Final Metagame Production Update

I was going to do this in video format, but take my word for it, I have too much I have to do at the mo to get ready for the premiere - not even enough time to write the word "moment"! So enjoy this analogue version of a video. 

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Well. This is it.

It’s over. Or more to the point, it can finally, finally begin.

5-plus years of a singular focus on a sprawling series about a game, a select group of players, and a global community that I love.

And now it’s here. 

The moment you’ve all been waiting for. 

The premiere… of the new documentary.

Believe it or not, as of this moment, I have now been working on Melee documentaries for almost a decade.

Starting in the winter of 2010, I followed my passion into this world and immediately knew I had to share the stories I encountered.

I wanted people to know the names of these amazing players who had found a new identity in this deceivingly masterful game.

The first documentary was a frenetic production - I had never done anything quite like it, but I was convinced of my own abilities and of the quality of the stories that were going to be told. In about 2 years, The Smash Brothers went from just an inkling in my eye to something I could share with the world.

Metagame has been an altogether different beast. It has gone through re-writes and revisions that I just didn’t bother with in the original documentary - and I think it’s all the better for it.

In addition, because I wanted more than just a YouTube release this time around, I spent the years and the money to enable the dream of a “legitimate” production; the dream that is getting onto a Netflix or something similar.

That meant I had to track down the owners of videos and pictures, people who lived as far away as the Middle East, Norway and even in mystical North Carolina. 

But I think it will have been worth it in the end.

The premiere itself will be taking place on Twitch for everyone in this community and beyond to see, but I want to take a moment here to stress something really important:

Every view of this doc that isn’t in someplace that we are promoting is a little less money we will have to recover from production. So please, please, PLEASE - if you want to see more stuff like this, do NOT re-upload this documentary. I know especially if you’re a streamer or something, you have a lot of time in a day to fill up - please don’t fill it up with this doc.

Which is not to say you can’t look at clips or make a Legal Eagle-type critique, or what have you.

Just don’t plop down and press play on this one. 

I believe as content creators and smash lovers we should support each other and I really need all of your support on this.

And hey, if you really want to be a homie - lets not just sit back; if you like the new doc when it comes out, you can let Netflix know about it: https://help.netflix.com/en/titlerequest

In a final production update, I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the titanic human beings who have made this thing possible:

My parents, obviously.

My amazing executive producers, Chris Brown aka AlphaZealot and Peter Grant Sr.

My main music man Garrett Williamson as well as Melo, my secondary music man.

And Daniel Wyatt, my Art Director and the man responsible for the incredible graphics you’ll see in the new doc.

If you’re looking for other ways to support me or this production, check out the official Metagame website - metagamedoc.com; we’ll have dope merchandise galore soon enough.

Also, this Patreon - which will no doubt be funding the next insane thing I do. 

I promise, however, that it will not take 5 years to produce.

One last thing that is important to note, especially with what has happened this year:

I have edited out, cropped in, and even had really amazing volunteers lend their time to replace interviews that were done specifically for Metagame, but I want to warn people in advance that despite my best efforts, there is just no way I can completely remove certain people from historic footage and matches in the documentary.

We as a community have come together and decided that these people are no longer welcome because of their actions and I have done my best to translate that community decision into a reduction of their presence in our collective memories.

I hope you will appreciate the lengths I have gone to to minimize their presence in Metagame and to put the focus where it should be - on the people that have made this community better for their inclusion in it.

And, I realize it’s kind of petty, but it does give me some joy in knowing that these people all lose their matches in the doc.

Karma’s a biatch.

I hope you’ll all join me this weekend!

Much love and as always,

More to come.