The ‘Growing up a YouTuber‘ panel at Vidcon 2014 featured Rebecca Black, Trevor Moran, Tessa Violet, Mitchell Davis, Lucas Cruikshank, Troye Sivan and was moderated by actor Wil Wheaton. The panel was a discussion on the impact of being on camera at such a young age and if there were any regrets or things the group may have done differently. Wil Wheaton as moderator was a great choice because he grew up on TV as part of the Star Trek The Next Generation cast and can more recently be seen on The Big Bang Theory. The rest of the panel was a mixed bunch of youth centric entertainers – some who’s careers launched as a result of YouTube and some as a result of TV and performing.
Tessa Violet (who does life vlogging and sketches on YouTube) was very vocal during the panel stressing the importance of having family and a support system around you when making videos. Tessa also voiced that if you are starting out making videos online to ’embrace how terrible you are gonna be for a year’ and not to compare yourself to people who have been making content ahead of you for years. With that Wheaton followed up by saying ‘you made a thing, they made a comment’ in regards to people leaving negative comments to something you have created.
Trevor Moran – a music performer who launched his career after a quirky audition on The X Factor responded to fans who asked him about that experience and he said the best thing was getting to meet Britney Spears. Trevor was sitting next to Rebecca Black who got famous for her music video ‘Friday’ admits that she never expected her video to blow up and was caught off guard by all the fame and needed time to sort out her instant stardom.
Lucas Cruikshank who blossomed on YouTube during the early days of the platform with his show ‘Fred‘ said that he was inspired by TV shows and wanted to create his own show with his own characters even admitting he was motivated as a performer by the desire to be on Disney/Nickelodeon – which eventually came to fruition.
Wil Wheaton had much to say as moderator in adding to the panel discussion and in fact when the Q&A opened up there were a handful of fan questions asking him directly about being on Star Trek and The Big Bang Theory. Something Wheaton explained was that it took him a long time to adjust to being on a show at a very young age and even compared the experience to the original ‘Carrie‘ (Stephen King) in which the lead character is mocked and scrutinized by everyone around her. Wil also admitted his frustrations with ‘old media’ attitudes and how people still shun YouTube and wonders when people are going to realize that YouTube is indeed a threat to their future and their jobs.
Vidcon 2014 Diversity on YouTube panel
https://coin-op.tv/vidcon-2014-diversity-youtube-panel/
Vidcon 2014 Online vs TV panel
https://coin-op.tv/vidcon-2014-online-vs-tv-panel/
Vidcon Official Website
http://vidcon.com