How Ryan Trahan's Team Creates Daily Series That Actually Work

Gimbal Podcast

25 Dec 2025 — 2 min read

Preston White has been Ryan Trahan's creative director for four years. Together they've produced the Penny Series (which became a cultural moment) and 50 States in 50 Days (which raised $12M+ for St. Jude). Here's the storytelling structure that makes their daily content binge-worthy.

The Double Arc Method

Most daily series fail because they're just vlogs strung together. Preston calls this the "temple" problem—you can't just do "day in my life" anymore. You need structural substance. A real throughline.

Ryan's team solves this with the Double Arc Method: two layers of storytelling running at once.

Layer 1: The Mini Arc (daily resolution)
Every single episode resolves something. In Penny Series, each day had its own complete story: finding laundry, getting dinner, accomplishing the day's goal. The viewer gets satisfaction even if they only watch one episode.

Layer 2: The Master Arc (cumulative momentum)
The mini arcs ladder up to a bigger story. In Penny Series, it was "will they make it to MrBeast?" In 50 States, it was "will they hit all 50?"

Why it works: Humans want closure. The mini arc gives it daily. The master arc keeps them coming back.

How to Use This

Define your master arc first. What's the singular question your series answers? "Will they make it?" works better than "watch me do stuff."
Plan a mini arc for every episode. Before you film day one, identify what resolves in each episode. It can be small (finding food, meeting someone, solving a problem) but it must resolve.
Make the mini arcs ladder up. Each daily resolution should move the master arc forward somehow. Day 12's dinner problem becomes day 13's starting point.
Set a threshold, then commit. Preston's team decided: 500K views/day = success. But even if it flopped, they'd post all 30. No quitting. The series only works if viewers trust you'll finish.
Let the structure carry the content. You don't need every episode to be a banger. The framework creates momentum. Some days can breathe.

What Else Preston Revealed

Why they once filmed an entire video and killed it (it "wasn't a Ryan Trahan video")
The 54-page Google Doc that coordinated 50 States in 50 Days
How he scouts exact camera angles using Google Street View before anyone arrives
The outreach method that gets locations to say yes (hint: start with less information, not more)

Watch the Full Episode

Connect with Preston

Instagram: @prestonaverywhite
Ryan Trahan's Channel: @ryan

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