The company that organized a group of mostly Millennial aged couples — full-time RVers and YouTube influencers — to produce a documentary that glorified a nomadic RV lifestyle, has folded and its future activities cancelled.
Several members of EPIC Nomad Life community that starred in the movie had recently left the group.
The movie that was highly-touted by its producers ended up with mediocre views on YouTube rather than showing in theaters. “The movie ran over budget and created a negative financial scenario that we unfortunately have never been able to come back from,” the company announced yesterday on its website.
Here’s the message:
Friends and fellow nomads,
In 2018 we produced an incredible documentary that depicts much of the mindset driving the full time RV movement. The 82-minute movie, now watched more than 150,000 times on YouTube and Vimeo, was premiered at the sold out NomadFEST 2018. It was an event to be proud of. And a movie product that represented some of the best work many of us have ever been involved in.
It was also one of the most difficult years many of us have ever experienced. The movie ran over budget and created a negative financial scenario that we unfortunately have never been able to come back from. We felt this enormous financial pressure after NomadFEST last October. The demand was out there for more content like this, and for another event to follow it. While we could have thrown in the towel in November, we knew that the first movie and event were seemingly impossible, yet we accomplished them both. So we decided to give it a go. There was and is so much more to the powerful story of the RV Nomad and we wanted to share it.
It was a huge risk. Couple that with the fact that we made the first movie available for free so that as many people as possible could experience it and we suddenly found ourselves in a terrible situation. One that no one wants to go through. One that has us heart broken on all fronts.
Over the past several weeks we’ve sought out any and all possible options to somehow pull this off. We firmly believed, even as late as this past week, that we would be able to host NomadFEST 2019 and make it a success. But reality began to hit home a few days ago. Some of us are now personally and financially gutted as a result of the hardships of the past year and a half. We gave it all we had. And then some. But unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough.
It is with deep regret that we must announce today that EPIC Nomad TV is closing down. And with that NomadFEST 2019 is officially cancelled. The Epic Nomad Life app and platform will also close out over the weekend. It will no longer be accessible on both mobile app and desktop versions.
Words cannot possibly describe how devastating this is for us. Our mission has always been to be positive and inspiring in everything we do. To project that in the way we live as nomads and through the stories we develop through this platform. Knowing that some of this hardship has created a negative impact on some leaves us feeling absolutely awful.
But the truth is we cannot sustain this. We cannot go on.
All NomadFEST ticket holders will be contacted on Monday with an update about the upcoming refund process. Including those waiting on DVDs. Our new mission is to make everything right with our customers to the best of our abilities.
Please know we have no full time employees. There have never been salaries here as we’ve never been able to afford such luxuries. So we’re working on process to help manage this transition and we’ll be communicating this with our customers. We’re going to do everything we can to facilitate the refund process and we hope you’ll be patient with us as we work through that.
We’re sorry that it has come to this. And we’re forever grateful for the love and support so many thousands of nomads have shown us throughout this project. You’ve all been incredibly inspiring to us. Your stories are amazing and we’ve all made friends that will last a lifetime through this journey.
We wish you all the best in 2019 and beyond.
Thank you,
EPIC Nomad TV
Basically, this “movie” is an hour-and-a-half of interviews. “Show, not tell” is basic advice for writers; it is much more so for film makers. Perhaps these people would have been better off shooting a few short videos showing what they like about the lifestyle before investing the time and money in a feature-length film with no production background.
I had not heard of it til now, watched it, but found the intro so long and boring, so I skimmed through it and found it to be no more informative than a beginners first you tube intro telling why they started living on the road. I can see why it went bust. Give me something we dont already know.
Yes it doesn’t surprise me either that it went bust. the content didnt show enough of the reality of full time RVing and some of the things in the beginning was not what i call MOVIE material….. plus i met one of the couples while they were in nashville and gave him some ideas on what to possibly think about to put in the film but he was very closed minded and thought his ideas and the way they were doing it was the only way and the right and wasn’t willing to listen, and so i guess they found it that it wasn’t the only or right now that they are belly up and out of business. Any one who doesn’t listen to thier customers or potential market for new ideas is like not taking care of your teeth and they will go away….. so guess they should have listened to people outside there tight niche group click as maybe this would not have happened…. oh cant everyone be like Bob the guy who lives in a van and makes 10k per month off You tube videos and does the RTR thing and acts like he’s struggling and not making money but is really click baiting hand over fist and rolling in money but people will figure him out eventually and not send him money when he says he is gong to help people in need when in reality he’s it rolling in click bait…… happy trails and easy come easy go…..
