CO-HOST | Make Money Like Markiplier's Iron Lung

Summary

Travis Makes Money – Episode Summary

Episode: CO-HOST | Make Money Like Markiplier's Iron Lung

Host: Travis Chappell | Co-host/Producer: Eric
Air Date: February 13, 2026

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Overview

This episode dives deep into the remarkable independent success of Markiplier’s debut film, Iron Lung, and what its box office triumph means for creators and creative industries. Travis and Eric, with the help of commentary from the YouTube personality Penguinz0/Charlie, explore the shifting dynamics between Hollywood, content creators, and the economics of passion projects versus traditional big-budget productions. The conversation naturally expands into broader lessons for entrepreneurs, creators, and anyone looking to forge a path outside established industry structures.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Hollywood, IP, and the Over-Saturation of Franchise "Slop"

• Intro/Marvel & He-Man Discussion (00:22-01:18):
  Eric expresses frustration at Hollywood’s reliance on recognizable IP.

  “It’s clear that they have IP and a name and it’s like, here, come see this.” – Eric (00:33)

• The hosts humorously reference cheap suit shopping and discuss changing perceptions of Hollywood—from "dream factory" to "cesspool" due to scandals and corruption.

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2. Markiplier’s Iron Lung: An Indie Unicorn Success

• Penguinz0/Charlie Commentary Clip (01:54–07:33):

  • Iron Lung’s independent, self-financed, and self-distributed production astonishes even seasoned Hollywood-watchers, having grossed over $20 million off a $3 million budget with little-to-no formal marketing.
  • Markiplier "ate Hollywood's lunch" without major studio help.
  • Notably, the film briefly disappeared from public box office charts—leading to speculation of industry pushback against outsider success.

  "It’s pretty rare for a fully financed, independent, self-distributed production to actually have a big box office... Iron Lung, which is Markiplier's debut film here, has already done over $20 million." – Charlie (03:10)

• Comparison: Other Creator Successes

  • Raka Raka’s A24-distributed horror hits Talk to Me and Bring Her Back are mentioned as prior YouTuber crossovers, though still not as independent as Markiplier’s feat.

    “When we’re talking about YouTubers that transitioned, I was like… those were some of the biggest movies.” – Eric (04:31)

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3. Power of Built-In Audience & Disruption of Old Marketing Models

• Markiplier’s marketing was essentially just word of mouth and previews to his own community.

  “Markiplier just talks about it sometimes. That's the marketing expense. It's pretty negligible…” – Charlie (07:45)

• Travis explains how, even in casting for Hollywood, social media following is becoming a major asset.

  “They're probably going to go with that person because they're going to help market the movie… that's the only way for them to make their money back.” – Travis (09:00)

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4. The Reality Behind Hollywood "Success" — The Artist’s Take

• Discussion shifts to confusion around payment in Hollywood vs. the assumption of wealth.

• Melvin Gregg’s clip on Matt Barnes’ podcast (19:10–20:29):
  Gregg, a former Vine star, breaks down how, after agent/manager/lawyer cuts and taxes, his $5,000 per episode for Snowfall quickly evaporates.

  “Your agents get 10, your managers get 10, your lawyers get 5. So that's 25%. The government get another 30... I'm working for free.” – Melvin Gregg (19:28)

  • The value is sometimes less in financial compensation, more in exposure and permanently boosting a creative portfolio.

  “If I wasn’t in a good financial place, I wouldn’t have been able to do Snowfall because you lose money.” – Melvin Gregg (19:45)

• Travis relates this to his own experience:

  “There were so many people that were like, did you get paid at least? And I was like, they’re putting a show with my face on, on HBO. I’ll do that for free.” (20:29)

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5. Why Smaller Budgets and Creator-Led Projects Win

• The hosts discuss how smaller, self-funded projects can have more artistic and financial upside.
• The independent route avoids Hollywood accounting tricks, back-end points that never materialize for creators, and gives ownership to those who do the work.
• The real key isn’t just money—it’s authenticity, creative drive, and connection with an audience.

