linkChapter ONE: Intro

Be very clear with THE GOAL (of a Youtube Channel):

To make the best Youtube videos (not the best produced videos, highest quality videos, Hollywood videos, etc.)

Results (and only results) matter:

The amount of hours you work is irreslevant

Only A players get to stay

What makes a Youtube video viral:

Click Through Rate (CTR):

CTR is basically how many people see our thumbnail in their feeds divided by how many that click it. If 100,000,000 people see our thumbnail and 10,000,000 click on it then that means 10% clicked and we have a 10% CTR.

Title and Thumbnail should be EXTREME. The more extreme, the better:

“I Spent 50 Hours In My Front Yard”: BAD

“I Spent 50 Hours In Ketchup”: BETTER

“I survived 50 hours in Ketchup": EVEN BETTER

"I don't like bananas" vs. "Bananas are the worst food on earth"

Average View Duration (AVD):

AVD is how long on average people watch a given video (Youtube will tell you this in analytics).

The shape of the audience retention graph can tell which parts of video are most and least interesting to viewers.

The 1st minute is the most important minute of a video:

Must match the title and thumbnail expectations (content vs. clickbait)

Front load some interesting stuff

Pre plan what to say and say interesting things

Minute 1 to 3:

Transit from hype to execution: stop telling people what they will be watching and start showing them the thing.

Example: say we have 10 minute video about a guy surviving weeks in the woods. Instead of making the first 3 minutes of the video about his first day then progressing from there like a logical filmmaker would. We’d tried to cover multiple days in the first 3 minutes of the video so the viewer is now super invested in the story.

Around the 3-minute mark:

Do a re-engagement: content that is highly interesting that fits the story and makes people genuinely impressed. It’s important to re-engage the viewer around this time because they could get bored of the story and click off.

Minute 3 to 6:

The goal is to make viewers fall in love with the story.

This is where you plan out all the most exciting and interesting content that is also very simple. This includes lots of quick scene changes and highly stimulating simple content that reflects the story.

Around the 6-minute mark:

Do another re-engagement: this one can be also highly interesting but needs a little bit more explanation (coz the viewers are already very invested in the story by now) and will push the story in the second half of the video.

Second half of video (minute 6 to 12):

Not as interesting as the first half is okay, since viewers by now are watching the video without even realizing they are watching a video.

The end of video:

Don’t ever signal the end of the video unless it’s to build hype for the prize or payoff.

Long explanation bits should be put here at the end of videos.

Unexpected things that happen which can be turned into content (should be put here at the end).

Average View Percentage (AVP):

(Jimmy didn't say what it is coz this is decided by himself, so no explanation in this staff handbook)

The "WOW" factor:

Basically, anything that no other Youtuber can do (this is a subjective factor).

Examples:

Bring a house in on a crane

Watch the damn video:after each video is done, watch every Mr. Beast video on all the channels.

Check. In. Daily. Leave. No. Room. For. Error.:

Let’s say you’re in production and a video you’re assigned to is put up 45 days out. A lot of things need to happen before you can start working on it. The big things would probably be you need a thumbnail sketch and creative on your team to write the video. DO NOT just go to them and say “I need creative, let me know when it’s done” and “I need a thumbnail, let me know when it’s done”. This is what most people do and it’s one of the reasons why we fail so much.

I want you to look them in the eyes and tell them they are the bottleneck and take it a step further and explain why they are the bottleneck so you both are on the same page. “Tyler, you are my bottleneck. I have 45 days to make this video happen and I can not begin to work on it until I know what the contents of the video is. I need you to confirm you understand this is important and we need to set a date on when the creative will be done.”

Now this person who also has tons of shit going on is aware of how important this discussion is and you guys can prioritize it accordingly. Now let’s say Tyler and you agree it will be done in 5 days. YOU DON’T GET TO SET A REMINDER FOR 5 DAYS AND NOT TALK TO HIM FOR 5 DAYS! Every single day you must check in on Tyler and make sure he is still on track to hit the target date. I want less excuses in this company. Take ownership and don’t give your project a chance to fail. Dumping your bottleneck on someone and then just walking away until it’s done is lazy and it gives room for error and I want you to have a mindset that God himself couldn’t stop you from making this video on time.

