FELICIA DAY Goes Network (Her Own, That Is…)
The Hollywood Reporter has the story. Felicia Day – geekdom’s “girl next door” – is launching her own YouTube network.
Wait. YouTube?
Yes. The Geek and Sundry channel launches next week with original content from sources like Wil Wheaton and Dark Horse Comics. Once again, Day shows her ingenuity in trying something other people have talked about.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to be able to do more web series than I had been doing in the past. The Guild has been awesome for the past four or five years of my life, and I was able to do Dragon Age: Redemption, but it really required an investment in a way to be able to start a company that could do more than one or two series at once. The opportunity YouTube offered — where you could go in and pitch a slate of series — made me start thinking about what I’m doing in a much different way.”
To start, the channel will offer six original shows, including one written by children, and Day hopes to add to the slate as the channel grows. But her first priority is to get the audience to watch: “I’d love to add series as we go along, but my immediate goal is to find a fan base and motivate people to create a community around what I’m doing now. ” Even with a built-in fan base from The Guild, there’s no guarantee that the other shows will be as successful, although given the kind of talent with whom Day now can connect, she’s got better than even chances.
Speaking from personal experience, it’s easy to talk about an idea. It’s easy to make a “wish list” of things you want to do before it’s too late. It’s quite something else to actually step out on the limb and see if anyone cuts it off behind you.
Geek and Sundry certainly isn’t the first foray into original content, and it won’t be the last. But it’s certainly going to get noticed. From the beginning of the Internet, the biggest question has been about monetization (how to make money with it). Advertisers have opportunities to reach targeted audiences, yes, but content providers have been looking for that one best business model when it comes to original programming like The Guild or Mercury Men. It’s just not something that the ‘Net Alchemy Club has generated yet.
You can bet many will be watching Geek and Sundry to see if there are any clues for a master formula.
(Of course, it helps to be Felicia Day.)
