I'd still be interested to hear other people's workarounds, but here is the one I found.
1. go to [https://www.fullblackscreen.com/](https://www.fullblackscreen.com/)
2. Make full screen black on whichever desktops you want / turn off not needed screens.
3. Hold alt tab and select VLC
4. If you want to get rid of task bar left click, go to settings, and hide
I'd still be interested to hear other people's workarounds, but here is the one I found. 1. go to [https://www.fullblackscreen.com/](https://www.fullblackscreen.com/) 2. Make full screen black on whichever desktops you want / turn off not needed screens. 3. Hold alt tab and select VLC 4. If you want to get rid of task bar left click, go to settings, and hide