Mikey Neumann

Mikey Neumann (born April 16, 1982) is an American YouTuber and video game writer. He is known for the channel FilmJoy, where he posts the film criticism series Movies with Mikey. The series aims to celebrate the positive elements of movies and was nominated for an Emmy in 2017 in the Outstanding Informational Series or Special category.

Mikey Neumann
Neumann in 2013
Personal information
Born (1982-04-16) April 16, 1982[1]
NationalityAmerican
ResidencePlano, Texas, U.S.
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2013–present
GenreFilm criticism
Subscribers278,000
Total views18.4 million
100,000 subscribers
Updated June 5, 2020

Prior to his work on YouTube, Neumann worked in the video game industry as a creative director and writer on games including Brothers in Arms, Borderlands and Borderlands 2. He worked at Gearbox Software for 16 years, ultimately earning the title "chief creative champion", before departing the company as a result of health issues.

Career

Video games

Neumann began working in the video game industry at the age of 19. He left college after one year to do quality assurance on Gearbox Software's PlayStation 2 port of Half-Life, becoming a full-time texture artist in 2001, a year later.[2][3] He went on to write, provide voice acting, and serve as creative director or associate creative director for games including the Brothers in Arms series, Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands.[4][5] For Borderlands, Neumann provided motion capture, and voiced the character Scooter.[6][7] He also wrote comics for the series, including the prequel Borderlands: Origins.[8][9][7]

When pre-orders for Borderlands became available, Neumann tweeted "Twitter me a screen of you buying the game and I'll play BLs with you and give you loot." When the tweet was picked up by gaming news website Kotaku,[10] the popularity of the tweet exploded, with more than 200 players tweeting their game receipts. As a result, Neumann spent more than 3 days playing the game, grouping up with each player and giving them in-game weapons.[11] In 2014, Neumann gave the keynote talk at PAX Prime.[4] Alongside developers from other game studios, he created a card for Magic 2015, titled Chasm Skulker.[12]

In 2016 Neumann, then in the position of 'chief creative champion', was announced as the lead writer on the upcoming Borderlands 3.[13] He left Gearbox Software in June 2017 as a result of ongoing health issues, stating that "Everything is 1,000,000% amicable with Gearbox. I physically just can't do the work anymore", and opened a Patreon account to crowdfund his YouTube videos.[14] Neumann assisted with the Borderlands 3 trailer.[15]

YouTube

In 2010, Neumann created a web series alongside Anthony Burch called Anthony Saves The World.[16] He started a film criticism series titled Movies with Mikey in 2014 on the Chainsawsuit Original YouTube channel (now titled FilmJoy), in collaboration with Kris Straub.[17] The videos focus on the positive elements of movies, celebrating and highlighting aspects of those movies Neumann enjoyed. He described the impetus for the series as a desire for people "to feel good about the things they like, as opposed to feeling attacked all the time" and he aims to bring something new to viewers' opinion of the film, such as framing John Wick in a mythological context.[18] After leaving Gearbox Software in 2017, Neumann began funding the series via Patreon alongside a move to becoming a full-time YouTuber.[19] 5 days after his Patreon opened, more than 1,300 fans were pledging money each month to fund his videos.[17]

Neumann envisioned Movies with Mikey as being focused on films which were reviewed negatively in the 1990s and 2000s, providing viewers with a deeper appreciation for them. When the first videos received few views, he refocused the series. His video on The World's End received considerably more attention, including being shared and commented on by the film's director and cast.[3] Movies with Mikey has since covered movies and television shows, including 10 Cloverfield Lane,[20] Princess Mononoke,[21] and Stranger Things.[3] The series was nominated for an Emmy in 2017, in the Outstanding Informational Series or Special category.[22]

Personal life

Neumann suffered a stroke while playing games at the Gearbox Software office in October 2011, resulting in him being hospitalized for nine days. Doctors diagnosed Neumann with multiple sclerosis.[2][23] Following auto-immune failure as a result of his condition, Neumann was hospitalized again in 2017.[7][17] Neumann is asexual.[24]

Works
Year Game Role
2005 Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 Writer[25]
2005 Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood Writer and Story Director[26]
2007 Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway Writer[27]
2009 Borderlands Writer[5]
2012 Borderlands 2 Co-writer and Creative Director[28]
2013 Aliens: Colonial Marines Writer[29]
gollark: Kubernetes is some fancy complex software for managing server cluster things.
gollark: Patents need DRASTIC modification.
gollark: > i support a 25-year copyright systemI'd support 5 base, maybe 8 or 10 if you provide source code to the copyright office for release on expiry.
gollark: No, it's not.
gollark: There are more options than "no copyright information anarchy" and "current bad system".

