in a few cases sexual harassers wanting to muscle in, which made me very uncomfortable. This year I've gotten a lot stricter about my privacy - I even had to move flats when a stalker found my old address -  so you'll have to forgive me if I play things close to the chest! If you ever want to know more about how an episode is made or what the feedback to it was I do a post-mortem livestream after each episode over on my second-channel, Philosophy Tube Live.

I've tried to be more discrete with my charity work this year lest anyone think I'm doing it for clout, but behind the scenes I've given away a few thousand pounds to a handful of small causes close to my heart. Charles Darwin Vs Karl Marx had a sponsor and I was proud to donate my entire fee to the Knights and Orchids Society, a black LGBT organisation. (Legally I can't say how much it was). 

Thank you for a wonderful year. The final episode of 2020 comes out tomorrow, and then Philosophy Tube will be back in early 2021 with an all-new look! I'm very excited to see what the new year brings - thank you again for supporting the show!

XXx