We get this all the time. Have you ever wondered who our taggers are and how we create filters for movies and shows? Does thinking about who takes on the task of identifying all the offensive content in your favorite series keep you up at night? Well, we at VidAngel obviously couldn’t exist without our taggers – those who create the filters. We thought we’d pull back the curtain a little and introduce you to some of the people that make the magic happen.
Belinda Galvin manages our large team of taggers. She is our Eleven, our Spock, our award-winning supporting actor who holds it all together. We wanted to give you just a glimpse of her world among the filters:
How did you become involved with VidAngel?
“I was looking for work at home and found VidAngel on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk).”
Do you still do any tagging?
“I started out as a tagger nine years ago. I still can tag and publish and never ask my workers to do anything that I cannot do myself.”
How do you choose your taggers?
“I look for people who like to work and will watch content so our customers don’t have to. They also need to fit within our Tagging community by way of being active and communicating with the other workers. … I have met a variety of people and our team has gotten to know each other and are pretty close.”
With that, we also asked questions to some of those hard-working and willing taggers. Introducing: Ashley Kelsey, Sara Beers, Joseph Drake, Kyndra Sawls, and Annette Lambert.
Why did you become a tagger?
Kyndra: “I became a tagger because I enjoy watching movies. And how amazing that I get to do that and get paid to work! I also enjoyed the fact that we are a section of the company that is not just in one state, it is a fun way to interact with people while enjoying your job.”
Ashley: “I originally became a tagger because I was staying home with my children, but needed some me time and wanted to earn a little extra money. I continue to work as a tagger because I truly enjoy the position.”
Sara: “I became a tagger because I was a single mom and I needed something I could do from home. I have a special needs child that needs me and a regular 9-5 wasn’t a good fit. But after I got started I fell in love with the concept and the company and everyone I work with. I feel like we offer a truly valuable service and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Joseph: “My daughter was doing competitive gymnastics and the day job wasn’t cutting it. I needed a part-time job… and I ended up finding a part-time job and a home here.”
Annette: “I became a tagger to expand my knowledge and get experience in a new position.”
What is your favorite movie or TV show of all time?
Belinda: “Schitt’s Creek.”
Ashley: “My favorite movie is Grease (the original). My favorite TV show is currently Yellowstone, although I am a big sucker for Grey’s Anatomy.”
Sara: “That’s a hard one. Lol. My favorite movie is probably The Lost Boys. My favorite TV show is probably Dexter.”
Joseph: “Favorite movie is The Dark Knight. Favorite TV shows are the original Star Trek and South Park.”
Kyndra: “My favorite show is Schitt’s Creek. My favorite movie is The Other Woman.”
Annette: “My favorite TV show is CSI.”
What was your favorite show to tag? Why?
Ashley: “Oh, that’s a tough one! There have been some really good shows. Through the years I can remember getting really excited to tag an episode of Psych and Dead to Me. I enjoyed them both because they were new shows, to me, that I never would have watched if not for this position.”
Sara: “Hmmmm. There have been a lot that I liked working on. But I think I would have to say Dexter or Outlander. I like those shows and that makes it more fun.”
Joseph: “Psych and Cobra Kai were fun. The Chosen is amazing too.”
Kyndra: “My favorite title to tag was Dexter. I loved it because it had many tags, making it seem like the work was being done faster. It was also full of a variety of tags, which is enjoyable to me. Also, Dexter is one of my favorite shows, so it was so fun to tag it.”
What was your least favorite show to tag? Why?
Ashley: “I don’t prefer to watch any scary movies/shows or anything with a lot of gore, because of that I would have to say Ash vs Evil Dead has been my least favorite show to tag.”
Sara: “Definitely Selling Sunset. I don’t mind working on it at all. I just personally don’t care for reality shows.”
Kyndra: “My least favorite title to tag was Happy and anything scary. Happy was just not my favorite because it was not a show I would normally watch, and some of the tags were things I have never seen before. But learning is growing, which is good. I also am not a fan of scary shows so those always are hard for me to watch since I don’t watch them in my free time.”
Annette: “My least favorite tags would be sexual references because it’s hard to word some of the descriptions without being crude.”
Any fun stories about your tagging experience?
Ashley: “As I am sure any tagger will tell you, working for VidAngel has caused me to ‘tag’ every movie or TV show my family and I watch while I am not working. This has caused some fun moments in my house, especially with my youngest. Any time something inappropriate comes on the TV my son will yell out, ‘Oh, that’s a tag!’ We all get a good laugh out of this.”
Sara: “There are so many crazy things I have come across while tagging. But it always makes me laugh when I tag something and it changes the dialog in a way that completely changes the tone of the scene.”
Joseph: “It’s always fun when we joke about all the depravity we have to google and how we hope our google search history never gets out.”
Annette: “There is always something new that comes up with this job. Every time you think you know what you’re doing, a show comes out with new crazy situations.”
So, how much hope do you have in humanity?
Belinda: “I have a lot of hope in humanity and hope what we do can help bring families together with stronger values.”
Ashley: “So much! I like to believe that people are genuinely good. I see random acts of kindness daily and take every opportunity to give my kids the experience of giving back.”
Sara: “I have plenty of hope for humanity. I think humans on a whole are good. Definitely more good than bad.”
Joseph: “About 50/50… hard to stay positive sometimes.”
Kyndra: “I have hope in humanity, but I think there are so many different opinions about a lot of things and that just causes a lot of contention and hardship. I do believe that if we stay happy and positive it will help everyone in the long run.”
Annette: “I have a lot of hope in humanity. Even with all the bad things that happen, there is so much good and so many good people in the world.”
There you have it! What else would you like to ask the VidAngel employees that make filters a reality?
Very interesting…. It is kind of refreshing to know that a human is “tagging”. I figured that it was done by some server running a special program. Thank you all for making our lives better by the work you do.