During my visit to SXSWi I attended quite an unusual panel. I had planned on going to see a different talk (Frank Abagnale to be specific), but the doors had been shut 15 minutes before the start as it was over subscribed. So I ventured into a discussion panel from Epic Meal Time and it was worth it.
I’m now a fan of the Epic Meal Time videos and I would recommend taking a glance at the website where the creators display amusing videos (from YouTube), of them cooking/eating bacon and other meat whist drinking large amounts alcohol.
As I’m sure is the case with many DYI YouTube ‘stars’ they create films their own amusement but their antics have become popular on YouTube and from the turn out at the panel at SXSWi, with many people in the audience.
The videos are reasonably well produced (which one of the group members taught himself to do), with camera angle changes and voice overs. Along with the production quality being reasonable (which I think does make a difference), they have put part of their popularity and growth down to posting videos regularly at the same time and day of the week so their growing fan base have known what they can expect from them. This is not a new trick but something that has worked really well for them, and something that they advocate.
If you do look at their site, you might be likely to come across videos such as:
- Bacon Tree
- Meat Garden
- Meatball Deathstar
- Meat Ice Cream Party
An issue that Epic meal time faces is how to monitise what they are doing so that they can leave their full time jobs and do this for a living. On their website, they sell T-shirts and advert space and they are now producing a pilot for television.
I do wonder how well drinking, swearing and cooking large amounts of meat will trasnfer to the small television screen. It could be a triumph and turn into Man Vs Food mixed with Jackass and equally it could be a one season wonder, but who knows? I am however looking forward to seeing how they do it and if their transfer from web to TV does work.
