Pre-announcement and other things

In my country employees get 3 weeks paid vacation per year. In other countries it's more. Also in most countries paid parental leave exists. I think most people on the planet won't hold it against you if you need a paid break.

Yes, Patreon is about supporting artists so that they can create. Not buying content [although content is always enjoyed!]

I decided to finally become a patron after reading in the Wire article that you provide benefits to your staff. Keep up the incredible work at whatever pace is right for you and your staff.

Jared A. de Seife

Give less money? Oh no, no, no, I think the correct solution here is to give MORE money; so that you can expand your staff, and create more of that sweet, sweet content we all crave so much!

Congrats on the studio space and all the steps you're taking! (WARNING : shameless self promotion ahead) If you ever need an LA based animator or graphics dude for productions hit me up : ) @imsuze on insta.

Justin Boyer

Well, I'm not lowering my Patreon rate yet either. The content, when it is released, is substantive and high quality enough to warrant a few bunks a month. I feel very strongly about giving support where it is deserved.

Mister Joshua

I consider all of my future monthly Patreon contributions to be back-pay for the years of content you have provided my eyeballs and brain already. Take a hiatus, take a break, take a long walk on a beach, or work on some rad new projects. Either way, I'm happy to hang in at my level :)

Robert Gendron

As long as this doesn't delay the 12-part "Directly Beneath the Enemy's Scrotum" from its Dec 2019 release, I'm cool with this. ;-)

Rodrigo V. Perez

Many of your videos, and some of the stories you have shared, have changed my point of view on many things, and thanks to this I am now able to deal with some family problems in a way my own self from 10 years ago couldn't have. What I'm saying is, you and your team have my gratitude.

Eddie Pollau

Take your breaks, girl! We'd much rather you be mentally/emotionally sound and infrequent (a la Folding Ideas) rather than burnt out and consistent. So, so excited to hear what else you're working on... :3

Aimee Thorne

God dammit, Lindsay, you edited your Twitter bio and now you're repped for books. PLURAL? *internally freaks out* Edit: and I note a tweet about wordcounts. A post probably too late to have been the War of the Worlds video. Non-video project indeed.

Sterling Treadwell

HA! I'm kool with breaks. I'll miss seeing the content (i really look forward to it!) but life happens. Though I adore that lovely 'mother's guilt trip' last line. perfect :D

Dyce

CONGRATS TO YOUR TEAM!! I'm sad there won't be any videos for awhile, but I'm glad you're taking a break to do what you need to do to keep the show running and allow your staff to be mothers. I won't be lowering my pledge because I'm not donating to you with the expectation that you'll give me content on the regular, but because I want to support you in your ventures, and that includes times like this! Looking forward to your return ~ <3

Breaks are always important. You have been working so hard to give us great content. Please take care and relax!

Edwin Moses Jackson

Don't worry about it. I'm sure we all won't mind the wait and are looking forward to your nest high-quality content drop. We'll be here when you get back. ;-)

I get paid vacation days and paternity leave. I see no reason why you shouldn't get them too. Time off is important! Excited to hear what else you are working on.

IIRC, the change (on this channel) from per video to per month was done for the benefit of patrons so that there wouldn't be any surprises at the end of the month if they were to drop 2 or 3 videos instead of just 1. That way, there would be more consistency on both sides.

I actually upped my subscription from last year's $2 per video/month to $20 per month this year specifically to help you guys deal with parental leave, so I'm glad that's happening. When I did that, it was with the mental commitment of a full year at that level, then I'll reassess based on what I can afford and whether I'll be keeping my Crave subscription for another year as much as anything. I'll do my best to keep my credit card from being maxed out at the end of the month. I'm happy for you guys and wish for nothing to come your way that you can't handle.

Millie

Well that sound exciting!

Nick Cohn

Life wasn't meant to be easy... but it was supposed to be fun! Have fun!

Whatever you have to do, we'll be here when you're ready to return.

Eric Mulder

Good for you! Vacations are important! Sleep is important! Go get all the rest you need.

Randy Philipp

I have been watching you since the Black ships came, and if you need to take some time off, you can count on my continued support.

My donations is for you to continue to make your amazing work and the show of dedication to quality, and I'll always wait patiently for such :) You'll never have to worry about making a video constantly out of sense of guilt, not for my sake. Take your time ;)

I may be wrong to assume the per-month model was originally intended as a buffer for a per-video patronage that's not 100% regular at small numbers of videos per month, but regardless it functions that way for many people. So I am impressed you took that group into consideration while the rest of us can safely say: We support you working on making videos, including the free time that any job should include and including the necessary work that's required for the endless improvement you've put into your work for as long as I remember following you. Or at least that's how I interpret the supportive messages above. Big thumbs up!

