While many content creators will focus solely on the videos they produce to entertain their audience, some find a degree of success behind the scenes helping others to create. Snowbird finds a balance between his focus on streaming and video creation and balances it with his career as an editor for players like Stixxay and Shiphtur, as well as his work as the editor for one of League's premier teams CLG. We had a chance to sit down with him and discuss his career and success both on screen and off.

Many content creators have found success in releasing a variety of content, but you have found it in helping others to release their own through editing. How do you feel this separates you from other creators?

Snowbird: It was never my intention, like, I didn't set off pursuing back-end work in content creation, it just kind of happened. I've always been very interested in the competitive aspects of League of Legends, even though people who have seen my videos may not have been able to guess that because I'm just kind of a goofball when I'm with friends, but I have been playing League for a really long time and having always been interested in competitive League I was a fan of CLG. For me it was a case of in the right place at the right time, as I started to really work in the back end of content creation around November of 2016 when Stixxay mentioned on Twitter that he was planning on making some youtube videos and I sent him an unbelievably informal message with a link to my youtube channel to act as my portfolio. He liked it so I started editing for him, 2-3 videos a week, and when Stixxay chose to take a break I moved over to editing for Shiphtur, and after a while I was contacted directly by representatives of the CLG organization and now I currently work as their LCS players video editor and I also assist in some of the more complex projects that they have planned.

While remaining fairly small, you have picked up work very well known players like Shiphtur, Stixxay, and currently, you are the editor for CLG. Is this somewhere you had hoped to be when you started out?

Snowbird: Like I said earlier it was never my direct goal to take a back seat role in editing for other players, a year and a half ago I never would have pictured I would be here, but now that I am here it is something I definitely enjoy. It's a completely different experience from editing videos of yourself because, instead of highlighting your own personality and things of that nature, you have to highlight another person's personality and make someone look entertaining or good at the game instead of yourself. At first it is always complex because, when you are working for a player you don't really know what they want from videos that you make of them, some players I have worked for have wanted me to make them look funny, some don't really care about how their personalities are perceived they just want to focus on content that is educational or just focuses on making them look good as players, so starting out you have to make at least a handful of videos to really determine what they want from you as an editor.

Is there anything that you feel personally sets you apart from other editors?

Snowbird: I feel the one thing that sets me apart from other editors if the fact that I have been on the other end of the spectrum when it comes to content creation, the fact that I spent roughly two years on the front end of content, both in streaming myself and releasing videos highlighting my own personality, I feel as if it gives me a subtle advantage over other editors because I understand what these players want. They could easily tell me to just make videos that are gameplay focused or comedy focused, and after that, I am able to go on autopilot without much need for input or intervention from the players.

Looking back on your career as a content creator, or as an editor, is there one moment or video you are particularly proud of?

Snowbird: In regards to stand out projects or videos I feel are better than others, I feel as if some of the older videos I made with SunnySplosion or other well-known content creators are...I don't want to say better, but definitely highlight my editing skills a little bit better because, when you are the one recording yourself and you know what you're looking for in footage, to then go over it all in the post-filming stages of content creation you can kind of set up situations in videos that showcase you as a whole. In terms of videos that are on another level from videos that I create, it would have to be one of the first Videos I made with Sunny, when I was really passionate about highlighting my own personality and being my most viewed video to date I feel as if I really made my personality and humor stand out. In regards to a moment I am proud of, I would have to say it was when I was contacted by CLG to be a professional, contracted editor for the team instead of working just for players affiliated with the organization.

Most content creators have been playing League for quite a while, when did you start playing?

Snowbird: God, what decade is it? I started playing League in 2010, at the end of season one, and I reached level thirty close to the beginning of the pre-season of season two. I started playing ranked in season two and that is also when I became interested in the more competitive environment and the professional scene of League as a whole.

Many creators have sorted themselves into groups and you are often seen with the SunnySquad. How long would you say you have been playing with your particular group?

Snowbird: I met Sunny the summer of 2014. We had a mutual friend and we were both invited to a normal game, and we just hit it off and became really good friends. I've been playing with Sunny and Zyda specifically since the summer of 2014, so three years at this point.

You are usually seen playing a fairly wide range of champions, but if you were given the option is there one champion or role you would prefer to play?

Snowbird: I've never stuck to just a single champion during my time in ranked, but ADC is definitely my main role. I have thousands of games playing as marksmen and I have always just enjoyed the playstyle as a whole, the feeling of attacking quickly and being able to deal enough damage to push a game in your favor.

Many people don't realize that video creation and editing is a lengthy process. What does an average editing job look like for you?

