Peter Santenello started over his life at 40 while traveling in Ukraine. He had some money saved up, a failed startup, and no direction on his content whatsoever. But regardless he started telling stories by himself in a foreign land.

He kept making videos in different countries and eventually decided to return to America in 2020.

Since then he has made videos on communities all over the country by traveling to their neighborhoods and has gained over a million subscribers on YouTube. Some of his most exceptional work are his stories covering Hasidic Jews, the Amish community, and the Projects in New York.

Show Notes:

0:00 Intro

0:46 Life In Ukraine

5:12 Frugality 

7:26 Proof of concept

8:39 Coming back to the USA

12:27 Storytelling style

14:12 Protests in 2020

18:10 Narratives in politics

23:13 Diversity in America

25:41 Mainstream Media

28:17 Crime

32:01 Niche Communities 

35:19 How Peter Makes Money

38:44 Patience

41:28 Editing and Production

43:44 IRL fans

45:59 Regrets

Welcome to The Sagnik Show — where politics, media, and identity collide.

Over the past decade, I’ve worked across legacy and new media, from FOX to independent platforms alongside people like Tucker Carlson, Saagar Enjeti, and Krystal Ball.

I didn’t come to the U.S. to cover politics—I just happened to fall into it. What followed was an unexpected crash course in the American political machine, taught by some of the sharpest (and most polarizing) voices in the business.

This show is my attempt to process what I’ve learned—and unlearned.

I also speak with creators and entrepreneurs building media on their own terms—people forging new paths outside the traditional gatekeepers.

I’m not here to sell you anything. None of this is monetized. I’m just grateful you’re listening.

IG: @sssagnic

YT: @thesagnikbasu

X: @_sagnikbasu

Angelo Scarfone left his Costco badge behind to start creating and eventually, he started working for the host of the iconic Breakfast Club - Charlamagne that God. I wanted to learn about all the ups and downs of his journey in production so far and how he approaches camerawork for artists.

Show Notes:

0:00 Intro

0:26 Meeting Charlamagne

2:27 Life before videography 

6:24 Breaking into the industry

9:41 Charging clients

11:34 Charlamagne's co-sign

13:00 Production overhead 

16:15 Breakfast Club

17:07 Hometown rappers

18:28 Cashflow

20:28 Nepotism in production

23:04 Building in public

25:31 No Film School movement

26:44 Reality Check

29:04 Outro

Welcome to The Sagnik Show — where politics, media, and identity collide.

Over the past decade, I’ve worked across legacy and new media, from FOX to independent platforms alongside people like Tucker Carlson, Saagar Enjeti, and Krystal Ball.

I didn’t come to the U.S. to cover politics—I just happened to fall into it. What followed was an unexpected crash course in the American political machine, taught by some of the sharpest (and most polarizing) voices in the business.

This show is my attempt to process what I’ve learned—and unlearned.

I also speak with creators and entrepreneurs building media on their own terms—people forging new paths outside the traditional gatekeepers.

I’m not here to sell you anything. None of this is monetized. I’m just grateful you’re listening.

IG: @sssagnic

YT: @thesagnikbasu

X: @_sagnikbasu

David Rock aka Drock is the creative genius behind Gary Vaynerchuk's success on YouTube and social media. I wanted to find out how he went from freelancing out of his sister's basement to running the show for one of the best marketers of the internet era.

Show Notes:

0:00 Intro

0:15 Freelancing From A Basement

6:08 Cold DMing Gary

8:35 Test Project

11:10 Come Work For Me?

12:25 Frugality

15:47 Daily Vee & Ask Gary Vee

18:12 Let's Vlog!

20:55 The Aha Moment

22:52 Shop Talk

26:00 Putting in the time

28:13 Tyler Babin

30:31 Going Independent?

34:30 Creativity In Numbers

40:25 Education For Creative Kids

42:00 Creating For Different Platforms

44:27 Burnout

47:24 Anti-Hustle Culture

50:05 Drock Is Writing A Book!