  “Not having the money is actually a better problem to have, because it forces you to create a solution that does not involve the spending of more money.” – Travis (27:31)

• Eric predicts Hollywood will misunderstand the lesson and just start slapping influencer names on bad movies—missing the genuine creator-audience connection that drove Iron Lung’s success.

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6. Practical Takeaways for Listeners

• The democratization of content:
  Travis encourages listeners to take action and create, leveraging the increasingly level playing field for ambitious creators of all types.

  “Access is only going to continue to be democratized for people willing to put out some good stuff.” – Travis (28:52)

• Creating what excites you:
  Authenticity and passion lead to better outcomes—financial and creative.

  “Ask yourself the question, what would I want to record that would be like a shining light in my calendar... go record that.” – Travis (29:28)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Iron Lung’s success:

  “Being number one through an entire weekend is pretty wild… I was giddy as a schoolgirl when I read that.” – Eric (03:51)

• On creator leverage:

  “If it’s a role that… isn’t crucial, and one [actor]… has a massive audience, they're probably going to go with that person.” – Travis (09:00)

• On the potential for Hollywood to miss the lesson:

  “They’ll learn the wrong lesson here from Markiplier and Iron Lung. But that’s just… a little game theory there.” – Charlie (25:00)

• On artistic fulfillment over short-term profit:

  “They were not making a movie for the purpose of making money... they were making a movie for the purpose of pursuing the art form of making a movie. And then, turns out the product’s better when you do that.” – Travis (14:35)

• Pop culture wit:

  “Movies, boobies. What do these two things have in common besides just rhyming? I like them both.” – Charlie (28:05)

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Important Timestamps

| MM:SS | Segment Description | |-------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:18 | Eric introduces the Markiplier/Iron Lung box office phenomenon | | 03:10 | Charlie discusses the rarity of indie film box office success | | 07:33 | Budget breakdown and Markiplier’s unique advantage (existing YouTube audience, $0 marketing) | | 09:00 | Travis on the growing commercial value of an online audience in traditional entertainment | | 14:16 | Discussing how making money wasn’t the core goal, but art — leading to better work | | 19:10 | Melvin Gregg’s viral clip about the reality of LA acting pay vs. public perception | | 20:29 | Travis shares his own experience of the value of exposure | | 25:04 | Eric and Charlie on the inevitable attempt from Hollywood to co-opt influencer strategies, likely missing the point | | 27:31 | Travis: “Not having the money is actually a better problem…” | | 28:52 | Travis: Emphasizing content creation and access democratization | | 29:28 | Advice: Make what lights you up, not just what’s strategic |

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Conclusion

This episode of Travis Makes Money uses Markiplier’s Iron Lung as a jumping-off point to explore how the creator economy is upending traditional Hollywood power structures. The big takeaway for listeners: leverage your passion and audience, take creative risks, and realize that the gatekeepers matter less than they ever have. The real winners are the creators willing to bet on themselves and to make things for love—not just for money.

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Final Motivation:

“Money only solves your money problems, but it’s easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got money in the bank. So let’s solve that one first here on the Travis Makes Money podcast.” – Travis (Closing)

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to the Travis Makes Money podcast presented by GoHighLevel.com for a free 30 day trial of the best all in one digital marketing software tool on the planet. Just go to gohighlevel.com travis. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Travis Makes Money podcast, where it's a mission to help you make more money today on the show. My producer Eric is here. What's up, man?

[B]

Dude, right before we hit record, we were talking about Hollywood. A heated discussion, talking about Marvel movies and how many movies now. Like, I just watched the trailer for he man, and this ties into the episode, just so you know, you're getting concerned. But I saw like the he man trailer and I watch, you know, I see these Marvel trailers come out and like, the term slop is overused now, but there's so much now where it's just. It's clear that they have IP and a name and it's like, here, come see this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And. And this is my way of saying I'm not done talking about Markiplier's new movie, Iron Lawn. But, but all that, all that to say because we recorded yesterday. I don't know how these will release, but we recorded, and I was like, oh, it made like four times its budget. And then I sent you a text last night that's like, oh, it's making way more than that.

