Dear Van,

About a month ago an idea occurred to me that felt like an epiphany: make YouTube literature.

Why did this idea occur to me? Probably because I've been trying to make literature and art in some form for about half my life—the last ten years for sure, and the few years before I spent ten years chasing the dragon. And I saw a video by YouTuber Inheritance Machining that planted a seed.

I say the idea was an epiphany because, when I received it, I was certain of this: its time had come, which is to say it would be unstoppable. It occurred to me with the same flash of light that the idea to buy Tesla stock did on April 4, 2020. I told two people about the idea: Dave, and my brother Lance.

How would I make literature on YouTube? My idea was to document my fabrication of bicycles, even beautiful bicycles, and my struggle to perfect the craft and make a living doing it. However, this pursuit would only provide the direction for the channel. In substance, the videos would be essays on life. A memoir in the making.

Naturally, I would secretly hope that the artistic YouTubing would lead to an independent living making beautiful bicycles or writing essays or both.

How is this literary? By literary I mean, in the broadest sense, timeless. I mean a character >> in pursuit of a goal >> encounters conflict >> overcomes the conflict through struggle >> and finds something far more valuable than the thing he originally sought. I mean The Story.

Has this been done? Probably. In fact, probably most people who have successfully leveraged social media to turn their vocation (ie., voice) into a livelihood and quit their day jobs have done so precisely because they documented a character (him- or herself) in pursuit of the dream (to use their talents for good and livelihood), and the audience helped the dream come true.

So how is my idea different? I'm not sure exactly, though I felt confident I could make videos that were art. Not tutorials, not entertainment, not marketing, but art. And I believed, rightly or wrongly, that I could make art as an unfolding channel. Essays on life. A memoir in the making.

A couple weeks after I received this idea, I met Van Neistat, who is, in my estimation, making art on YouTube. And he’s the first to do so, as far as I can tell. Perhaps the Algorithm knew what to serve me.

Since watching his video on gifting two weeks ago, I have watched a handful of his films. They run from seven to 25 minutes and, ostensibly, cover topics like fixing a truck, traveling, reading books, and addiction. But, really, they are essays on life. A history of Van himself, his insights and perspective, and his artwork. A memoir in the making.

I've never seen anything like it, neither on social media nor blogs. I have been moved in ways that only art can move one. And the comments on Van’s videos show that others agree. "There is nothing else like this out there." "This is art." "First of its kind." "Lifechanging."

I share this with you for two reasons: to share the artwork, and to discuss whether Van's YouTubing is, in fact, artistic or literary or the first of its kind or whether the Algorithm just shot me with a Cupid arrow. Whatever it is, it is a unique example of modern media, as beautiful and engrossing as any I’ve seen.

One final thought. Though I felt prompted to make artful YouTube videos, I’m not sure I will. I'm inexperienced with the tools of filmmaking, particularly editing software, and I doubt whether now is the time for me to take up another skill-intensive endeavor. I also have reservations about using any part of my life as socialized media.

I share the story of how I received the idea only to say this: I believe the idea's time has come. And though I’m an experienced writer and photographer, film is foreign territory to me. Van, on the other hand, has been making films and studying film his entire adult life, which is to say his time has come.

I feel fortunate to witness it.

That is a letter I sent my three closest friends last week. After seeing your work, I determined to write you a letter. So, I guess you could say this is a letter within a letter.

Finally, this spirited man is a 45-year-old who spent a decade strung out on heroin; who got clean in 2011; who in 2016 read and was greatly influenced by Shop Class as Soulcraft; who works with his hands; who reads philosophy and literature; who makes an income as a corporate writer; whose spectacles function as both corrective and safety lenses; who prefers American diners to just about any restaurant; who wears button-up long-sleeved shirts; who carries a mechanical pencil in his left breast pocket and a to-do list on his hip, all past copies of which can be found on his bookshelf.

Needless to say, I feel a kinship. Thank you for your work, Van. It is, shall I say, an epiphany.

Sincerely,

Ryan Trimble
Provo, Utah