52:25 The Impact Of Creating

Welcome to The Sagnik Show — where politics, media, and identity collide.

Over the past decade, I’ve worked across legacy and new media, from FOX to independent platforms alongside people like Tucker Carlson, Saagar Enjeti, and Krystal Ball.

I didn’t come to the U.S. to cover politics—I just happened to fall into it. What followed was an unexpected crash course in the American political machine, taught by some of the sharpest (and most polarizing) voices in the business.

This show is my attempt to process what I’ve learned—and unlearned.

I also speak with creators and entrepreneurs building media on their own terms—people forging new paths outside the traditional gatekeepers.

I’m not here to sell you anything. None of this is monetized. I’m just grateful you’re listening.

IG: @sssagnic

YT: @thesagnikbasu

X: @_sagnikbasu

Hey! You are listening to my conversation with Chifftie, a producer for Andrew Schulz's Flagrant podcast.

Chifftie moved to New York after graduating high school to edit for Andrew Schulz and Flagrant. I wanted to find out how an 18-year-old dropout flew across the country to hustle his way into the creator economy.

Show Notes:

0:00 Intro

0:20 Schulz's editing competetion

2:54 The first grind

6:00 Left on read

7:20 The clipping hustle

10:23 Andrew follows back

15:00 The one-yard line fumble 

16:15 Graduation day

18:30 Orientation @ Flagrant

21:05 The Creative spark

22:30 Imposter

23:23 Do creators need college?

28:00 The YouTube game

30:00 Vulnerability 

31:10 Life as a NY creative

32:04 The clipping formula

33:38 Editing Andrew's Special

37:35 The Flagrant community

39:39 TikTok vs YouTube

45:08 Being your own subject

47:06 A 19-year-old in New York

48:10 Take it easy

Welcome to The Sagnik Show — where politics, media, and identity collide.

Over the past decade, I’ve worked across legacy and new media, from FOX to independent platforms alongside people like Tucker Carlson, Saagar Enjeti, and Krystal Ball.

I didn’t come to the U.S. to cover politics—I just happened to fall into it. What followed was an unexpected crash course in the American political machine, taught by some of the sharpest (and most polarizing) voices in the business.

This show is my attempt to process what I’ve learned—and unlearned.

I also speak with creators and entrepreneurs building media on their own terms—people forging new paths outside the traditional gatekeepers.

I’m not here to sell you anything. None of this is monetized. I’m just grateful you’re listening.

IG: @sssagnic

YT: @thesagnikbasu

X: @_sagnikbasu

Hey! You are listening to my conversation with Saagar Enjeti, the host of Breaking Points - the leading independent news show.  

In this episode, we talk about his journey leaving the corporate media world and starting his show from scratch, a bunch of behind-the-scenes talks, and how he has adjusted to success as an independent creator. So if you ever had a desire to get to know Saagar on a personal level, I would recommend keep listening. Fun fact: this is one of the few shows where Saagar Enjeti is not pictured wearing a suit, so if you wanna see what a casual dressed-down Saagar looks like head on to my YouTube channel, search Content for Creators Saagars. Alright, like, rate, subscribe, all that good stuff, and thanks for listening.

Welcome to The Sagnik Show — where politics, media, and identity collide.

Over the past decade, I’ve worked across legacy and new media, from FOX to independent platforms alongside people like Tucker Carlson, Saagar Enjeti, and Krystal Ball.

I didn’t come to the U.S. to cover politics—I just happened to fall into it. What followed was an unexpected crash course in the American political machine, taught by some of the sharpest (and most polarizing) voices in the business.

This show is my attempt to process what I’ve learned—and unlearned.

I also speak with creators and entrepreneurs building media on their own terms—people forging new paths outside the traditional gatekeepers.

I’m not here to sell you anything. None of this is monetized. I’m just grateful you’re listening.

IG: @sssagnic

YT: @thesagnikbasu

X: @_sagnikbasu