- Bryan Grimaldi worked as a content strategist for the YouTube company TBNR.
- He got the job while he was in college and worked there full-time for nearly two years.
- He shared what his responsibilities included, and how YouTubers think about creative strategy.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Bryan Grimaldi, a 22-year-old YouTube-content strategist from Los Angeles. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
After graduating high school, I went to college to study film and media with the goal of getting into Hollywood. I wanted to learn how to film, use a camera — do all the background stuff.
At the same time, I grew up with YouTube. That was what I watched after school; I didn’t watch TV. I even had my own YouTube channel.
By my junior year of college, I realized I needed to get some work experience. I was studying in Dallas, and I saw a job opening online for a production assistant at TBNR, the Dallas-based media company that the YouTube star Preston Arsement runs. I used to watch Preston while I was growing up, so I thought it would be amazing to work there and learn how to turn my passion into a profession.
I took a shot at it and applied, even though my résumé was just two bullet points about my high school and a small list of skills.
TBNR was looking for someone who was not just there to do the day job, but to give it everything they had. I knew I’d have to sacrifice more of my personal time, but it would be rewarding. After two interviews, I got the job.
Working for a creator is a unique experience
My first day at TBNR was in October 2020, and right then, the director of production told me to familiarize myself with the camera equipment in case they ever needed me to film. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity — I had heard that a lot of production assistants in Hollywood don’t get to do that. They’re hardly ever on set, and if they are, they’re likely doing the tasks that nobody else wants to do, like bringing coffee to the higher-ups.
At the start, I was essentially a prop master. I made sure what was needed for a video was on set before we started filming. One of my first tasks was to get frozen pizzas that we needed for a thumbnail. Another time, we were filming a Christmas video, and I spent almost $1,000 on trees, lights, and decorations.
After a few months, I wanted my role to be less about running around and more about strategizing, thinking creatively, and coming up with video ideas. I started working more with Madison Hoinka, the lead creative at TBNR, and she mentored me and helped me carve a role for myself that focused on finding and pitching video ideas.
One of my first pitches was a video called “I Mined The World’s Largest Diamond Ore.” That has 14 million views today, and it’s what helped me land the content-strategist job in 2021.
As a strategist, I’d pitch video ideas daily. Then, I’d focus on writing scripts, and whenever possible, I would be on set, making sure that we had everything we needed to shoot the content.
Content strategy relies on data and audience psychology
When YouTube is your job, you need to understand the data on how content is performing — what “average view duration” means for a channel, how to boost watch time, and how the data impacts creators’ personal brands.
Having the experience of running my own YouTube channel also informed my work. I knew we needed to follow the pop-culture trends of the moment to make successful videos.
When it came to writing scripts, the process could be daunting. The turnaround time for videos was short, usually a week, and we would often have to change schedules to follow new trends that were gaining popularity on YouTube. We’d have to ask ourselves, “Why are people obsessing about this trend? How do we make this a fit for our content?”
Storytelling was a key aspect of our production process. I normally used a three-act structure. I would think of the creators as characters. What hurdles would they face? What would be the climax of the story? Then I combined the storytelling with the data. The story needed to be optimized for “audience retention.” I also kept in mind that my scripts needed to be representative of Preston’s brand and intellectual property.
Scripts usually went through three revisions, and sometimes they would end up altered significantly or scrapped entirely. I knew that was part of the job because we wanted to make the best content possible, but it would be draining to have to restart from scratch.
I tried to fight back when I believed in a video idea that others didn’t see value in. That’s what happened with the “BUSTING 100 Minecraft Myths in Real Life” video that now has 35 million views.
During this time, my salary wasn’t very high because I was a junior employee, but I wanted the experience over everything. The role was never about money, but about my desire to be in the creator space.
When I started at TBNR, I was still in college full time, so every day I would finish work, often late in the evening, go home, read my textbooks, and do my assignments. I ended up dropping out in spring 2021, but even then, after a couple years of grinding, I realized I had to focus on my mental health.I also wanted a new challenge — I wanted to try out working at different creator-economy companies.
I said my farewells and quit TBNR in May 2022.
Since then, I’ve been in two different full-time roles at other companies working with creators on strategy and channel management. These roles allow me to manage my schedule better, leaving more freedom outside working hours and more time for personal growth. Even after three years in the space, I know I’m still young, and I want to continue learning and working as a strategist.
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