Barbara Dunkelman · @bdunkelman
28th Jun 2020 from TwitLonger
More about why we stopped making Always Open:
Hello, beautiful friends.
As you know (if you didn't, I'm sorry to break the news to you this way), Always Open just aired its final episode. We are now on a hiatus, which means the show won't be in production for the foreseeable future.
I've seen a few people ask why we didn't just say "cancelled" - and that's because it's not. I truly believe there's a version of the show we can bring back in the future, in some shape or form.
Now, onto the "why".
I explain it briefly at the start of the final episode (Episode 140) as well as on RT Podcast 600 near the end of the show. But I'm happy to dive deeper for you guys here.
We began making AO in August of 2016, meaning it's been around for almost 4 years. As a show that started off mostly focusing on relationships, sex, and some other... taboo subjects... it evolved over the years to also have a focus on things most important to Mariel and me: mental health, the LGBTQ+ community, and showcasing as many different types of issues and struggles people face around the world to make our viewers realize they are not alone, and expose different ways of life and different types of love.
It's been the honor of a lifetime to know how many of you have been positively affected by our show, and what we got the opportunity to touch on. It meant the world to receive messages from people, saying they knew how to handle a tough situation because we addressed it on the show, or messages from people in small towns who never knew what hardships other cultures/races experienced, and what it truly means to find understanding and empathy. This is beyond any expectations I had in doing Always Open.
I hope it’s encouraged as many of you to know you are worthy, you are deserving, you are special, and whatever you are going through in life -- you are not alone.
This is all why making the decision to end it for now was one of the toughest decisions we’ve had to make. I’ve seen a lot of wild speculation, but I want to clarify something -- this was 100% our decision. In case it’s not known, or forgotten by some, I am RT’s Creative Director. Meaning, I make decisions on what should or shouldn’t be made, where it should live (RT, YT, Social Media, etc). No one forced this.
There are 3 big reasons we decided it was time.
1) Things are hard in quarantine. Always Open really thrived on in-person interaction, and our set played a big part in the overall vibe of the show. When being so open and vulnerable, being around your friends makes you feel comfortable and relaxed, and doing this from home changed how the show felt. I was very particular about the set, trying to change things to keep the look/feel fresh -- but even noticed our change to the individual chairs messed a bit with that vibe, and planned to go back to the booth.
2) Both Mariel and I became a bit burned out. This is natural in any production that goes on for a number of years, especially a show that has a particular subject matter. With my added responsibilities, it became hard to prioritize the show and give it the attention it needed, and I felt like it was suffering for it. We also felt that we were having trouble touching on similar subjects without necessarily having fresh perspective, and found ourselves repeating advice, and saying all we could say on certain topics.
And finally, 3) it was fairly clear that interest in the show was declining. This is hard to say, because I know there is a very passionate and supportive fan base around Always Open, but when you see something you’re working on not gaining much traction, it becomes discouraging. I’m hoping if we do return with the show, we’ll be able to rethink our strategy for finding more audience and continue to foster the existing community around it. But with time being a limited resource, we wanted to make sure we were focusing on what was working well, and what had potential to grow. And right now, in our current situation, Always Open wasn’t it.
The love and messages I’ve received about the show and how sad people are to see it go truly breaks my heart. It is something I’ve done in my life that I am abundantly proud of, and I am so fortunate to have been part of something that has helped ANYONE.
Thank you to everyone for the 4 years of support, and for making Always Open so special. Hopefully some iteration of it will return down the line, particularly when we can be fully back in the studio. But, for now, we are doing a weekly live stream where we answer Box of Issues questions (which, arguably is the best part of Always Open!) -- so feel free to still send us your questions and join us every Friday at 11:30 am Central! We love being able to help however we can, and it’s been lovely seeing the chat interact and give their advice as well.
Questions can be emailed to alwaysopen@roosterteeth.com
I love you all. Thank you for being here, and thank you for believing in us. <3