Ben Paddon

1.5M ratings
277k ratings

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna

Updated: July 15th, 2023

At some point I reached over 1,500 followers. I have no idea how that happened! Was it my post about closed captions from a couple of years ago?

Anyway, I’ll reintroduce myself. Hello! My name is Ben, I’m non-binary (they/them pronouns), and I’m a British-born writer, comedian and occasional voice actor living in Los Angeles.

I most recently released the first season of Jump Leads, which is an audioplay reboot of a webcomic I created back in 2007. That launched in April of 2023, and I’m currently working on a second season.

Previously, I did a little YouTube show called PortsCenter which was reasonably popular for a while. I also co-wrote a Left 4 Dead parody YouTube series called Boomer’s Day Off, and a six-episode Doctor Who parody called Dalek Gary. It’s about a Dalek named Gary.

I was the GM for the first three seasons of the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game actual-play podcast The Game of Rassilon - I’m a player for seasons 4 and 5. I also DM’d Hot Quest for Filmjoy, which was my first and, to date, only paid DMing gig - a lifelong dream!

What else? I co-host Out On Her Fanny: A Podcast About The Nanny with my wife, though that’s currently on hiatus. My friend Alys and I used to do a podcast called The Life Toyetic about movies based on toys or games, and we reviewed a Barbie movie every 5 episodes.

I’m queer, I’m married, and I’m disabled. I have very strong opinions about cheeseburgers (short version: the brioche bun has single-handledly ruined the American dining experience).

I have a Patreon, and since I started posting regularly about post-production on the Jump Leads audios I have somehow lost patrons, so if you want to give me a leg-up I would deeply appreciate it. Twice.

Find me on other socials media!

Pinned Post podcasts audio drama queer creator queer creatives the game of rassilon jump leads introductions
brennacedria
classycookiexo

image
capricorn-born

Oddly specific. Got a deposit for 6,837 today

weaselle

fuck it, i never ever do those “reblog for X, this one really works!” posts, but this one doesn’t have any of that BS, this is just straight up wishing us good things; and then the comment doesn’t even say any of that either. Zero claims on this post, all positive vibes

May you end this week feeling ever more certain of a future you’ll love

vmohlere

May you end this week feeling ever more certain of a future you’ll love

kbkarma
leebrontide

Humor me, Tumblr,

Your extremely nerfed fairy godmother appears and offers to magically resurrect one discontinued corporate food item for you, in perpetuity.

What do you ask her for?

Personally I'm still pining for peanut chexmix.

naamahdarling

Pre-Panera Saint Louis Bread Company rosemary chicken sandwich. I miss it so badly.

kbkarma

I would have said Fresca, but I can't drink that anymore.

So, instead, Calippo Shots. Give me my tiny balls of flavoured ice back.

benpaddon

The McDonald’s Big ‘n’ Tasty, the American equivalent of the UK McDonald’s Big Tasty (which has itself become a seasonal item since I left the UK).

wilwheaton
i-will-write

image
dduane

No matter how many people have ever written their take on an idea... no one will ever write yours the way you do.

And when you've spent enough hard work on your idea, it's entirely possible that your idea will be better than all the ones that came before.

We'll never know until you write it.

If you're scared that you'll spend a lot of effort on an idea and it won't be any better...?

Welcome! You're now suffering the same uncertainty that every writer ever born deals with, every day.

There's no guarantee that you'll win. But until you start, it's guaranteed that you never will.

Putt your butt in the chair, start working, and begin the daily challenge of taking the same gamble that all of the rest of us take, every day.

It's all any of us can do. :)

wilwheaton

I wrote a story for one of the Star Trek manga releases back in the early aughts.

My idea was to show one of the events that could have helped move the Klingon Empire from its warlike posture in TOS to its membership -- and subsequent bureaucratic in-fighting -- in the Federation.

The idea was to put Kirk and a Klingon commander in a situation on a planet where they had to work together, and at a moment when Kirk could save himself or risk his life to save the Klingon, he makes the ethical, moral, Star Trek choice to save him.

They get out of danger, and the Klingon commander's crew beams down to rescue him. When they see Kirk there, they are like "FUCK YEAH! JAMES KIRK IS OUR PRISONER!" But the commander relates the story of Kirk saving him, and wonders if maybe not everything about humans and the Federation is true. Some other stuff happens (I forget what made the final draft) and the last couple pages are this Klingon commander facing a tribunal, and hoping that, somehow, his very public execution will not be in vain.

