Michael "Burnie" Burns was 30 years old when, in 2003, he founded video production company Rooster Teeth. After 10 years the company had grown to 50 people, blending game and internet culture with traditional film and TV techniques to become an early web video success.
Yet with the rise of YouTube and a market flooded with content, Burns knew the company had to pivot.
![A crowd gathers at RTX Sydney to watch a team of Australian game streamers take on the visiting Americans.](/web/20170209121421im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/9/5/p/e/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu8vg6.png/1486620019571.jpg)
"At the end of those 10 years I was a bootstrapped start-up CEO, that was my mindset, and so I realised that the person who took us from one person to 50 people is probably not the same person that should take you from 50 people to 500," says Burns.
"So I handed the reins over to my business partner Matt Hullum, and he's been in charge of the business ever since. I have a great role now where I get to do all creative things all the time."
![Fans watch a VR demonstration and line up for autographs and photos with the likes of legendary game designer Hideo Kojima.](/web/20170209121421im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/9/5/p/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu8vg6.png/1486620019571.jpg)
We're sitting in a conference room at Sydney's new Convention and Exhibiton Centre, which is currently filled with thousands of fans of the 45-or-so different Rooster Teeth productions that Burns now oversees in his role as chief creative officer. RTX Sydney, now in its second year, is a testament to the production company's success, not just in its native United States but globally.
The key to the company's ongoing relevance? Making sure to constantly be "evolving", but never "changing".
"Developing new talent is probably one of the most difficult things we do, but absolutely essential for us to have any kind of longevity," says Burns.
"As we produce new shows we make sure to appeal to audiences we both have and the audiences we want to grow into, but then also as artists making content, the content that we want changes."
![Fans check out some Australian indie games.](/web/20170209121421im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/9/5/p/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu8vg6.png/1486620019571.jpg)
Part of Burns' job is to make sure the overall voice of Rooster Teeth follows a continuous path, and so new fans can jump on board but "we don't alienate the people that have made us successful over the last 14 years".
"I always say: 'the internet demands progress, but the internet hates change,' " Burns says.
The advantage of the online ecosystem is that Burns has known from the start that the content is a two-way street, with incredible transparency between creators and audience. This makes community (and events like RTX) a key facet of the brand, but it also makes authenticity a requirement.
"Don't make [a video] because you think it would serve some lucrative demographic, or because 'oh this other guy or this other channel made this great show and we should make a show like that because it's super successful'. We don't do that," says Burns.
To encapsulate the idea, he repeats a mantra I've heard before from higher-ups at Rooster Teeth: "make videos, make content that you yourself would want to watch."
Keeping it conversational
Burns and company apply the same mindset to RTX, putting together a show with the kind of attractions they themselves would love to see. Amid the more established groups like Rooster Teeth and its various divisions, and the more game-specific attractions like designer Hideo Kojima and the new Nintendo Switch console, one group at RTX Sydney was notable for the passion of its fans despite its humble size.
Established in 2014 by four veterans of the US games media, Kinda Funny helped pioneer the idea of a rolling crowd-funded production. It currently pulls in more than $US50,000 per month from fans via Patreon, which it uses to make content that covers various subjects the crew is interested in, not just games.
"My job is, weirdly, to be me," says Tim Gettys, one of the two Kinda Funny co-founders in attendance at the expo. "All we do is what everyone else does, and we want everything we do to be based on that connection."
The legend, @Kojima_Hideo pic.twitter.com/glfap5a89I
— Tim Gettys (@TimGettys) February 4, 2017
To that end, the crew produces a constant stream of talk shows, panels, podcasts, and even an animated series, in a variety of styles but with all with the brutally honest, conversational tone of a group of friends.
"People are coming to us to hang out, and that needs to be delivered to them however they want to hang out," Gettys says.
"If they want to listen to us, if they want to watch us, if they want to watch us live, if they want to watch us later. The more options you give the better."
Having grown up with Rooster Teeth and YouTube, personality-based entertainment and live two-way interaction are normal modes of media for Gettys, but he's nonetheless been staggered by Kinda Funny's growth.
"We've hired now multiple people from the community," he says.
"It's very humbling to see where we came from – from working in a spare bedroom to working in one of the most state-of-the-art studios in the video industry."
Greg Miller, another Kinda Funny co-founder, started his career in general news journalism. Whereas he once had to be careful not to let his personal opinions visibly influence his work at all, he says he could never go back to "the real world" now.
"It's surreal ... Now my opinion on everything is published somewhere, from the most minute thing of what my favourite colour is to how I feel about the president," he says.
"I'm never going to take a day of this for granted. To fly all expenses paid to Sydney, to a place where people are treating you like you're rock stars because you make videos where you and your friends hang out and play games, is bizarre."
A two-way street
As is the case with many personality-driven brands, every piece of Kinda Funny content also serves as a place for fans to gather for discussion, and the team's presence at RTX Sydney was no different.
Jono Pech, an author and communications advisor from Geelong, flew to Sydney to meet Miller and Gettys but also to hang out with the fellow fans he's gotten to know online, or who he was yet to meet but knew he had something in common with.
"Throughout the entire weekend, KF T-shirts were like a uniform for hundreds of friends you'd never met," Pech says.
As with Rooster Teeth, Miller and Gettys are keen to stress that they don't want to just do one thing and appeal to one type of fan. Instead they characterise their audience, and themselves, as a diverse group with a shared passion, and they know not every piece of content they make will suit all fans.
How else could you explain the fact that, in arriving to host a panel at RTX, Miller chose to emulate exactly the entrance routine of cult 90s pro wrestler The Sandman?
Woke up still buzzing from yesterday's @RTXSydney panel. Can't thank you enough, Australia. 😘 pic.twitter.com/gheaBXrdmX
— Greg Miller (@GameOverGreggy) February 5, 2017
Unlike with many more traditional forms of entertainment, being a fan of a brand like this is a two-way street.
"We watch their content and they know they're only able to make it because of the community supporting it", Pech says.
This was solidified for Pech when the most ardent Kinda Funny fans held a community meet-up during RTX Sydney, only to have Miller and Gettys themselves appear unannounced.
"We just erupted when they arrived," he says. "They literally had conversations with everyone there that night, about 50 of us, and paid for each of our meals as a way to show gratitude for our support."
"I was surprised that I didn't even need to introduce myself. They were both like 'of course I know you, you think I don't notice you tweeting me all the time?' "
Miller says the Kinda Funny co-founders "traded reach for intimacy" when they moved from mainstream games media to running their own community. But by being genuine, he says, the crew ensures that the fans who pay on Patreon and who engage most closely with the content are ones the co-founders actually have connections with.
"That's what it's all about, those people get it and they understand what they're building," he says.
While Gettys accepts this form of media is relatively new, he says content-makers need to respect that it's here to stay, and need to adapt to the world of constant evolution and community.
"It's no longer the next cool thing, this is a thing where if you don't understand, you're already late," he says.
"If you don't have your hand in 10 different pots at once, and you're not thinking about what the next five pots are, there's a problem."
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