Not So Awesome - Condensed
An abridged record of events while working for That Guy With The Glasses
The following is a list of all major grievances put forward by producers who work or have worked at Channel awesome.
Each entry will contain a parentheses that directs the reader to the author of the full account, found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WZF ... sp=sharing
Example: This is a grievance (author, page)
Mike Michaud, current CEO of Channel Awesome, has a history of being unprofessional, aggressive, immature, difficult and misogynistic.
(Allison Pregler pg 4-5, Kaylyn Saucedo pg 24-25, Holly Brown pg 29-31, Lewis Lovhaug pg 32-37, Benjamin Daniel pg 38, Dr. Gonzo pg 41-46 Leon Thomas pg 47, Animerica pg 52-53, Tom White pg 55, Lindsay Ellis pg 63-65, Anonymous II pg 67-68)
The management of CA was aware of sexual misconduct and abuse instigated by Mike Ellis, the CFO at the time, and enacted no disciplinary action until over a year later.
(Sean Fausz pg 48, Allison Pregler pg 5, Holly Brown pg 29-31).
They were also aware of sexual misconduct by another producer years later, again not acting for over a year. At least three victims have come forward and requested the offender’s name not be printed.
(Lindsay Ellis pg 63-65, Anonymous I pg 65, )
Doge Walker (The Nostalgia Critic) is considered Talent and not acting in any managerial role, yet has been involved in many company decisions and knew what management knew, as far as is known. He also made sweeping decisions regarding the site that had the potential to drastically affect the income of many producers without consulting them beforehand.
(Allison Pregler pg 5, Kaylyn Saucedo pg 27, Holly Brown pg 29-31, Dr. Gonzo pg 41-46, Leon Thomas pg 47, Animerica pg 52-53)
Management of the site was of poor quality, particularly in regards to communication, organisation, rule consistency, payment and transparency. Multiple attempts to bring serious concerns to management regarding this were met with very few, usually minimal attempts at repair.
(Allison Pregler pg 5-7, Kaylyn Saucedo pg 24, 28, Holly Brown pg 29-31, Lewis Lovhaug pg 32-37, Benjamin Daniel pg 38, Jon Burkhardt pg 39, Dr. Gonzo pg 41-46, Leon Thomas pg 47, Beth Elderkin pg 49, Cferra pg 51, Topher Ames pg 51-53, Animerica pg 54-55, Tom White pg 58, Lindsay Ellis pg 63-65 Anonymous II pg 67)
At least one staff member was asked to work every single day with no holidays or weekends. She was terminated with no given reason and forced to sign an exclusivity contract barring her from working in the industry for three years at the risk of losing her severance pay.
(Holly Brown pg 29-31)
When Channel awesome ran a Crowdfunding campaign, it was so mismanaged they were threatened with investigation by Indiegogo. They then cancelled the funded show after 12 episodes of a promised 40.
(Allison Pregler pg 7-8, Lewis Lovhaug pg 32-37)
The filming of anniversary movies and crossovers, though enjoyed by many producers as a great opportunity and experience, was also fraught with multiple examples of inadequate planning and unprofessional behavior, going beyond a simple ‘lack of experience’. To Boldly Flee in particular was not a pleasant experience for a large number of cast and crew.
(Allison Pregler pg 9-15, 19-20, Kaylyn Saucedo pg 25, Holly Brown pg 29-31, Lindsay Ellis pg 63-65)
Channel Awesome’s management has a history of threatening to drop producers for saying things that they felt would make them look bad on social media and in videos, even when no rules were broken and they weren’t mentioned
(Allison Pregler pg 14, Jacob Chapman pg 38)
In 2013 there was big push by many producers to fix the problems with communication and address the possible financial concerns surrounding the sudden loss of the Nostalgia Critic videos. A written document was presented to them, but as mentioned above, many points were either ignored, laughed off or addressed minimally
(Allison Pregler pg 15-19, Lewis Lovhaug pg 32-37, William DuFresne pg 37-38)
Management had a contentious relationship with producers who tried to increase their revenue via increasing ads or starting up a patreon. The former was viewed as “encouraging Adblock” and the latter was viewed as “e-begging”.
(Allison Pregler pg 19, Lewis Lovhaug pg 32-37, William DuFresne pg 37-38)
There has been a pervasive feeling amongst the long-term producers that they are no longer valued or appreciated, and that Channel Awesome cares only for their in-house development. This has been exacerbated by Channel Awesome simply purging the site of any producer that asks to leave without announcement, where before there was heartfelt posts or even goodbye videos.
(Allison Pregler pg 19-21, Kaylyn Saucedo pg 28, Lewis Lovhaug pg 32-37, Jon Burkhardt pg 39, Lindsay Ellis pg 63-65, Anonymous II pg 67)
