Today we’d like to introduce you to Josiah J. Rizzo & Benji Jones.
Hi Josiah & Benji, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
We’ve been best friends for over ten years, and love movies! We met in Texas where we worked together on a web series that Josiah wrote and directed. After moving to LA, we noticed we had a fun and interesting dynamic and wanted to create something new together. We dabbled in a few ideas and ultimately landed on a podcast… that NO ONE listened to (outside of our 30 OG loyal fans)! Eventually, we experimented with a reaction to a Netflix original and after that video did well, our channel quickly shifted into the youtube commentary and reaction space. Originally a play on the infamous line from Mean Girls, “On Wednesdays we wear Pink,” The Pink Popcast has now evolved into a full-time job for both of us. It has been incredibly rewarding to hang out with each other for a living, and we love interacting with our growing subscriber base… our “PopStars”!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The whole processes has been incredibly rewarding, but there are difficulties in every step. In the beginning, we had no clue what we wanted to do – just that we wanted to DO something. Even after deciding on the medium, we had to figure out our brand and niche and course correct when those choices didn’t pan out. The nature of what we do now (reactions) involves presenting our most genuine selves. It’s a delicate balance between sharing who we are and giving people what they want. Since our videos are just purely us, it can be pretty difficult being open for criticism and sorting the difference between hateful and constructive comments. Over the years, we’ve prioritized quality over quantity and grown by learning from our audience as well as current trends.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We’re just two best friends who love talking through movies; thankfully, we run a YouTube channel that allows us to do so for a living. With our combined knowledge of film and an eye for patterns, we tend to notice things other viewers might overlook. Some of our proudest moments are when we point out an absurdity only to spiral down a longwinded tangent that results in a lot of comedic improv. Some of our favorite commentaries so far have to be The Princess Diaries films where we came up with an entire prequel series starring one of the supporting characters…(Disney+, hit us up!)…
….also puns…we make puns… tons and tons of puns.. the channel is a “pun” of fun!
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Benji likes to spend time finding new tv shows to watch such as “Sex Lives of College Girls”, and “Bridgeton,” while also re-watching comfort shows like “Friends” and “Glee.” Short-form media for him tends to be very LGBT humor-heavy. One of his favorite entertainment venues is reading and responding to comments on none other than “The Pink Popcast” channel.
Rizzo is constantly keeping up with the latest media news through sites like Collider, Geek Tyrant, etc. He grew up reading mystery books like “The Hardy Boys” and the original “Jurassic Park” novels by Michael Crichton. His current favorite shows are “Better Call Saul,” “Succession,” “Community” and his favorite film series of all time are the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” films (yes! they are good!). He is also an active follower of the “Dead Meat” YouTube channel.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.patreon.com/pinkpatreon
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pinkpopcast
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/pinkpopcast
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@pinkpopcast
Image Credits
Promotional photos by Leah Huebner of Huebner Headshots
