This week’s reading and lecture was about not following your passion because you’ll hate it and, because I hate this concept so much, I’ve decided to focus on people who prove the opposite for this weeks initiative post.

Red vs Blue is an online video show created by Michael ‘Burnie’ Burns, Gustavo Sorola, and Geoff Ramsay.  It was started in 2003, being made in the spare room of Burnie’s house.  All three creators were already successful in other full time jobs when they decided to enter into the video production industry.
The first episode they ever uploaded reached a massive audience, receiving 20,000 downloads in the first day.  The animation style is ‘Machinima’, where the creators use games and other computer graphics to make a show or film.  The base for Red vs Blue is the game Halo.  Red vs Blue, despite not being the first machinima show, is cited as being the first success of the genre, and they became pioneers of this industry,

Eventually, the original creators (which also included Matt Hullum and Joel Heywood) decided to leave their jobs to pursue this new passion.  They started a company called Rooster Teeth, which is today one of the biggest online video production companies in the world.  They have many other online shows such as RWBY, Day 5, and Immersion, but have also created a feature film (Lazer Team), games (both video and board), podcasts, and expo’s.  The company has grown so large that they have major divisions that are famous in their own right under them, such as Achievement Hunter and Funhaus.
Red vs Blue has continued to this day.  It is the longest running internet show, with 14 seasons and 5 mini-series.  They have been nominated for and won multiple awards.

Obviously, this took a lot of hard work, and there are many instances of the original founders talking about how tiring it was going to work all day and then spending all night working on the show.
This being said…

Not bad for some guys who dropped their successful careers to follow their passion.