Excellent movie! I’m so sorry you all are not able to sustain your business. It is a great idea and a crime that it couldn’t continue.
Not surprised. Boring movie. Disapointed. The idea sounded great and could have been, but it was nothing but interviews when it should have been at least half showing the adventures and actual travel/camping of the “actors”. Trials and tribulations and successes, etc. Great people, of course, but they were under-utilized by just talking. Oh well. Props to the promoters and marketing, thumbs down to the producers/content that didn’t live up to the hype.
Personally, I believe that Nomad TV used many of these people and gave back nothing but a promise to make money in the end. Some went nearly broke jumping around the country to produce this documentary. When they said it would be available on YouTube, I knew the dream failed in making a return on those that invested in this movie. Too bad, as I feel sorry for the folks who got caught up in the dream.
Having full timed ourselves, no, it isn’t easy and life can be tough at times, even on the road. But to say these folks left places with their dumped trash and careless use of the land is doing RVer’s in general, a major disservice!
If folks can document their travels and put it on YouTube and have followers, this does not make them bad people. If those that watch want to help them out, that’s fine too. Are we just jealous of those that figured out a way to supplement their income on the road? Some people will never be able to see and enjoy the ventures that those of us enjoy from being on the road. If it is worth a few dollars to interact with those RVer’s, who are we to say that is wrong!
Eric Odom, the guy in charge, seemed like a PR guy, hype with a new age spin. Sadly, the couples involved in this project were some really good people, at least the ones I knew (mostly from YouTube). I feel like maybe they got the short end of the stick.
You need a balance in this stuff, in anything, really. There’s good and there is bad. There are several people with ‘channels’ who basically exclude ‘the bad stuff’. But the Nomad Movie must prove that there isn’t enough ‘Good Stuff’ to project a credible lifestyle.
Somebody should make a documentary about the Micro-mini Motorhome. Bob Wells interviewed a man who owns one version, the SunRader. I owned one (National RV Dolphin) in the late 80’s. It had a fatal flaw and Toyota stepped up and fixed it. But at that point Toyota got out of the market, no longer supplying the basic truck the homes were built on.
The MMM symbolized a lot about the RV industry in that period. The chassis was not a good choice. The manufacturers pushed the limits, even knowing it was marginal to begin. Buyers were left in the lurch, seeing what they wanted, but liking the concept. Back then a lot of tiny companies built on the chassis, and some of the ideas were very solid, like the SunRader. Where are these tiny, somewhat innovative, companies? It’s Berkshire and Thor, more or less. They still make the camper-on-a-mini truck in other parts of the world, but it is gone from the US market. The small ‘stand up’ vans like the Promaster have only recently shown up.
So, Eric. Give up being ‘Epic’ and awesome, abandon the visionary movement. Find something that lends itself to documentary style, something narrow with a broad theme, the good and the bad. I was watching the Sam Cooke documentary on Netflix last night. It’s a very powerful art form, even when you step back 50 years.
Well said.
We RV but not full time; almost all the full timers we met where wonderful people but we met only one that was rude and not nice, when we were waiting to move into our new home because the home we were suppose to move into; the owners backed out and we let them out of the contract because the husband got cancer. Anyways, where the rude man was boon docking, and was a rude person, he still did not leave a mess BUT many that lived in various cars did leave a mess. It was sad, and some would leave bags of trash instead of throwing in trash cans. Everyone needs to clean up after ones self. Where we boon docked; we spent hundreds on groceries so to me it was not a freebie….we supported the place.
We boon docked when we traveled to Alaska via Yellowstone on to Victoria Island then British Columbia, then to Alaska. Gone 3 1/2 months never saw a mess anywhere from anyone, but it was a wonderful time.
Would not want to do full time, but you do meet wonderful people along the way…
It is not cheep driving a home around, but everyone has different likes….and ways to enjoy life…. ??❤️???????? Have a blessed day… Jan?????