References
  1. "Mikey Neumann on Twitter". April 16, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  2. Good, Owen (October 26, 2011). "At Age 29, a Game Developer Must Battle Back from a Stroke". Kotaku. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  3. Wilbur, Brock (January 11, 2018). "Mikey Neumann Is the Future of YouTube Film Critics". Paste Magazine. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  4. Makuch, Eddie (August 21, 2014). "Borderlands Writer Mikey Neumann Giving Keynote at PAX Prime". Gamespot. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  5. Pitcher, Jenna (June 25, 2014). "Borderlands writer to open PAX Prime, band lineup live". Polygon. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  6. Devore, Jordan (December 3, 2009). "Mikey Neumann provided mo-cap for Lilith in Borderlands". Destructoid. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  7. Handrahan, Matthew (June 6, 2017). "Gearbox chief creative Mikey Neumann departs due to ill health". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  8. Nix, Marc (July 10, 2014). "Borderlands: Fall of Fyrestone #1 Preview". IGN. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  9. Workman, Robert (September 20, 2012). "Gearbox's Mikey Neumann Talks "Borderlands: Origins" Comics". CBR. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  10. Good, Owen (September 27, 2009). "Borderlands' Unique, and Semiofficial, Preorder Bonus [Updated]". Kotaku. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  11. Good, Owen (October 22, 2009). "Borderlands' Creative Boss Lives Up to His Loot Promises". Kotaku. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  12. Dyer, Mitch (June 23, 2014). "Magic 2015: Meet the Monster Designed by Borderlands' Writer". IGN. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  13. Matulef, Jeffrey (April 22, 2016). "Gearbox confirms that Borderlands 3 will be its next game". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  14. Frank, Allegra (June 5, 2017). "Gearbox writer Mikey Neumann, facing health issues, leaves studio". Polygon. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  15. Macgregor, Jody (March 30, 2019). "Borderlands 2 was ahead of its time". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  16. Good, Owen (November 24, 2010). "Borderlands Writers Play A Bloody Game Of Catan". Kotaku. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  17. Carter, Chase (September 26, 2017). "Illness Motivated Plano YouTuber Mikey Neumann to Ask: Could This Be a Full-Time Job?". Dallas Observer. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  18. Gartenberg, Chaim (December 9, 2016). "Movies with Mikey is a video celebration of what makes movies great". The Verge. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  19. Ohlheiser, Abby (December 13, 2017). "Facing a rebellion of furious creators, Patreon backs away from a new fee". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  20. Johnston, Rae (November 24, 2017). "How '10 Cloverfield Lane' Was A Gamble That Paid Off, Big Time". Gizmodo Australia. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  21. Alexander, Julia (March 6, 2017). "Princess Mononoke gets the Movies with Mikey treatment in latest episode". Polygon. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  22. Plaugic, Lizzie (June 13, 2017). "Movies with Mikey gets its first Emmy nomination". The Verge. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  23. Peele, Britton (August 14, 2017). "After re-learning how to walk and talk, gaming personality Mikey Neumann finds new life on YouTube". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  24. Tremblay, Kaitlin (2017). Ain't No Place for a Hero: Borderlands. ECW Press. ISBN 177305077X.
  25. Neumann, Mikey (August 25, 2012). "Oh, hi. I'm Mikey Neumann and I wrote Borderlands (and a bit of the sequel;) I also am writing a book". Reddit. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  26. Tuttle, Will (October 2, 2005). "Brotherhood and Squadmates". Gamespy. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  27. Kratsch, Benjamin (March 6, 2017). "Borderlands 3 goes Unreal Engine 4: Die erste Techdemo von Randy Pitchford". PC Games Hardware. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  28. Pitts, Russ (May 17, 2012). "Crazy Town: Gearbox on making Borderlands 2". Polygon. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  29. Stuart, Keith (April 25, 2012). "Aliens Colonial Marines - preview". The Guardian. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
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