Smutts McGoo

Appreciate your honesty and transparency! :) But we're behind you all the way.

Philippa K

Been following y'all for years and I trust you as creators and professionals because your work has only gotten better and better over time. Have a wonderful break (and many in future) and know that so very many of us will still be here whenever you come back!!!

Yvonne  ̴ ̮͠ ̴

Take a break Lindsay, you've definitely earned it! 👍 I'm not pausing patreon though, what kind of monster would I be not paying for breaks and maternity leave!?

I support what you, i dont need a monthly video as "payment" i will contribute as long as i am able to. It seems like a especially good time to keep paying. Good luck with everything, give all the mothers and babies all the love and we will see you when we see you. I will Always be your patreon (Sung to "i Will Always be your soldier - Marit bergman)

Good luck, have fun, and have a good break!

mud

Best of luck with all the things :) very excited to see what you have in the works!

mud

Happy to be playing a part :)

Mar MB

Congratulations Angelina and Elisa! And good luck to you with your other projects.

Matthew Dunne

If any creative person has given me an appreciation for the number of necessary personal, technical and administrative things that need to go on behind producing content that I like, you... would be in the top 5. Behind a few Nintendo things. But still very important, so yeah, absolutely manage that stuff. I'm a far cry from the point where seeing a preview of a Thumbelina video made me think that you hadn't disappeared forever.

Lexie Lou

It would honestly never occur to me to lower my donation because the videos you've posted are worth so much more than what I can give at the moment, especially considering how often I watch them. (Seriously. Sometimes I just put them on in the background while doing boring everyday chores, it's great.) Reading this I sort of wish I could do more to help instead. If you, or any person in the production, have any need for a soon-to-be librarian in Sweden for whatever reason, just say the word. Best of luck to you all!

Alien6981

Reading post aloud to wife, her reaction to: "... give Patrons the option to pause or lower" was: "why would I do that?" We're both happy about everything we read here. Best of luck!

Thomas Hogdahl

You’re good; good luck on the new-and-stressful stuff!

Ashley Stoering

Congrats on the new babies and I look forward to your other announcement.

CodeTako

Honestly it's great to be funding things like healthcare and maternity leave. You know, things that take some stress out of people's lives so they can make cool things to benefit everyone. Taxes are ostensibly for such things, but not for the great land of individuality I guess. Gratz on all the developments, and looking forward to whatever pops up next!

Joe G

Since you just posted literary representation info in your Twitter bio, I'm guessing book. But I look forward to whatever it is! Congratulations to the team!

Thanks so much for your transparency with your patrons. I only support a little bit, but I'm so glad it's being put to good use, and look forward to your future work after all is well!

Sarah Jesness

I think it's cool that you're announcing it instead of just not saying anything. I'll keep my donations going though, even for my broke ass, two bucks a month ain't much, lol. Good luck with all that's happening!

Lindsay Ellis

I feel like if nothing else I can do a patreon-only "hey, check out this warehouse"

Lindsay Ellis

gdi patreon

Crescent Minor

Okay, so you're in a tough transitional period. To me, that's exactly what Patreon support is for; I shall not pause.

Haldon Lindstrom

Thank you for the update. I'll be here for you and your team, though this break and into the future. I love the work you all do, and treasure the videos you upload, most of which I go back to time after time (like you should with good books and movies you enjoy). Take care, and be well.

Thanks for the update! Also if you're ever interested in makin a short vlog about the struggles of inching towards professionalism in production... well, I'D certainly watch it

michael mccafferty

First, Huzaa! to the new members of the team. May they have long and happy lives. Second, you (all!) take as long as you need. Subscribed for the long term.

I've enjoyed your videos for so long, I'm happy to keep supporting them in your hiatus. It's like I'm making back payments. <3 Congrats to the new parents and I probably speak for everyone here when I say we're happy to wait as long as you all need. :)

This promising that things are happening that I can't show you is familiar to me since I've worked in backend web development. Things are happening I promise! 90% of the work the clients don't see. Good luck learning to do business things. :)

Jacqueline Pineda

I'm excited for you, and I support you -- you'll have my two dollars a month indefinitely, for whatever it's worth (two dollars?) I hope things go as smoothly as they can for you, you're amazing and deserve all the success in the world!

Sounds fine to me, I'll still be here.

Aimee Thorne

I think this is fine, It's more like a monthly donation to support the work, and your stuff has gotten leaps and bounds more complicated lately. I do have to point out one thing though. Patreon no longer offers the option to pause, you have to cancel and then re-Patreon.

Became a patron and will continue to do so regardless.