[A]

Seven times its budget.

[B]

And so I have a clip from good old Charlie over at Penguin zero talking about this, and I thought he had some good takeaways from this that were worth listening to. If you want to hear them. If you don't want to. I don't. I. I can pivot to a totally different topic, but it would be helpful if you did want to hear it. You want to hear.

[A]

We got to close out the loop.

[B]

Yeah. But I, I thought this was really good. This is a six minute clip. Feel free to. To interject where you want to. We probably should.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

That would be good content. We just listen to other people's shows with no commentary. Just release it. But here, here's what good old Charlie over here.

[C]

When I say Hollywood, what's the first thing you think of?

[B]

What's the first thing you think of?

[A]

Movies.

[B]

Okay. All right, we got movies. Put that on the board. Get that on the way. Okay, good.

[A]

The Hollywood Suit Outlet.

[B]

Hollywood Suit Outlet.

[A]

You guys used to go there. No, it was like a big thing.

[B]

Oh, that was a. Was that the same guy that would go to Masters Bending? He had like a trailer of suits and he would sell them there.

[A]

No, no, that was different. But we did have that guy come to the campus all the time. But it seemed like, it seemed like in college that was like the thing to do was go to Hollywood Suit Outlet because you get like four. Four suits for a hundred bucks or something.

[B]

Like with shirts, high quality shoes.

[A]

Oh, yeah, super high quality. That was my wedding suit from the Hollywood Suit.

[B]

Really? Yeah.

[A]

Nice Classic.

[C]

When I say Hollywood, what's the first thing you think of these days? Probably not films. I got a hunch that you probably immediately think of like evil or terrible, terrible people that have been implicated.

[A]

He's going a much different direct because.

[C]

It seems like Hollywood is kind of a cesspool of some real, pardon my French, jerks, you know, that have done some awful shit. But what happens when a movie gets made without Hollywood's blessing? Sometimes it just doesn't go super well. It's pretty rare for a fully financed, independent, self distributed production to actually have like a big box office performance. It's very rare. And in the case of Iron Lung, it is doing something very unusual. This is a unicorn out there. Iron Lung, which is Markiplier's debut film here, his directorial debut, has already done over $20 million in the box office and has been the number one movie through the weekend.

[B]

And it's way better than the Chris Pratt vehicle Mercy through through the weekend.

[A]

It's like being. Being number one through an entire weekend is pretty wild.

[B]

Again, I was giddy as a schoolgirl when I read that.

[A]

You were as giddy as a schoolgirl.

[B]

Yeah, could have said schoolboy, but I'm gonna stay. I'm gonna stick with Schoolgirl on that one.

[C]

And this is a fully self financed, self distributed film and he is not the first YouTuber to make a successful movie. Like, for example, Rocka. Rocka. They've made two heaters. Absolute slappers. I like, I tell you, I forgot about them.

[B]

There's their stuff went crazy. They got distribution with a 24 and did like two movies in like two years.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And like blew up. I forgot completely. When we're talking about YouTubers that transitioned, I was like, oh, yeah, those were like some of the biggest movies of those, those years.

[A]

What were the movies?

[B]

Talk to me and bring, I want to say bring her back or bring them back, but they were, they were like just straight up horror movies. But they. Yeah, the quality is like nutso on those. Because again, when I think of like the transition, I think of like, what's that guy, Fred? That was like this super, like. Yeah, annoying. Like, I think it's stuff like that, you know, where it's like, yeah. You know, which again, has its own niche. But yeah. Or you think like Mr. Beast, where it's like. It's YouTube, the show.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

His Amazon prime series is basically a very well funded version of his YouTube channel.

[B]

I was going to text you last night because you were like. You were like, have you been watching Beast Games? And I just went, oh, I know. I just didn't. I didn't know. Yeah. But then I immediately, when I got home, I put on Wheel of Fortune. So again, I think I'm just not the target demo. I don't know. Maybe that's.

