Before you try to dive into your career and become King or Queen of all New and Old Media, you have to remember, Comics and TV are divided enough, but TV and Comics and the ONLINE WORLD. Hoo boy. What a pickle. Those two mediums are even MORE discriminatory towards people on the internet, labeling them "criminals" and "pirates" in hopes it will sabotage aspiring auteurs from crossing the wall that separates the two (cough cough Last Airbender).
Look, it's hard enough to succeed in any one industry. But here is the truth.
NO ONE has conquered both technology and entertainment, other than on a superficial namesake level that makes one look more involved in everything than he or she actually is.
You really think anyone with leverage in TV and movies has so much as a FOOTHOLD of power on a Power hub like YouTube or Twitter? Don't think so. They may be on there, but that is not the same thing as being a leader there who built his status from the ground up. You know, the way, oh, I don't know, I DID. Don't think so.
But the other problem is, this barrier of "failure" and medium discrimination works in both directions. I know plenty of people who work in TV who wish they had popularity online but won't admit how they feel due to their high amount of professional pride. The same thing works in reverse, with people on forums and social networks, websites, and webcomics, who wish they had a career in movies and TV, but get turned down by every producer/agent/talent scout in town just for BEING young, online, and "Not Hollywood Enough".
Discrimination and lack of acceptance exists on both ends of the spectrum. One on old media, and the other on new media
Just because you HAVE a show on TV and post messages online does NOT mean you are 100% accepted there. People like that, are highly envied online as well, hence generating a certain amount of negative reactions and comments that are purely based on status, and not the quality of output.
I've been trying to make a breakthrough from my home turf (social media, the web 2.0, new media, and online broadcasting) to old media for years, but with little progress...Not surprisingly...What with all the cross media, cross-medium discrimination out there. People just looking for an excuse NOT to hire people from the online industry.
Cross-Medium discrimination. Expect it. It is the digital media Berlin Wall.
Let's face it, whether you succeed online or in movies, books and TV, there is one unanimous agreement between both parties. None of us like real work, or real jobs. But almost all of us want the glory of success. We just go about it in different ways. And in many ways we all want some place to fit in. We all want somewhere to go where we can meet and talk or write to other people like ourselves, who enjoy similar things. The community aspect, whether it's Hollywood, or on a TV screen, or on a website, or in a video, or an online forum. A lot of us don't get along with our neighbors, or even families, so we turn to friends and industry communities, where people actually understand us as human beings. In that sense, the new and old media communities are not so different.
In an era of profound isolation and superior technology, people still seek out understanding, status, and acceptance.
I'll say one positive thing about being recognized or contributing content to the internet, though.
Not every internet celebrity goes on to be a film director, or book author, or animator, or cartoonist. Actually, hardly any of them, if not all the famous ones pretty much never do, other than the obvious ones like Perez Hilton or Justin Bieber, who are in certain ways actual real traditional media brands now.
But some animators and cartoonists do go online to pontificate in forums and galleries and tweets and blogs. The William Streets, Cartoon Networks, Jhonen Vasquezes, Thomas Romains, Chris Prynoskis, Steve Blums, John Ks, Greg Capullos, Neil Gaimans, Scott McClouds, Dave Filonis, Todd McFarlanes and Kevin Smiths of the world do in fact sometimes take the time to interact with the online community.
I predict it is and will be these types of celebrities that I suspect and predict will be the dominant creative brands of the future. The ones who open up the public fan dialogue, reach out, not just sit back behind a curtain waiting for events to unfold and doing nothing about it. The ones who take the time to make their presence felt to people who aren't anywhere near as famous...
Let's face it, whether you succeed online or in movies, books and TV, there is one unanimous agreement between both parties. None of us like real work, or real jobs. But almost all of us want the glory of success. We just go about it in different ways. And in many ways we all want some place to fit in. We all want somewhere to go where we can meet and talk or write to other people like ourselves, who enjoy similar things. The community aspect, whether it's Hollywood, or on a TV screen, or on a website, or in a video, or an online forum. A lot of us don't get along with our neighbors, or even families, so we turn to friends and industry communities, where people actually understand us as human beings. In that sense, the new and old media communities are not so different.
In an era of profound isolation and superior technology, people still seek out understanding, status, and acceptance.
I'll say one positive thing about being recognized or contributing content to the internet, though.
Not every internet celebrity goes on to be a film director, or book author, or animator, or cartoonist. Actually, hardly any of them, if not all the famous ones pretty much never do, other than the obvious ones like Perez Hilton or Justin Bieber, who are in certain ways actual real traditional media brands now.
But some animators and cartoonists do go online to pontificate in forums and galleries and tweets and blogs. The William Streets, Cartoon Networks, Jhonen Vasquezes, Thomas Romains, Chris Prynoskis, Steve Blums, John Ks, Greg Capullos, Neil Gaimans, Scott McClouds, Dave Filonis, Todd McFarlanes and Kevin Smiths of the world do in fact sometimes take the time to interact with the online community.
I predict it is and will be these types of celebrities that I suspect and predict will be the dominant creative brands of the future. The ones who open up the public fan dialogue, reach out, not just sit back behind a curtain waiting for events to unfold and doing nothing about it. The ones who take the time to make their presence felt to people who aren't anywhere near as famous...
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