Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments of YouTube Millionaires here.
Reckless Tortuga, the sketch comedy channel run by Jason Schnell, Lindsey Reckis, and Eric Pumphrey, has been entertaining YouTube audiences for years. In 2010, its Online Gamer series garnered lots of attention, and three years later, it has crossed one million subscribers. We talked to the group about its many exciting projects of the past, present, and future.
Tubefilter: How does it feel to cross one million YouTube subscribers? What do you have to say to your fans?
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Reckless Tortuga: It’s really an amazing accomplishment for us. When we first started the channel we would have never thought we would reach 1 Million subs. It’s truly an honor and really owe it all to the fan base that has supported us for so long now.
TF: What sort of response have you guys received for The cLAN? Any interest in a second season after this one wraps up?
RT: The cLAN has been a great experience for us. So far the audience seems to really love the new show. It’s a lot of fun to take one storyline and run with it the way we have been able to do. Also, being able to cross back and forth between The Online Gamer and The cLAN has really worked with the audience which at first was a bit of a risk for us.
As far as a season two, we’ve really just been hyper focused on making this season the best that it can be, so there really has been no discussion of a second season. We do have a lot planned for Online Gamer, though in the aftermath of The cLAN some things will have forever changed with Aaron.
TF: Which Reckless Tortuga series has been the most fun to make?
RT: Such a hard question! They all are extremely fun and challenging to make in their own ways. I (Jason) don’t know if there is one that is more fun than others but I’m really enjoying making Bad Friends right now. We have a ton of episodes developed and we are currently shooting that. That series just reminds me of the early days of Reckless, it’s stripped down and really relies heavy on the writing and acting.
TF: In your million subscriber video you guys noted you will have lots of live coverage from E3. How much will these videos focus on being funny vs. bringing viewers actual gaming news?
RT: E3 is going to be a crazy for us. In the past we’ve been a bit overwhelmed by just the sheer amount of stuff to see. Last year we focused on bringing gaming news which in the end wasn’t really our strong suit. This year we plan on bringing you E3 through our eyes. There is just so much gaming news coverage around E3 and honestly our subs don’t come to us for news. So I think you’ll see more comedy with Man of the Street type stuff, sketches, etc.
TF: What can you tell us about upcoming series Henchmen and 2 Beds 1 Bath, and when can we expect to see those series released?
RT: We have a new 2 Bed 1 Bath written and just waiting to be shot and as far as Henchmen, definitely this summer.
TF: Can you tell us anything about the animated Online Gamer episode? What was the inspiration for that and who are you working with on it?
RT: We are really excited about The Online Gamer animated series. We were so surprised how well that character translated to animation. It’s really funny and surreal to see Aaron animated. The pilot is 90% done and we can’t wait to get it out there. Doing animation give us the opportunity to take Aaron to places and situations we really could not afford to. Like the pilot takes place in an airport and on a plane in the air.
We worked with Jeremy Azevedo at Machinima and he really helped get it off the ground. As far as the animation, it was done by Dustin Kimmich. He did an animated episode for the Good Cops that we thought was really amazing so we reached out to him and he has really knocked it out of the park for us.
TF: You guys now have three separate YouTube channels. Any plans to add a fourth at some point in the future?
RT: Not sure, I think we are really focused on the main channel & the gaming channel.
TF: Finally, where exactly does the name Reckless Tortuga come from? What’s the origin story there?
RT: The name came from two things really. The first was Lindsey’s gamer tag was Reckless derived from her last name Reckis. And the second was all of our appreciation of the Ninja Turtles growing up. We used to sing the theme song in Spanish and Turtle in Spanish is Tortuga.
The idea of a bad ass, in your face, take no bullshit turtle sounded pretty awesome to us. And we never thought any of this would happen or else we would have named ourselves something a little easier to pronounce.
On Deck (channels that will soon reach one million subs): Fer0m0nas, One Direction, Minecraft Universe