Becky Pennock

YOU CANNOT DISSUADE ME. I SHALL GIVE MONEY. }:[]

Congrats on doing big things! Hopefully stuff still goes well for everyone!

Going to wish you the best of luck, also. And I never viewed my $10 a month as paying for content so much as a thank you for the content you've produced. So not pausing or lowering. Looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Mary Kimball

Thanks for the update!

Bardcraft

Congrats on everything that I do and don't know about. Hope everything goes smoothly and have fun/less tense break!

Lindsay Ellis

I'm not saying it's NOT related to my Starscream/Megatron erotica but...

Vladimir Barash

Best of luck with the new project, and congratulations to your coworkers!! I'll still be here :)

Nick Sullivan

Fingers crossed for book or podcast 🤞

Kind of odd timing, I juuuuust became a patron a couple of weeks ago lol. But it's all good, you do what you gotta do and I'll still be here! :-)

Jennifer Miller

But where else would I spend my disposable income?

Happy to contribute during this busy time! Good luck to all of you with these big and exciting changes! 💛

De

The Shut Up and Sit Down crew always put it best when they talk about running a website off donations, the good thing about working for individual supporters is they understand you're a person who needs to take breaks or you'll burn out and they don't want you to burn out because like you, not just your platform. My first thought when I saw your Twitter non-announcement was "Book or baby?" So now that I'm pretty sure it's not a baby I'm wondering if it's book or tv show, or book or documentary, book or short film, book or a brand new website. Anyway, good luck with whatever it is. Publication/production is such a long process. Congratulations to Elisa and Angelina by the way.

Eileen Nguyen

Congratulations to the new mom, best of luck to the soon-to-be mom of two, and my prayers are with you for the commercial space, getting anything becomes so much harder when you're upfront that it's for making money.

Kat B

I'm happy to support a content creator who supports her staff. Yay women - friendly policies!

Alex Wright

Didn't know Elisa was still so involved, cool.

Congrats on so many exciting announcements!!! Yay babies! I can only speak for myself, but no matter how tight money may get, your level of content is always well worth the wait. Very excited about you going ‘professional’ and hope the process goes smoothly! (Let us LA folks know if you guys need any PAs. Very willing to volunteer when possible).

Adam Roy

I didnt join this patreon just for new content, I joined to show appreciation for some of the best damn content on the internet for like, a decade. Yes, on the internet as a whole. As far as I'm concerned, you have a backlog of appreciation going back to early Nostalgia chick days. Glad to be a small part of a system that invests in talented people, and that includes breaks and time off for child care.

Thanks for letting us know. I'll miss these in my feed, but I think I'm prepared to maintain through, and I hope things go well.

It's worth the wait. Congratulations to all.

Ugino

Well I for one am aghast, AGHAST, that you would treat your crew to such indulgences as parental leave and... occasional free time. (Definitely won't feel compelled to pause pledge - you all deserve comfortable pay all year.) <3

Paul John Showalter

I love your work! Please take a break and take it easy! My donation will not change, of course.

Mister CPU

Congrats to the new mothers for creating life! Congrats to Lindsay and everyone for growing your enterprise. I look forward to the new productions!

Kyle Williams

Congrats on all the good stuff! I can be patient with the delays. I also live in the LA area and this really is one hell of a winter! More like the Bay Area than SoCal. Definitely the wettest and coldest in the 10 years I've lived here.

Tennelle Flowers

Good luck and well wishes! Sounds like a whole process you'll be going through. Thanks for the heads up and looking forward to whatever comes up in the future.

Rodri

So... you getting your own tv-show/ Movie to direct? I hope its a Star scream Origin story. Keep up the great work with enough pauses!

Ethan

Love you lindsay! Longtime supporter here and I'm not planning on leaving any time soon. Keep up the work and do what you need to keep producing.

Aaron Nemoyten

Congrats to everyone! I'm looking forward to whatever you and the crew are going to produce in your fancy new space in however long it takes to get there!

LiannaBlanca

Do whatever you need to do, we're patient. Best of luck with your studio!

Congrats on the babies and you keep doing you! And i hope the mysterious production is awesome (i'm sure it will be)

Jay

Man, as someone in the process of moving house, I can't even imagine the levels of stress dealing with obtaining a commerical space brings. You're adulting at a whole other level. Good luck!

Tama Hero

I know you can't say what it is but I hope it's a book I'd read the hell out of a book if you wrote it

Congratulations to everyone on the bebes 🎉🎉🎉!! We will wait. Most of our favorite shows in life we have to wait a long time for, so we can wait. Good luck in everything! Sounds exciting!

T. Delligatti

Congrats to the new babies! May the odds be ever in their favor.