[A]

That seems.

[B]

Maybe that's just me. But, dude, the guy did really good last night.

[A]

We're talking about that with Ryan Seacrest. Like, how the hell that guy has been able to stay as relevant as he has for like 30 years.

[B]

Oh, my.

[A]

And he looks exactly the same.

[B]

My daughter refuses to watch because we burned through all of the Ryan Seacrest ones and she refuses to watch Pat Sajak.

[A]

And I was like, that is why.

[B]

Do not say anything about Pat Sajak negatively to me. Thank you.

[A]

But he's a legend.

[B]

Yeah, Ryan's a beast. All right, here we go.

[C]

Roca Roca, I think, are some of the best in the business right now. Bring her back. Talk to me. I think they're some of the best in the horror business right now. And they are YouTubers. They, however, do work with a 24. So they're a little bit different than Markiplier's case here, but still they are independent filmmakers and extremely talented. Markiplier, though, I do believe has done something extremely unusual though, by having actually no, a 24, none of that involved in this process. Which is why what it's doing right now, I think is something very interesting that I want to yap about. And I know, I think it was yesterday or maybe the day before now, when it was climbing up the box office and it reached number two. It apparently mysteriously vanished. I know Markiplier did a stream where he was talking about it, about how, you know, these fucking vampires out there in Hollywood must not be super pleased about Iron Lung's performance beating out some films. So they must have just taken it off, you know, fucking snapped it away, banished it to the shadow realm. So people can't see that now. Of course, he didn't use those words. I'm of course adding. Adding a bit of colorful commentary into his actual sentiment there. But he was talking about how it is weird that Iron Lung isn't being reported when it was the second highest grossing film at the time. It has since been reinstated on the public charts. But that was a bit of a wacky hiccup. Huh. Really makes you think. It's almost like these suits. These zombies at the top of the food chain. Probably don't like that a YouTuber just came in there and ate their lunch.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Iron Lung had a reported budget of about $3 million. And let's be honest, not really a marketing budget. Markiplier just talks about it sometimes. That's the marketing expense. It's pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things I would imagine. Compared the major blockbuster productions.

[B]

That is crazy. I. I don't think I saw a single trailer. Aside from like it popping up on YouTube.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

At all. You'd never heard of it.

[A]

Which. Right. Which is again.

[B]

But you're busy watching Beast Games on Amazon.

[A]

So it's a good show. He does a good job.

[B]

Great.

[A]

It. Well, I like it because it's something that we can watch with the kids. Like we can all enjoy watching that thing.

[B]

Iron Lung.

[A]

The Iron Lung.

[B]

Yes. Yeah.

[A]

Being in a submarine of blood. No, no Beast Games.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Some of the kids will actually sit down and watch with us. So we enjoy watching it together.

[B]

Has it affected their speech pattern? Like do they go out and go I'm gonna go get this. I'm gonna go eat 100 chicken nuggets. Like no, you don't have to talk like that all the time.

[A]