Video tape everything:

It is more important that the entire team have a good mental grip on something, rather than that 1 person has a good mental grip.

Example: Let’s say you go to scout a set for a video in a month while the rest of your team is working on this week’s video. Most people just go to scout the set, maybe grab a photo, and walk around and try to grab a good mental model of it. Then a week later when you’re back, this video is now Tyler’s main focus and he starts asking questions about the set, and you can’t quite recall. The questions get more and more detailed and all you have to go off of is what's in your mind. The rest of your production team also needs to start planning bits but they don’t know what it looks like and it’s a shit show. This is why we say video everything.

Say the negatives (bad news):

Don't just tell people the good news. Say the bad news.

It's your fault. (And your responsibility to) track the contractor.

I can’t stand when people dump and forget their project on a contractor and then the day before the shoot blame them when it’s not ready.

That’s on YOU, not the contractor. Let’s say we are building the world’s largest water balloon and you need someone to make a giant wooden stand for it to sit on. Most people here would just call someone like JB and have him do it and tell him to be done by filming day. Instead, you should really have it done a certain time frame in advance (you need to use your own intelligence based on the project to determine that) in case something is off we can make changes. And you need to then decide whether or not it’s a critical component. If it is, you should also begin working on a backup and while working on a backup you should check in with JB every single day. Ask him to send videos everyday to spot problems early, hell maybe talk to him twice a day. I don’t care just don’t leave room for error. No excuses, stop leaving room for error. Check in daily, receive videos, and know weeks in advance if you’re fucked. Not days.

How to ask for decisions (I'm not always right)

Whatever you don't tell me, I don't know.

A bad way to ask for a decision to be made: "in a coming up video we are giving away a car, what do you think of this lexus it’s only $10,000”

A good way to ask for a decision to be made: "We have a coming up would you rather video. One of the bits at the 6 to 9 minute mark we will be giving away a car. We are still on budget and the budget for this car is $10,000. I checked with PM. It could go up another $5k if you really wanted. I searched all of NC for cool ass cars around that price point and here are 5 i found that I got preapproved by creative all on budget. I also got 5 other backup options that are less “cool” looking and more avg if you’re going for that. Here is a picture of all 10 cars, the miles on the cars, and all the information you'd want. Which of these cars do you think is best or should I get other options?"

If what you are working on is a critical component, treat it like a baby.

Critical components are: without them, the video doesn't happen

Example: If I want to put 100 people on an island and give it away to one of them, then securing an island is a critical component. It doesn’t matter how well planned the challenges on the island are, how good the weather is, etc. Without that island there is no video. Hence it is a critical component.

Never flip a coin on a critical component:

Protect it at all costs, check in on it 10x a day, obsess over it, make a backup, if it requires shipping pay someone to pick it up and drive it, don’t trust standard shipping, and speak up the second anything goes wrong.

The right way to communicate cross-departments:

Up, then over: i.e. you tell your dept. head, who tells the dept. head of another dept., who tells the person in charge of the thing

Creativity saves money

Use creativity to solve problems, not use money to solve problems.

Example: Which sounds cooler to you as a prize for a gaming video. $20,000 or a year’s supply of doritos? To me doritos is so much funnier and I think our audience would find it fucken hilarious. So lets say we define a year’s supply of doritos by 5 packs of doritos a day for 365 days. That’s 1,825 packs of doritos and a quick google search shows you can buy a pack of doritos for less than a dollar but we can round up and just say a dollar per a pack of doritos. Our prize for the video just went from $20,000 down to $1,825 because we didn’t just throw money at the problem and we used creativity.

Always build in some buffer in your solutions (always have a backup day)

you still can do certain things to increase the probability of success and one of the easiest but most overlooked is having a back up day.

