Meet The Lovely Broey Deschanel

An interview by Alaina Hickson

Known for her pseudonym Broey Deschanel, Maia is a video-essay Youtuber who specializes in everything from pop culture to entertainment. We sat down with her (via Zoom, of course,) to discuss her personal life and her fast-rising channel.

Hey! Tell us a little bit about yourself, Maia.

I’m a 24-year-old grad student from Canada, and I make videos for YouTube in my spare time - which is a hobby that has now turned into a bit of a career!

When did you start your channel? Do/did you have any inspirations?

I started my channel in 2018, and it was mainly because I had just gotten back into YouTube - I used to watch it a lot back in 2010 when I was younger - and when I revisited the platform a couple of years back I thought “wow, YouTube has gotten very sophisticated recently!” So, I started watching a lot of Nerdwriter, Lindsay Ellis, and other big video essayists from back then, and I was super inspired. Also, at that point I was writing essays literally every day for school with very little practical reward (like, you’re rewarded with grades in school but there’s nothing telling you that writing essays is going to take you outside of the world of academia). So I figured “this is the perfect career choice for me!” I then made a few videos and they were really bad quality [laughs] and they didn’t do too well with audiences, so I thought “no, I’m not doing this anymore.”  But the next year my boyfriend bought me a Yeti microphone for Christmas and encouraged me to make video essays. They ended up becoming pretty successful off the bat and I was really pleasantly surprised!

Why did you choose the name, Broey Deschanel?

[laughs] A few years ago I told a group of friends that I had gotten tired of my Instagram name and wanted to make it a celebrity pun. We toyed around with stuff like “Reese Witherspork,” but eventually my friend Angus suggested “Broey Deschanel” and I was like “you’re a genius!” So that kind of stuck, but I really owe it to Angus because it wasn’t my idea. 

Why video essays?

I think they are just a really interesting way to be creative while being structurally formal - if that makes sense, - I used to want to be a filmmaker, but I don’t have any training in that, and I don’t know if I am the most creative person. But I really enjoy thinking and talking about art so what better way to blend the skills I’ve been honing over the past 4 to 6 years with my more creative interests. 

I’ve been dying to know- do you plan out your videos? Like, - for example,- do you write an actual essay and then read it off?

Yes, there is a lot of planning that goes into it. I have two collaborators/ researchers who are my friends, one of whom I went to university with and the other is my roommate. We essentially sit down and brainstorm the direction of the video, and then I assign them different research tasks. We’ll all go into a Google Doc and start writing our notes down, and then the actual writing is what I do - I write a script and then recite it in the video. 

Since you do share your opinions in your videos, do you ever fear that the majority won’t agree with you?

Yes, [laughs] that is definitely a fear. Some videos are worse than others in terms of the number of people who disagree with me. Sometimes the disagreements are pretty out there, but sometimes they’re really fair - which I almost find more stressful because that is when you know you messed up. - I think the best way to mitigate that is to think of every counterargument and integrate that into the script. But also, if you’re one person writing something there is always going to be mistakes. It just depends on the gravity of those mistakes. 

What is your favorite video you have done thus far? 

This is a tough question! I think I have two. I am really proud of the Gossip Girl video because it was very hard to make, and I think it is something I can definitely say I am quite knowledgeable about. I’m not usually a part of fandoms but I was a really active member of the Gossip Girl fandom growing up and it was airing right around the time I was coming of age, so I was really proud of that one (although the editing is a bit too fast-paced for me). But what I enjoyed making the most is my Showgirls video. It is a very... inappropriate movie so I’m not sure if I should mention it here [laughs] but I love it, and the video was just an all-around pleasure to make. 

What was your reaction to your channel gaining more recognition? 

I think there is a bit of a process, like 5 stages. At first, I was very excited because it was my first video with the Yeti mic, the one about Parasite, that went viral, and then my Coppola video went viral almost nine months later. In both instances, I was overjoyed at first and then the more your video starts to reach a larger public the more negative comments you receive. The comments get a lot… less polite in how they approach you, so then the initial excitement turns into fear a bit and you question whether or not you want this. I think a lot of creators would agree that having a higher subscriber count is a major privilege in many ways, but you also miss having a smaller, nicher audience sometimes. Now, looking back I am still overjoyed and so grateful because it is a 1 in a million opportunity that you can go viral and amass a platform.

Do you have anything forthcoming?

I do! I am in the early stages of making my next video. At the moment we are playing with the idea of how exotic dancing has been represented in films throughout history. We are thinking of looking at few films that tackle that subject… and we hope to integrate it with Zola, the new A-24 movie. But this idea is still in the works! 

Personally, in quarantine, we have been trying to find ways to keep ourselves learning, busy, and intrigued, and Maia’s wonderful channel helps us do all of that. Our Era is so thankful that she took time out of her day to chat with us, and we can’t wait to see what comes next for her. To subscribe and watch her amazing videos, check out Broey Deschanel on YouTube!