Give Yedoye Some Room to Breathe Creatively

My name is Yedoye. After about 13 years of doing stand up and generally existing in the entertainment industry on other people's terms, I just shot my first independent special with help from my friends Pockets Graham, Shaliek Jenkins, Ryan Chernin, and Shalewa Sharpe.

This came after years of feeling rushed and pressured in my process, either due to financial concerns or rigid scheduling practices that prioritized a production company's needs over mine, which most recently resulted in me paying back production costs to stop the release of a recording both the company and I knew wasn't up to par, production or performance wise.

I don't necessarily want to think of this campaign as paying for the special, since it's worth acknowledging that comedy specials are relatively cheap to shoot, and I'm editing this one myself.

Alternatively, I want to acknowledge and respect the fact that I have to eat and pay bills regardless of whether I have an hour of stand up ready to record at a given time.

Of course I think this special is worth your money and the time it takes to edit, but I'd like to do everything in my power to keep this and my future work available for free, and I think a strategy of ongoing support—as opposed to project-based or "work-for-hire" payment—is more conducive to me taking the time to produce work at my own pace, rather than capitulating to algorithms and production companies at the expense of what I hope and believe to be the thoughtful content of my work.