Example: When you’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars securing a set, renting a tank, etc. make sure you have the ability to extend them in case something goes wrong.

Don’t take anything at face value, always dig

Do not overly trust people outside the company. Investigate and verify what they say or it is your fault if they don’t pull through.

Example: If you need 10,000 pillows by next week and you’ve called 10 pillow companies and none have more than a few hundred in stock but then the 11th company magically has 10,000 pillows, investigate. Are they drop shipping? Are the pillows shitty? Why the fuck does no one want your pillows? Push and get answers. What tends to happen is people think their job is done by finding the 10k pillows and just order them only for us to find problems with them when the arrive but it’s too close to the filming window to fix it.

(It is preferred to use) Higher form of communication

Talk face to face > phone call > Text

The more complex what needs to be said is, the higher the form of the communication you should use. Call first then text if they don’t answer. Since we are on the topic of communication, written communication also does not constitute communication unless they confirm they read it.

Own your mistakes

Nothing comes before your priorities

When you are assigned tasks you should have a prio list. Then nothing on this freakin planet is allowed to come between you and getting those prios done. If the other team asks for your help and you spend two days helping them and fall behind on getting your lamborghini secured, THAT’S YOUR FAULT. If the studio is burning down and you stop working to put out the fire and don’t get the lamborghini, THAT’S YOUR FAULT.

Use consultants

In every single freakin task assigned to you, always always always ask yourself first if you can find a consultant to help you.

Need to make the world's largest slice of cake? Start off by calling the person who made the previous world’s largest slice of cake lol.

Math Science Vision Approvals Budget

Everything you need can be solved by one of these 5 things above. Use Math, Science, Vision, Approvals, or Budget.

No does not mean no

Alway push through the Nos and exhaust every possible methods for solution

Example: If we need a store to buy everything inside of and you call the local Dollar tree and the person that answers says “No, you can’t film here”. That literally doesn’t mean shit. Talk to other employees and see if any are fans or if any have kids that are fans, try talking to their boss, their bosses boss, have me dm them on twitter and try their social team, etc. If after all avenues are exhausted you are left with a no, that doesn’t mean don’t try the other dollar trees because the manager of those could be huge fans and willing to bend the rules.

Work on multiple videos EVERYDAY

If you ever only work on one video during a day, you failed as a MrBeast employee that day.

(Learn to) be able to hold a camera

When we do a big shoot not local it’d be nice to not have to bring 10000000 production people and 100000 camera people. If for example there are only a few scenes that need a couple extra camera men I’d love for us not to have to fly, house, transport, and baby more camera men when we could just have a few people from production or creative help for those overflow scenes because typically the more cameramen we have filming the less important each shot becomes.

1 out of 10 good. 10 out of 10 bad.

This is what it means: Youtube has a feature that compares a new upload’s performance to the previous 9 videos and tells you how the views rank in the first hour, two hours, three hours, 4 hours, etc.

Other things:

Don't leave contestants waiting for more than 3 hours

Not every video should be a spectacle and we realize these videos are hard but that’s the point.

If someone is necessary, then that’s fine but if not, kick them off set or go have them watch from behind a monitor. Create an environment where the contestants also feel natural.

I’d rather you be honest with eachother then nice to eachother.

Do not talk down to talent or do anything to make them feel like shit. I need them to be happy and in good moods and those boys are special to me. Ideally most talks with talent (Chris, Karl, Chandler, Nolan) go thru me, Ali, or Tyler to avoid confusion amongst them.

Me like simple. The simpler the better (APPLY WITH A GRAIN OF SALT)

We pivot a lot, be ready to have everything flipped on its head at a moment's notice lol

I want money spent to be shown on camera ideally. If you’re spending over $10,000 on something and it won’t be shown on camera, seriously think about it.

Work with intensity

Push outwards, not inwards.

Pull all nighters weeks before the shoot so you don’t have to days before the shoot.