It has not.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

But wasn't. Oh. On the. On the marketing side. But that is like the major advantage of the YouTubers or anybody that has just an existing audience. Like it's just. What is it? It is what it is. Because the. From what I understand when you put together like a. Call it a 50 million dollar budget movie in. In Hollywood, typically the marketing budget is going to match.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Whatever the production cost was. Yeah. So a 50 million dollar movie all of a sudden was a hundred million dollars to create. Which is why it becomes so difficult for them to make any money on it because it has to be a smash hit in order for them to like just make their money back. Not like before they even turn a profit. You know. So it was like probably for a while those movies got rewarded because they were the ones taking the biggest swings and. And so they would also get the biggest return. But now it's obviously wildly different with theatrical releases being down and with like there's no, there's no there's no back end of DVD release and things like that. And streaming just sort of cannibalizes the, the, the back you were used to making before. That would make up for a lack of theatrical release sales. So people that have that existing distribution, that's just a, it's a clear advantage. I've been preaching that for quite some time. Just even, even as it relates to people in Hollywood that are trying to get acting gigs. You know, it's like, well, if, if it's a role that is one that's not super important or crucial to the plot of the movie and they're just trying to fill a role and there's two or three people who they're looking at to have that role and one of them has a massive audience on social media. They're just probably going to go with that person because they're going to help market the movie and push the movie and that's the only way for them to make their money back at some point. So for this episode of the show is brought to you by Chime. Chime is changing the way people bank. It's fee free and smarter banking built just for you. Not like, like old school banks that charge you overdraft fees and monthly fees. And the like. It's built for you, not the 1%. Chime is not just another banking app. They unlock smarter banking for everyday people with products like MyPay giving you access to up to $500 of your paycheck anytime and getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. Some old banks still don't do this. So forget overdraft fees, minimum balance fees, monthly fees, all that stuff. Chime turns everyday spending into real rewards and progress. Plus they have the new Chime card, the new way to build credit history with your own money and get re every single day. So what that means is it is a credit card that is backed by your own money and not only. And it helps you build credit, which is something that's been around for a while, but you also get to earn rewards on that, which has not been something that has happened. And now Chime is here to bring that to you. And with qualifying direct deposits, you get 1.5% cash back on eligible Chime card purchases. I know my younger self would have benefited from a banking option like this just because it's so much more nimble and much, much easier. Chime is not just smarter Bank. It is the most rewarding way to bank join the millions who are already banking fee free today. It just takes a few minutes to get signed up, so head over to chime.com travis that's chime.com travis Chime is.

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[A]

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[B]

It's a lot of guacamole, as they say.

[A]

I mean, it's just, it would be cool just to make the movie, you know, like for somebody like that just to, to go out and be like, hey, we didn't lose money and we made a movie, right? Congratulations everybody. You know, like that would have been a W by itself.

[B]

Well, that's what he said. He's like, he' they didn't need to make money on this.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Which he. Which is a flex.

[A]

Well, it's a flex, but it's also, it's also telling of why the project probably ended up turning out okay. Like turning out really well actually is that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That the stakes were not. They were not making a movie for the purpose of making money off of the movie. They were making a movie for the purpose of pursuing the art form of making a movie. Exactly. And then turns out the product's better when you do that. Like, surprise, surprise. You know.

[C]

Movie is already doing extremely well for Mark and the team. A team that no doubt has poured countless hours and passion into this project. And regardless of how you feel about Iron Lung, it's still something that I think most people should look at and celebrate that a film like this is doing so well. I made a review on Iron Lung. Overall, I liked it. I had a lot of nice things to say about it. It's not a flawless film and I don't think it's a film everyone's going to like either. It does have flaws, but I am delighted to see that it's doing such big numbers here. Kind of going a little bit insano style in the box office. Because I think this sets a nice precedent that you don't always need to suckle on the bosom of Hollywood or establish studios or distributors or something like that in order to get a passion project made. Now, of course, Markiplier has oodles of cash to pull from in order to realize a vision like this. It's not going to work that way for everyone. I recognize that. But the fact that he did commit so much time, so much money and put together such a talented team all for the sake of seeing this vision through and it being rewarded like this in the box office, I think is just a feel good story. I think that is a very good thing. And it shows other potential filmmakers out there that there are other alternative paths to get your creative vision reduced that aren't just following the traditional blueprint and walking down the same tried and true path that a lot of times just boils down to making deals with the devil. Because I don't think anyone's gonna be shocked to hear this. Hollywood's not really a great place overall. Don't let anyone hear you say that though.

[B]

Like, well, that's, that's the other thing too is like with the fully independent side, like he's actually going to benefit versus because that's the thing that I see videos of all the time is people going like, yeah, I got this deal. And then also, you know, it's made a profit, but on the books it's never made a profit. And apparently there's no royalties to be had. You know, 10 years later. You liked a video. Actually, I saw on Instagram because it shows me when someone likes something. But was one of the guys that's in the paper and he was talking about like he was on a show. Do you remember the clip I'm talking about? I don't remember his name. I pulled the clip.

