YOUTUBERS: 7 ADVANTAGES THEY HAVE OVER FILM ACTORS

As there are various types of YouTube channels, there are also many reasons a vlogger may have started his own show. Maybe… he loves telling dad jokes, he has a specific life experience to share or, he really loves trap music and can’t stop talking about the genre.

OR, he could be an actor who’s taken it upon himself to start his career and name. If you’ve ever frowned upon an actor for getting their start on the very small screen, consider these advantages they have over an actor who has never hit that upload button.

But before the list, I’ll clear the air and admit: I’m a former YouTuber. I only get so candid because it makes more sense to narrate from my first-hand experience as I navigate this listicle. I had a YouTube show called Wrecked Radio from 2009-2014 that obtained a YouTube partnership, 3 million+ views & an international fanbase before ending. Though my production quality and performance was amateur at the start, I honed my style and skill as it developed over the five years it ran. I only said ‘Goodbye’ when I started to focus on my film career, the type of performing I really wanted to do, but I can’t deny how important my YouTube years were for my growth as a performer.

ABOVE: I turned this article into a YouTube video. If you like to watch/listen to advice over reading it, click the play button.

Comfort with the Camera

As I moved surprisingly gracefully through the indie film scene in my local market, I realized a reason I did so well in the audition room: I was already so comfortable with my greatest filmmaking partner, the camera. After years of stumbling over, starting over and editing my own line deliveries, getting up in front of the audition camera wasn’t such an alien and awkward behavior as it sometimes is to beginner actors.

Homemade Reel Material

As I auditioned in my first few months, it was a pleasant relief to already have an entire reel’s-worth of material to show casting. Granted, it was a reel of me telling joke monologues in front of a chroma-key screen with a couple corny skits sprinkled in, but it showed a lot of my conviction and experience and…I was on camera!

Production & Writing Experience

…It was also a relief to have been able to edit that reel together myself as I still do today. When I first made the decision to start a YouTube show, I had to fumble my way around every aspect of it: filming with an old home video camera, lighting my green screen so the effect actually worked and cutting my show with the free software on my family computer. As I got more serious with the show, I upgraded my equipment and used the same fiddling/Googling technique to learn how everything worked best.





ABOVE: First acting reel (top) vs. current acting reel (bottom). Never stop learning.

But besides Mickey-Mousing my way around equipment, I also accomplished producing an entire comedy-news series by myself. I researched and wrote the show, corny half-jokes and all, every Sunday night and produced on Monday. I felt the weight of go-live deadlines (which I often worked right up to or past), exercised my skills at various, makeshift crew positions and released my work in a very public way every week. Which brings me to…

Feedback & Self-Awareness

Some actors value the power of the moment and an honest performance by not watching themselves in the final product. Though I respect that approach, I never understood how it was more helpful. Every week as I edited myself, I developed constructive observations on all my innate aspects: my gestures, expressions, line-delivers, my enunciation.

I trimmed and tagged the best and worst parts of my on-camera presence and notably became more present and poised as the series went on. But, not only was I picking apart my own performance, I was critiqued by my own gallery of “digital content purveyors”. Besides informing me of characteristics I didn’t know I possessed (“I have a Pittsburgh accent??”), the brutally honest responses thickened my skin in a way that left me practically untouchable. You have enemies… what about a YouTube following?

But, despite the carnal nature of the internet, I don’t actually remember a lot of the insults or criticisms to this day. The compliments and admiration heavily outweigh the troll banter. Spoiler-alert, I actually attempted to pursue my childhood dream of acting only after Wrecked Radio did so well… I went to art school, afterall.

Marketing and Brand Representation

YouTube, though, provided more than clicks and comments. When creating a web series, you are forced to also stretch your wings in the field of marketing. Watch your favorite YouTuber over a period of time and map their patterns: catchphrases, editing style, on-screen personality, content topics. And with my great art degree, I was able to design all the logo-types, posters, banners, thumbnails and video graphics.

I not only learned how to promote my work efficiently (and freely using everything I knew about the open web), but I practiced making my brand recognizable and consistent. With my own observations (and some help from YouTube analytics) I learned what demographics were watching my videos, what they liked and expected, which of my videos were most popular (and why??), and, most importantly, why did the same people keep coming back week after week?

ABOVE: Older actor-help video of mine: “What To Wear To An Audition”.

Entwined within the nature of a YouTube channel, social media was a large part of my brand and growth. Facebook, Twitter and now Instagram continue to be an important part of not only selling anything anywhere but to actors and YouTubers. The show itself harbored likes and follows every week as it climbed the YouTube charts and I plugged and prompted attention to my social media at the end of every episode.

In today’s competitive market, producers and casting directors are considering social media popularity when choosing between actors, leaning on those with larger followings to help promote their final product. A harsh new reality but an inevitability. My wide-spread series allowed me to reach beyond my local film community, providing a reason to know and follow me.

Extra Income

Not making the bucks as an actor in the beginning? It may take a while and a lot of work to popularize your show and apply Adsense to your videos, but it’s a way to take your fate into your own hands and monetize your own talent. Like YouTube taught me to produce my own content, it also introduced me to the business side of entertainment. Though YouTube has recently (if you are reading this circa summer of 2017) come under fire for monetization restrictions, it’s still a platform that allows a performer to bank on their own show success, if either through YouTube’s aforementioned Adsense or separate income-enabling entities like Patreon. (Gosh, so much good alliteration in this one)

Not all actors want to be their own producer. Creating Wrecked Radio took up a vast chunk of my time and attention when I was in it, so much so that I had to ultimately decide between continuing to build upon a hobby I was becoming weary of or take a risk at something new. I picked the latter and do not regret it, but I would not be the same performer if it wasn’t for that big, red play button.

This is a NEW Show

Now on my way to my first attempt in L.A., I’m bringing my community with me. YouTube was how I got started and its how I plan to grow. You’ll often watch videos of YouTubers thanking their subscribers over and over for getting them to a career they’ve always wanted: there has never been a closer connection between creaters and fans in the entertainment industry as their is on YouTube. If you’d like to see what new content I’m “spinning”, visit my channel and turn that red sub button gray.