The ‘Online vs TV‘ panel at Vidcon 2014 featured Lee Newton (SourceFed), Harley Morenstein (Epic Meal Time), Ross Everett, Lucas Cruikshank (Fred), Matt Gielen (Frederator Networks) and was moderated by Chris Hardwick (Nerdist). The discussion for this panel compared traditional media in the form of TV to ‘new media’ which is the online world in YouTube and beyond. Chris Hardwick was an excellent choice as moderator since he came from a background in TV (MTV) and has now basically relaunched his career as an online entity in his Nerdist channel/brand.
Harley Morenstein talked about being a school teacher and wanting to make a ‘kids show’ and how people wouldn’t take him seriously because of his looks and size. The audience got a good chuckle out of the thought of Harley hosting a show for kids after seeing what Harley has done with the adult-themed Epic Meal Time. Ultimately Epic Meal Time has been one of the handful of shows to make the leap to TV straight from the online market.
Ross Everett who has hosted for numerous outlets admitted that Hollywood was not accepting of him and how he wasn’t considered ‘good looking’ enough to be on camera and TV. Ross said he was inspired by a book called David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (by Malcolm Gladwell) to push on and keep him motivated enough to succeed.
Lee Newton talked about how the Internet and YouTube can help break stories faster then traditional media and also how online media is difficult for traditional media to converge. Hardwick added his frustration when comparing YouTube to TV it was as if TV was ‘crushing ants’ and how TV Networks don’t get or understand the online medium.
Lucas Cruikshank explained how he was lucky when starting out because there was little preconception of online entertainment and how his first handful of videos featured his cat and family members. Lucas also outlined how that when TV picked up his show ‘Fred’ that he had to drop characters like ‘Alcoholic Mom‘ and others that he dreamed up when he conceived the show at age 13. Hardwick expanded on this by suggesting that newcomers not copy what others are doing but copy the idea that they made content they loved to make.
Vidcon 2014 – Diversity on YouTube panel
https://coin-op.tv/vidcon-2014-diversity-youtube-panel/
Vidcon 2014 – Growing up a YouTuber panel
https://coin-op.tv/vidcon-2014-growing-youtuber-panel/
Vidcon Official Website
http://vidcon.com