[A]

Yeah, he was talking about how little he got paid or something.

[B]

Yeah. What's his name? That's why he doesn't get royalties. We don't know. No, I'm just kidding.

[A]

I'm trying to remember.

[B]

He was a YouTuber, actually. Was he really right?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

I think he said in the clip that he had, he had jumped from YouTube. But maybe I'm completely wrong and I'm just trying to pull together a theme there.

[A]

I don't, I don't recall if he.

[B]

Was a YouTuber and he. I thought he was actually really good in the paper too. Melvin, Greg, let me see if I can pull up that little clip. Because that's the other thing too is like, people don't realize, like, oh, someone gets paid $20,000 an episode.

[A]

Yeah, well, you think when you see something that's on Netflix or on Peacock or Paramount or some of these other platforms, you just automatically assume that the person who you're watching is getting paid handsomely for that role. And that's not always the case. And especially, especially these guys who live in LA or Hollywood area, you know, like what he, what he was talking about was like, I think he got paid like $5,000 an episode or something.

[B]

Oh, he was on, he was on vine that's it on Vine. Yeah. Kind of like Batch. I couldn't remember his first name for Mr. Batch first. Can I call you King? Yeah. And he was talking about the, the breakdown of this and like, how really like the, the weird numbers behind all this stuff your way.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Like just period.

[A]

That was on Matt Barnes podcast.

[B]

Oh, that's right. That's right.

[E]

No, no, that's a.

[B]

That would be an easier way to find it. But yeah, I think, like, that's the piece. Like, even when there's not, like, weird. Even when there's not weird, shady stuff happening, which based on everyone I've talked to is in this industry, there's always happened. Yeah, but it's like just the numbers itself, like, doesn't. It's not great, you know? Here's the clip actually from him. I thought it was good.

[E]

Before you make money, if you ever do fuck, they call you man, boy.

[A]

I was a full grown man.

[E]

I was still just a little boy. Man, boy, man. I was probably getting like 5,5000 an episode for Snowfall. And it's a great show, but 5,000 ain't none.

[B]

In LA.

[E]

Your agents get 10, your managers get 10, your lawyers get 5. So that's 25%. The government get another 30. So that's, that's what, 55.

[C]

Almost.

[B]

Working for free.

[E]

I'm working for free. So now I'm working with like 20. My mouth might be over 20. 200 an episode. That ain't great money.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[E]

So make sure you're in a financial position where you can make the right creative choices. If I wasn't in a good financial place, I wouldn't have been able to do Snowfall because you lose money. Okay, so you, you, you didn't renegotiate that role as you got. I mean, you got two seasons and it's pretty much take it or leave it. Like I was a guest star. I ain't got no leverage to come in and be right.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Cause they'll just write somebody else. You know what I mean? So it's like my mentality is I got a chance to showcase what I could do to the world in this place. So rather than look at it as giving me 2200 episodes, how much money are they putting into marketing this show? How much money they put into making this show? Because that's how much money they putting into presenting me to the world on a high quality program. Perspective based on creative choices and not really financial ones, because the financial was taken care of before I hopped in that arena.

[B]

Dude, that's such a good mentality too. I, I, this drives me crazy. I had so many people. This is exactly the same thing. But, but like when Let Us Pray came out, there were so many people that were like, did you get paid at least? Yeah. And I was like, they're putting a show with my face on, on hbo, right? Like, I'll do that for free. You know what I mean? Like, it's, it's such a good, like I, I, I just can't.

[A]

The minds on people are like, yeah.

[B]

Because that happened with that Peacock series that like used clips from my show and they didn't reach out, which was crappy. Yeah, that, that, that's shady, weird stuff. And, and, and I think legally, like, like that was one of those things where like, legally I probably could have been like, you didn't ask for permission to use this, blah, blah, blah, because it was not fair use the way that they used it. But it's like, also now I'm on Peacock. So like I just made it real and said I just found out I'm on a show. But like that's the stuff that I feel like so many people that have a short term mentality is like, well, I could be making 10,000 for this instead of going like, like he said, how much are they spending to put my face right on screens everywhere?

