When my brother, Robert (aka Robot), decided to start making vids for YouTube, we really hadn’t considered anything other than how much fun it would be.

We didn’t think about the time it would take to shoot a video then edit, upload, and promote it. We didn’t consider the planning that goes on behind the scenes, like the script writing and scheduling time with business owners for interviews. We never thought that our cameras weren’t optimal for shooting videos for the web. We didn’t think of consent and release waivers so we wouldn’t get sued by the people we filmed.

We literally jumped into this ass first and we’re finding that the rewarding (fun) aspect is in constant competition with the hard work that we put into it.

Yesterday, we uploaded our first official episode of The Robot & Will Show to our YouTube channel. Within a short amount of time I received a message from YouTube stating that Paramount had flagged our vid because it contained footage that was their legal property. I read over it thoroughly and then smacked my forehead. How had this escaped me?

It’s obvious that we’re not making a profit on the video and we’re promoting one of their movies as a top ten most anticipated movie of 2010 but, legally, none of that matters. Legally, I’m breaking the law by using the copyrighted footage without permission by the owner. Legally, I’m a dumbass.

I’m writing this for any fellow YouTube nubes out there so you can learn from our mistakes. No, Paramount hasn’t sued us (yet) and YouTube hasn’t taken the video down either. The only consequences up until now are that the video cannot be embedded to other sites (like this one) and that it is banned in certain countries.

Small potatoes I’d say, for a massive blunder, but it’s a lesson learned and that’s what counts. We reshot our episode two after learning from the mistakes of episode one and I’m looking forward to finding the groove – the perfect balance between work and play.

So what’s your experience with YouTube? Have you found your groove. Be sure to share the URL of your YouTube channel in the comment box below (if you’ve got one) and I’ll swing by and subscribe, rate, and comment!