GUEST · EP 022 TIM SIMMONS
Tim Simmons
YouTuber, Theoretically Media (130,000+ subscribers); spent 16 years working in Hollywood studios and productions before pivoting to AI content
On Fast Hours December 15, 2024
130k YouTuber Spills Tea on Current State of Gen AI Tools
ft. Tim Simmons
Episode 22 hosts Tim Simmons, the 130,000-subscriber YouTuber behind Theoretically Media, a former 16-year Hollywood crew veteran who pivoted to AI content around Midjourney's V4 launch in late 2022. Tim says Sora's $200 Pro tier left him cold at first, but calls its blend, remix, and recut tools genuine differentiators, and names Hailuo (MiniMax) the current 'crowd favorite' for video. He also breaks down Midjourney's new Patchwork feature and his own no-hype approach to covering AI.
- Tim calls Hailuo (MiniMax) the only AI video tool to shift from free to paid without a user revolt, unlike Pika, which got 'screw Pika' backlash.
- Sora's blend and recut are the real differentiators, per Tim: recutting a clip and prompting around it works like using your original footage as a style reference.
- Sora prompts need real length: Tim says one-line prompts fail and points to 'walls of text' prompts, similar to early Midjourney's, as what the model actually wants.
- On YouTube, skip long-form for animated AI shorts and avoid 'AI-ify my long video' auto-shortening tools — Tim says viewers spot both instantly and scroll past.
Tim Simmons, on the record
“That whole production pipeline is a finely tuned giant machine that cannot move flexibly and cannot change and adapt very quickly. … It's very rigid in terms of what codec you're using, your file format, what you shot it on.”
“We come in with our intricately designed Midjourney compositions — I've mastered this, this is the exact image I want. And then you pop it in, and it's just like, nah, we're gonna do some deer in a forest. How's that sound?”
“Minimax is the crowd favorite. They've been the only video generator that has managed the transition from everything's free to well, we gotta pay for stuff, guys — flawlessly. … I'll go back to old-school Pika days: everyone was just like, screw Pika.”
“I have no problems talking about where it falters. You have to be honest — there are so many guys out there saying, this thing is the greatest. … I have no problems being like, this took me 100 rolls, but finally got here.”