[A]

And then that's the person who's going to be like, I demand this much. And then they get written off the show, right? And then they build a reputation in that, in those really tight knit circles that they're difficult to work with. Well, they're not going to get the next project, you know, to go back to Marvel.

[B]

I mean, look at Terrence Howard in the first Iron man was like so bullish about like, I want this much, I want to get paid. I forget how much more you want to get paid for Iron Man 2. Yeah. So they just literally recast Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle, right? And it's like, look at all the movies Don Cheadle's done now. And even if he had not done.

[A]

Any other movies, right. Only ever did all of the Iron Mans and Marvel movies.

[B]

Like you're set, right? Like that's not a movie where Don Cheadle is making peanuts. You know what I mean? Like, that's a, Anyway.

[A]

Yeah, especially not by Avengers, right? Iron Man 2 compared to what he got paid probably, you know, for, you know, Captain America, Civil War, right.

[B]

Versus Terence Howard. Like, oh, I want to get paid a little bit more than Robert Downey in the first movie, you know, it's anyway.

[A]

But well, and I think there's some other thing because he was sort of like putting out a bunch of crazy ideas and stuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think that they were sort of looking for an excuse to, you know.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Benjamin, he's trying to build a real arc reactor in his garage.

[C]

Anyway, 3 million dollar film like Iron Lung coming out and flexing on the big boys in the box office, I think is just a great thing. And I know it has. It hasn't been without controversy. Like I know the critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. They've been, they've been taking it to pound town here. They are no Iron Lung fans that that's for sure. Especially ignore IGN was right on top of lung there.

[B]

I think they gave it and not in a positive.

[A]

But have you ever, have you ever seen review like Rotten Tomato reviews that you agreed with like a rating from Rotten Tomatoes and you were like, absolutely. They nailed it.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

But also like these aggregate, like for me, if a movie is universally like, everyone's like, oh, we love it. It's kind of like when you, when you see reviews and it's like they have five stars, you're like, something's off. Yeah. It's like when I see a movie, it's like everyone universally goes like this is good. I'm like, it's probably not like great.

[A]

Well, it's probably good.

[B]

It's probably, it's probably an Avengers movie where it's like, yeah, it's. Everything is in focus and like there's some cool explosions. But it's like when a movie is polarizing, I know there's probably something there that I'm going to either love or hate. And I'd rather chase that reaction than oh, I'm going to sit here and like something mildly enjoy this. Like, yeah, I want something that has that kind of divisive nature. IGN is just wet blankets. They've been so for many years. I'm just going to say that just as someone who used to subscribe to Game Informer and I used to be in the video game world hardcore IGN was always a wet blanket. I'm just going to say it. I'm putting that I want you to co sign that we both hate ign.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay, sure.

[A]

I have no horse in the race.

[C]

We weren't feeling it and a lot of other people weren't either. That's, you know, that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. It's not going to be for everyone. There is nothing that is for everyone. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think the message that this movie's success delivers is a very positive one in an otherwise really degenerate industry. Now that being said, I would not be surprised to see these Hollywood parasites take notice of this and then try and recreate this lightning in a bottle for themselves.

[B]

That's what I said the other day.

[C]

Where we might start seeing a few movies hitting the theaters that are just really lazy cash grabs that have big influencer names attached to them as the draw in the marketing arm for these projects. All for the sake of just trying to make cheap shit to turn a little bit of a profit off just using the influencer's name as their marketing tool.

[A]

Yeah, well, publishers, like book publishers been running that play for a really long time. Or they just, they sign a celebrity client and they're just like, whatever you put together, we're going to publish it just because they know they're going to sell X number of copies because it's a massive name, but the book itself is like not very good. Yeah, you know, they don't really care about that at that point. They're just like the name. Getting the celebrity name helps us book other authors and makes us sound more legit. And we know we're going to sell a bunch of it, even if it is slop. So who cares? Let's just sign them, give them whatever they want.