If something goes wrong on shoot always check to see if it can be made into content. A tree fall over on your car and breaks the 100 vases we needed to give away? THAT’S FUCKEN HILARIOUS AND WE SHOULD MENTION IT IN THE VIDEO LOL

Feasibility is working to see if the critical components of a video are actually possible.

Example would be if I wanted to play hide and seek in the world’s largest building. If you did feasibility on this, that basically means you’re trying to see if it’s possible to get that building. If you do then we have a video and it should go into production. If you can’t then that’s why it was in feasibility so no one else wasted time.

Never do anything that could make us look bad from a pr perspective.

We often do renderings of sets to see what they look like beforehand, which is amazing and helps a lot cause i’m very visual and gets the whole team on the same page. When doing these renders though, I want to make sure you know the difference between a “Pre Vis” and a “Concept”. Please do not refer to a render as a “Pre Vis” unless that is actually what we plan on building. If it’s just a render for inspiration and is not building locked, call it a concept. This will greatly help with confusion in my opinion. Many people wave around a concept but call it a Pre Vis and people see it expecting that to be what’s built only to find out later that was a concept and the actual set is much different.

Creative is important in all aspects of the company, not just in dept. of creative, because that's the core of Mr. Beast Production Company,

If you find something inspiring and creative but you are in production and not creative, bring it to the creative team.

Goal of content:

To get Jimmy excited. That may sound weird to some of you, especially if you’re new but to me it’s what’s most important. If I'm not excited to get in front of that camera and film the video, it’s just simply not going to happen.

If Jimmy as the talent is not excited, he will not perform in the video. If he is happy, the viewers are happy.

The camera angles need to always get better, the pacing, the story, the jokes, the color, the lighting, the music, the props, the people, our framing, our ideas, literally everything must always be improving and innovating. Because that is what excites me. That’s literally what I live for, to see these videos get better and better and ultimately make the viewers happy.

What makes good content:

You need to read the book on this one coz he was kind of everywhere...

How to measure the success of content:

AVD and AVP

Format:

Last to leave: this does well because people want to find out, who actually is the last to leave...

Stair stepping: "I bought the world's largest firework" - showing lighting of $1 firework, $10, then $50, $375, $1000, $10,000, then the world record.

Chased by a bounty hunter/military/FBI, etc.: Viewers are likely to stay by the end of the video to see what the result is.

Donating to twitch streamers randomly

Always be innovating on formats; viewers may think they want a certain format forever, but they don't. All they want is new formats.

Who is our audience:

You need to read the book on this one

You should watch our videos

Brand deals are content:

If you watch a lot of youtube you’ll probably notice that when someone does a brand deal it’s boring and sounds like they’re reading a script. We take a different approach to brand deals, we like to integrate them into the content so it doesn’t nuke our retention and boosts conversion.

Remember that I told you we could see the exact moment when viewers click off our videos? Here is a retention chart for when we used to do brand deals the old way. Now here is a retention chart with a new style brand deal in it.

Your information diet FUCKING MATTERS (Understand Culture):

You. Can’t. Get. Inspired. By. Things. You. Don’t. Know. Exist.

If you are a talent, watch tons of goofy and stupid shit.

If you are a writer, inhale your type of inspiration.

It’s okay for the boys to be childish:

If talents want to draw a dick, let them draw a dick.

We don’t fake things.

Make sure to prep contestants and try to create an environment where they feel comfortable talking.

If you wrote a banger piece of content but it is a 50/50 chance of working, write another piece of content. Content is unlimited, don't be lazy.

Run your content by as many people as possible for inspiration on how you could make it even better.

I want famous people in our videos.

Don’t ever put me in a situation where I have to lie, because I won’t and it will screw the video.

No dull moments in videos

You can’t fake intensity in videos

The video endings must always be abrupt to protect retention.

This isn’t really a creative thing but in general when on set be attentive and engaged. Filming days are stressful enough, be useful please.

Read the book; this is about how a staff will progress in the company