The idea behind this project was inspiring and congrats to EPIC nomad TV for trying, but in the end, the financial realities caught up to them, as they do with us all.
RV’ing is an expensive endeavour for those of us who have to pay for all aspects of our RV travel. We don’t have sponsor supplied RV’s and RV accessories, nor do we have a free pass in exchange for industry directed advertisements.
There is more to RV’ing than the portrait drawn by this stereotypical millennial “living the cheap and free” lifestyle. IMO, being an RV nomad, by choice, requires a lot of work and effort that is not usually shown or discussed on all the RV media out there. A lot of those folks that produce RV lifestyle or other such blogs, are putting in 60+ hour work weeks, just to produce media content which usually includes a couple of short, sponsor acceptable and viewer dependant, videos per week. That seems to be a lot of time and effort just to find your next parking spot and meal, only to start it all over again. For those who do it, not by choice, can’t afford the media presence and very little is heard about the realities of their world.
After a year or two at it, the shine and glamour wear off and the reality of looking to the future, where their daydream, turned lifestyle, turned unsustainable hobby, becomes a reality, will cause a shift in the RV demographic, once again, while the rest of us self paying RV’ers will still be here searching for that next recreational adventure and still competing for fewer and fewer clean and decent camping spots.
I have always wondered how much recreation these millennial bloggers actually have with their RV’s and I am waiting to see when this millennial driven fad bubble will burst and the market becomes flooded with their used and abused RV’s.
Thanks for posting the article, Chuck.
RV “nomads” on YouTube seem to have adopted the medium as a way of raising funds and/or soliciting “gifts” from their often gullible followers. I’ve seen the term “e-begging” used to describe their lifestyle. They boondock anywhere they can get away with it and create messes that are often left behind for others to clean up. They strike me as similar to the tribes of homeless folks living under bridges and panhandling at every major intersection except the RV nomads have black tanks and waste buckets.
I don’t think these very visible “celebrities” present those of us who roam around in our RV’s in a very positive light and I’m glad to see them fade away.
Well said. After watching the movie, came to the same conclusion. Just exactly what do all these people do to give back to a country and society to make it all possible. They all seem to have the me, me I want it all attitude. They are the takers of the world. Glad to see them go.
Wow!
I have not heard the term “e-begging” before, but you are absolutely correct. YouTube and other social media have presented a new platform for pan handling.
I read about it more and more how these “televised” RV nomads, who drop out of mainstream society, then “e-beg” for people to fund their lifestyle, only to realize that their dream is just that, a fairy-tale. When the dream comes to an end, they find themselves a couple years older and trying to catch up with the rest of society when they need to re-enter it.
Their contributions to society are non-existent. Corporate sponsorship, or “e-begging” for donations through subscription click baiting or affiliate product links, I think reflects badly on the rest of us who, have worked hard through out our careers, or enjoy family RV vacations and have to pay for it out of our own pockets.
They may have the best of intentions in their short sighted search of an alternative lifestyle for them and their families, but I am not paying for it. Why would anyone want to pay for someone else RV dreams. For those interested in RV’ing, pay for your own dreams.
Nonsense, at least in reference to many of these Youtubers,( IE Less Junk, More Journey, Slim Potatohead, and Keep Your Daydream), who provide an excellent quality of travel documentaries to many tens of thousands. They provide a superb product for people to enjoy, many of whom are unable to take these adventures themselves
I am subscribed to a number of these YouTube channels made by RV nomads, and I find them to be a valuable source of information and entertainment. They have helped me find places I want to visit, campgrounds I want to stay in, and taught me how to do RV maintenance. While I’m traveling I may take a few pictures or videos for my own memories, but these folks are carrying expensive camera and microphone equipment and trying to film things their viewers will find helpful or entertaining. Then they spend hours editing, then looking for decent WiFi to upload their videos to YouTube where anyone can watch them for free. Most make very little money from their efforts, and those who do consider this their job. They may suggest voluntary contributions, just like RVTravel does. There may be commercials attached to the videos, which I will always watch, that earn them a few pennies per view. I see nothing wrong with them earning some money in exchange for providing their content, and those who don’t like their videos don’t have to watch them