[C]

They'll probably start happening pretty soon. I really wouldn't be shocked to see that because I think they'll learn the wrong lesson here from Markiplier and Iron Lung. But that's just, that's just a theory. That's just a little game theory there.

[A]

But even the thing about that though is that even that still makes more sense as a business play for some of these massive companies.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because they can take so many shots on goal.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You're not, it's not one film that's 120 million dollar budget. It's 17 films with a 4 million budget.

[B]

That right there is the problem is that they don't ever cross those two things. Like they go, they go, now imagine if we got a big name and give them $200 million. And then they go, oh, we didn't make our money back. It's like, yeah, no, no joke.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You know what I mean? Like that, that's the stuff where I, it's, there's like this weird disconnect of like, okay, we'll get xyz. It's like, well, I just Mentioned on the last time we talked about it. It's like, let's get Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie. This person, this person, this person, this person. Taylor Swift cameo. Like, let's go crazy. And we're gonna spend like $300 million on this movie.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And go like, why does everybody want to see a period piece, you know, in theaters everywhere? Like, it's just not going to have that. Or westerns, you know, like, let's get all these big names and put them in a genre that's not doing really well right now. It's, it's not going to work every time, you know.

[A]

Yeah. The, the, the money doesn't solve the problem.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Right.

[A]

The whole thing, which is true across all things. Business owners do the same thing all the time. We just need, we need this much money. It's like, okay, well what are you going to do with it, though? Like, having the money doesn't solve the problem. And in fact, I would argue not having the money is actually a better problem to have because it forces you to create a solution that does not involve the spending of more money. Like, it's not the end all, be all to just increase the budget.

[B]

No.

[A]

You know, you have to make some, make some considerations and some, some trade offs along the way.

[B]

Right.

[C]

I don't really know. But overall, like I said, I think this is just something to be celebrated. Movies, boobies. What do these two things have in common besides just rhyming? I like them both.

[B]

On that note, Travis, Agree, disagree.

[A]

It's hard to disagree with that.

[B]

Well, on that note, you want to go ahead and close this out so people can go catch the matinee for Iron Lung.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I frankly just love the story and I'm glad that we've talked about it a couple times because I just.

[B]

Well, guess what? The next five episodes are just only talking. Every time it makes another million, there will be another.

[A]

We're giving it an update. So, yeah, if, if again, the same thing that we talked about last time is like, if you're not creating content, why not? There's so much opportunity out there and I think it's on the Access is only going to continue to be democratized for people who are willing to put out some good stuff. So ask yourself the question. And it doesn't necessarily have to be go make a movie, but also, you know, we're, we're working in the background on a much bigger, bigger production play that than we've ever taken on before. Just because.

[B]

Little tease there. Yeah, tease. You just ripped down there.

[A]

Well, yeah, you know, you gotta tease up sometimes. We. It's a. It's a big project for us, but also it's sort of like that. That's why I love the story, is that it's somebody who doesn't have to be doing more stuff that they aren't currently doing, because what they're currently doing is working really well. But they just wanted to do something cool and fun and exciting, and they were willing to bet their own money to the tune of $3 million to see if it was going to be something that worked out. And in this case, it worked out. But I would imagine that even if this didn't blow up and make them a ton of money, where, you know, maybe they lost a million bucks making it, I bet you anything that would still be super happy having done it, you know, which is kind of. Kind of the overall message here, especially when it comes to your content online, is just like, stop making it like a chore. Stop making it a task. Like something that just while we. We gotta record some content. Just ask yourself the question, what would I want to record? That would be like a shining light in my calendar. Something that would light me up and make me excited that we're going to go record this and go record that, even if it doesn't check off all the boxes of the hook and the story and the structure and all this other stuff that you've saved on Instagram from creators teaching you how to go viral. It's like, don't. Don't worry about any of that. Just go make what's important to you, what's fun for you, and it'll probably come out in the content as well. So that's it for today's episode. Remember, money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got money in the bank. So let's solve that one first here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you next time. Peace.