I had such a good time working on it, putting the guys in a collapsing dilithium mine (CAVES!) and treating it as if it were an actual episode where they only had the budget to work in the caves on Stage 16, and maybe one day on the bridge. From limitation comes creativity, they say.

About 2/3 of the way through my second draft, I realized that I was essentially writing Enemy Mine, which I have not seen, but know enough about to recognize the similarities. I called my friend, Andrew (may his memory be a blessing) and asked him what to do.

"You're writing two men on an island," he said. "It's one of the seven stories. Just make it your own and have fun doing it."

When I was younger (I did this in my 30s), I was terrified to make mistakes. I was convinced that everyone would know that I was the fraud and failure my father made me believe I was. I was so certain that I would be excoriated for stealing an idea, I almost sent the (very small) check back and bailed on all of it.

But I found a way to listen to Andrew, and keep my dad out of the room and out of my head while I told my version of two men on an island.

The book went on to sell about how they expected. It's been out of print forever, but I still have a couple of my contributor's copies on my shelf.

My long-winded point, OP, and my "yes, and," to Diane's post, is that there's no such thing as a totally original story, but nobody else will ever tell YOUR story the way you tell it, so that doesn't matter. Truly. Nobody who matters cares, because everyone who matters knows this.

So when you feel uncertain, please remember that the way you tell your story will be special, unique, and entirely yours.

benpaddon

Jump Leads is so many things. But it’s mine. If I were worried about people saying “This is too similar to Doctor Who!” or “This is just Red Dwarf!” I wouldn’t have put it out into the world. Twice.

Rob Grant and Doug Naylor could probably write Jump Leads. Steven Moffat could definitely write it. But it wouldn’t be the story the way I write it.

No one else can write the way you can.

seananmcguire
crimeronan

god i wish i wouldn't have to explain the intricacies of the neopets economy to you guys to give the full context for this but. the new neopets team that took over from jumpstart pledged that they were going to curb the inflation of rare items, which is great because a lot of rare items are worth literally hundreds of millions of neopoints, they are unbuyable unless you've been playing actively for 20 years. they did this earlier with a site festival that included random loot boxes, some of which had Unbelievably Fucking Rare And Precious items worth 200 million neopoints apiece.

well.

today they have gone a step further. by releasing this year's trick-or-treat bags. and having the trick-or-treat bags be stuffed to the brim with unbelievably fucking rare stamps, weapons, paint brushes, defense magic, and other unbuyables. (all prohibitively expensive and in-high-demand types of items.)

jellyneo, the premier neopets website, has recorded prices of some items plummeting from 2,000,000 neopoints to 4,000 neopoints IN THE LAST THREE HOURS. this is when most people haven't even heard about the event or OPENED THEIR BAGS YET.

and of course. cherry on top. 20-year-old account holders are crytyping on the site events neoboard about how mean and cruel it is to make rare stamps part of the prize pool, because their entire identity hinges on being part of the neopian bourgeoisie, and they are having MELTDOWNS over their assets being devalued until they're part of the lowly proletariat.

this is a children's game for children btw.

none of the money is real.

i'm having such a good time.

riftclaw

oh fuck yeah this is the coolest

sagwgastrikeupdates
sagwgastrikeupdates

Hollywood studios are giving one more week to negotiations with SAG-AFTRA before they are ready to pack it in for the rest of the year, TheWrap has learned.


According to an individual with knowledge of their thinking, the studios believe that if they can’t reach a deal in the next week with the Screen Actors Guild, which has been on strike since July 14, then no new production will be able to start before 2024.


If that is the case, the studios further believe, then the fall television season is lost, and new movies won’t be able to come out until next summer. In this scenario, early November would be the drop-dead date to salvage any ability to put television or movies into production. Once the calendar hits Thanksgiving, it is unlikely any project would begin production, pushing off everything to the new year, this individual said, and killing the studios’ incentive to push for a deal.

[TAKE THIS FOR WHAT IT IS: A BLUFF]

Witching Hour: Studios to Devote Another Week to Resolve SAG Strike or Give Up Until January | Exclusive
Studios will devote another week to resolve the SAG Strike or will give up until January, which would spell an end to the fall TV season and
TheWrap