Later today, there’s going to be 100 new channels for you to watch… But they’re not on TV. Nope, they’re all on YouTube, catering to unique interests ranging from cooking, to, more to the point, the geek and nerd crowd. Each channel will be filled to the brim with enough original content to program an entire season of television, but with you – the actual viewer – and not some network executive in mind.
One of those highly anticipated channels? Geek & Sundry from nerd icon Felicia Day, which will feature her original series The Guild, but also shows from Wil Wheaton, Paul and Storm, and a bunch of children. We chatted with Day in advance of the launch, and she gave us the scoop on what Geek & Sundry means to her career, what we can look forward to on launch day, and the chances of her crossing over with fellow nerd Chris Hardwick’s own channel:
MTV Geek: Obviously you’ve been at the forefront of the web video scene for a while, but Geek and Sundry is a huge leap forward. What’s it been like moving from just, you know, two series or so, to doing a whole channel?
Felicia Day: Doing Guild and Dragon Age at the same time last year really taught me and my producing partner Kim Evey what it takes to be able to manage multiple shows at one. The great thing was that we had the resources to bring more people on, and for some reason it's working with 6 shows now pretty well (knock on wood)!
Geek: In general, when I’ve talked to anybody about how they’re tackling the YouTube Channels initiative, there’s sort of this panicked look, followed by a, “We don’t… Know… Yet…” What’s your take on it? How are you approaching the channel, and what makes this different from either just your run of the mill YouTube channel, or a TV channel? What makes it the same?
FD: I made a decision not to leap into TV or Movies and instead decided to start this channel from scratch. I knew it wouldn't be easy and it is all a big gamble, but I have an amazing community of fans and supporters that I've spent pretty much every day with for the last four years. To go away from the web would mean to lose touch with them, and I have no interest in doing that. Read More...