Snowbird: Since I am working mostly for CLG I'll go over that process, generally speaking, I have creative control over the project itself so I get to determine which games to use for the highlight videos and things of that nature. After I take any footage from the twitch stream I will place it into my software, and this is the easiest part where I get to review the footage and highlight clips, funny moments, great play from the players and things like that. After cutting out any garbage footage, the more tedious work comes in where I have to be creative and make the video more entertaining without adding edits that will interrupt the flow of the video, and just be careful not to over-edit to the point that it detracts from the players gameplay, so there is a very fine line that you have to walk on not to over or under edit. I would say the process overall takes me four to six hours for a ten-minute video, but that may be much higher or much lower depending on the specifics of the video.

When not creating or editing content for League of Legends, what are you usually doing to pass the time?

Snowbird: To be completely honest, I edit on average for at least ten hours a day, so I don't have a lot of time to allocate to hobbies or things like that, but when I am not editing League I am playing it. League makes up 90% of my day so when I am not editing a video about League for myself or someone else, I am playing solo queue or normal games with friends.

When you started out, did you ever think that you would be doing what you are now on a full-time basis?

Snowbird: When I started making content creation my main focus in life I had already determined that this was what I wanted to do. I timed it really luckily, when my semester for college was ending at the time, and right after the semester ended I started my own youtube channel, I started making videos with Sunny, and ever since then I have been doing it full time and have, to some degree, been successful enough that I have been able to focus on this as a full-time basis for my income.

Many creators, over time, have moved away from League and gone on to new games or projects. Is this something you have ever considered?

Snowbird: When I first started my own youtube channel, it was never my intention to strictly do League content. It was always my aim to have people come to my channel for me, regardless of what I was playing, but that is not what happened simply because of how much League I actually play. It's never been a goal of mine to have the urge to where I feel as if I have to move away from League of Legends because, by far, is still the number one game out there. So as long as League is as fun, and popular, as it is I don't see myself needing to branch out into other games.

If you had the opportunity to go back and tell yourself any one thing as you were starting out, what would it be?

Snowbird: When I first started content creation, I didn't understand the amount of time you have to put into it in order to be successful, it's more then a 9-5 job, especially when you are involved in both the front and back end of content creation because when you are making your own videos you have to get a group together to record, play however many games you need to play which, sometimes, can be in and of itself an all-day affair. When I first started I would constantly get into these loops and cycles of thinking I had done enough the previous day or that I had enough footage from a single session of recording and in this field, you can't have that mindset. If your peers work a forty hour week you have to work a fifty hour week, you can't half-ass anything and it becomes your life in order to be successful.

How do you feel content creators influence League and it's players as a whole?

Snowbird: The number one thing that pops into my mind is that, I feel content creators have a unique influence over slang and terminology that is used within the League of Legends player base, for instance go watch any comedic creator and then go into a normal game and strike up a conversation in all chat using the slang, memes, or terms that these creators come up with and they become an actual part of the community, and it is just really interesting to me.

Has being a well-known creator affected you, or your group, in game at any time?

Snowbird: Yes. When I play just by myself, because I play a lot of solo queue, it doesn't often affect me in ranked but when it happens in normals games, especially when I play with Sunny, most of the time players are either super nice and tell us how much they enjoy our content but other times people are less kind about it. They feel as if they have to ruin your game, camp your lane or group up on you constantly, or sometimes they intentionally feed you kills because there used to be a joke where, if you wanted to get into a SunnySplosion video you had to make us look good, but for the most part it doesn't have a significant impact.

What do you see yourself doing in the near future if Youtube becomes less appealing?

Snowbird: If youtube becomes less appealing, I feel I would default to what I am already doing now with editing content. If anything, I feel as if I would have the time to focus on streaming on my own personal channel, or that I could become more of a liaison between CLG's professional players and how to help them further their own personal brands, while balancing between scrimming and LCS play.

Is there anything you would like to personally say to aspiring content creators or editors who look up to you?

Snowbird: As I stated previously, my number one piece of advice is that you always have to work longer hours, and work harder than your competitors. If I am working ten hours a day you should be working eleven, putting in the time because this is an extremely competitive field and you have to keep working and working. It may not seem worthwhile at first, and it can be easy to get discouraged, but be stubborn and work hard and eventually, it will pay off.

Thank you once again Snowbird for taking the time to come and speak with us. If you would like to see more of his content, you can check out his Youtube channel, Youtube.com/Snowbird, or follow him on twitter @Snowbirdtbh. You can also view his streams on twitch at Twitch.TV/Snowbird