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MADISON'S WEB CELEBS [Isthmus](Isthmus Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Meet five creative locals who've found fame through podcasts, blogs and YouTube videos The Internet has provided fertile ground for Madison's creative class for more than a decade. No longer limited by geography or traditional gatekeepers, local people are cultivating opportunities that simply didn't exist in the pre-digital world, especially opportunities to become celebrities of sorts. Here are five snapshots of what that fame looks like for local artists, makers and entertainers - and in some cases, how it's helped them put down roots in Madison. The podcaster: MIKE DUNCAN The Roman Empire fell more than 1,500 years ago, long before the Internet existed. Interestingly, its demise created a path to contemporary stardom for Madison resident Mike Duncan, creator and host of an award-winning podcast called The History of Rome. After leaving a master's degree program at Texas State in 2007, Duncan started The History of Rome as a way to stay active in his field before completing a degree in public history. Little did he know that his detailed audio survey of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire would span 190 episodes and attract legions of fans from across the globe. "I was thinking a couple hundred people would listen, but it just kept growing and growing and growing," he says. Though Duncan completed this massive audio tome two years ago, it is still downloaded hundreds of thousands of times each month. Duncan receives tons of emails as well. "I get emails from fans all over the world. The U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Canada, all of the Americas. A lot of people in the U.S. military, too," he says. Since finishing The History of Rome, Duncan started the equally successful Revolutions podcast, which has chronicled democratic upheavals in the U.K and the U.S. so far. In July, Duncan starte 1 releasing his first episodes about the French Revolution. That's just the beginning of his next phase. "After the French Revolution is the Haitian Revolution, then we've got the Mexican Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Cuban Revolution," he notes. "I have my work cut out for me." Podcasting also helped connect him with tour operators in Europe, spawning a whole new revenue stream. "We've done four History of Rome tours now, and they've all been hits. There's not really another tour company that focuses on just ancient historical sites," he says. Duncan hopes that his fans truly learn from history, especially when it comes to technological innovation. He worries that the Internet may change in ways that make it very hard for an individual to, say, turn a podcast into a successful business. "When things like net neutrality are gone, who knows how long people like me will be able to exist? We might just go back to having gatekeepers minding the store." The blogger: GABRIELLE PEDRIANI UW alum and self-described fashion nerd Gabrielle Pedriani has also made a name for herself on the Internet. Her Look Sharp, Sconnie blog started making waves when it won Marie Claire magazine's nationwide #SoGoodFashion Twitter challenge in 2012. People-watching in Madison inspired Pedriani to launch the blog. She says her first posts were photos of stylish strangers she'd accost on the street. "It's fun to approach [fashion-related] topics I see being popular around the country and then filter them through a Midwestern perspective," she says. "I don't think that would have even been possible before the Internet." The blog helped her make personal and professional connections as well. "It was a way for me to meet people who I could tell were interested in fashion," she says. But Look Sharp, Sconnie did more than put Pedriani in touch with Madison's small but emerging fashion scene; it was the start of a bona fide career. Pedriani's nationwide following has translated into gigs both onand offline. In February, she covered New York Fashion Week for the online retailer Polyvore, and she's done televised fashion segments on Madison's NBC affiliate, WMTV. She doesn't plan on stopping there. "I want to change the face of fashion, to make it more approachable and something that reflects the entire country," she explains. "For too long, fashion has been completely dominated by a small, elite [group] on the coasts." The streets of Madison paved the way for Look Sharp, Sconnie, but the runways i of New York are especially alluring to PeS driani. Two weeks ago she moved to New ° York City, where she hopes to make an even bigger splash in the fashion world. * Pedriani is keenly aware that her time in £ Madison has prepared her for the next step c in her career. ü "People in Madison are open to big things, L so big things come to Madison," she says. £ The actor: J.D. WALSH After falling in love with the stage at Madison West High School in the early 1990s, J.D. Walsh did what many ambitious creative types did before the almighty Internet cast its web worldwide. He headed to a coast. "If you want to make a living as an actor, it's still easier to do it in L.A. or New York," he says. Since leaving Madison to pursue acting in Los Angeles, Walsh has appeared in dozens of commercials, movies and TV shows, most notably Dharma and Greg, Two and a Half Men and the latest Spider-Man block-buster. But he never lost affection for his hometown. "I wish I could live in Madison and just create every day," he admits. Walsh recently seized an opportunity to practice his craft in Madison from time to time. He has the Internet to thank for that. He launched his own TV series, Battleground, in 2012. It follows the campaign of dark-horse U.S. Senate candidate Deirdre Samuels, and it was set and shot locally. Though the show was originally designed for Fox, it became the first original programming produced by the streaming-video service Hulu. Walsh says broadcast networks like Fox are looking for TV shows that fit into two categories: 30-minute comedies and hour-long dramas. Tonally, Battleground is somewhere in the middle. When Fox decided to pass on Walsh's pilot, he learned that emerging Internet TV networks are much more flexible with their programming decisions. "Luckily for me, Hulu just wanted quality programming, and they dug the [Battleground] idea," he says. The impressionist: JASON STEPHENS In some cases, entertainers and entrepreneurs circumvent traditional paths to fame out of necessity. I know from personal experience at WTDY that the local radio industry is struggling to find its place in a broadening media landscape. Increasingly, seasoned radio professionals aren't being replaced. Their positions are simply being eliminated. But former Q106 morning host Jason Stephens says he's been able to market the skills he honed in radio to clients located far beyond Madison's airwaves. "Without the Internet, I wouldn't have a business.... What I do is very specialized, and the demand on a local level is only high enough to supplement a full-time career," he says. After 10 years in Madison radio, Stephens is now landing voice acting jobs around the country through his website, Jason's Voices. His specialty is impressions of celebrities like Morgan Freeman, Winston Churchill, Ted Nugent, Barack Obama and Christopher Walken. Even before his departure from radio, Stephens displayed his talent for voices through collaborations with Madison comedians Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda, creators of the YouTube megahit Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager (see sidebar). "I think it would have been incredibly difficult if not for my partnership with Matt and Aaron," Stephens says. "I'm a regular guest on their Internet show Beer and Board Games. I voice Christopher Walken through a series of videogame play-throughs, as well as the recently popular Obama Plays videos." Add up all those YouTube views, and it totals more than 30 million. This audience is much bigger than that of your average country music DJ. But Stephens says fame is not the only perk of making a living online. "Not having to leave my family to go to a job every day is huge," he says. "That and I'll never have to listen to another Toby Keith song for the rest of my life." The retailer: NATALIE BASS Internet fame isn't just for writers, scholars and entertainers. The web's ability to make minor celebrities out of ordinary folks is strengthening more traditional types of businesses. Graphic artist turned clothing designer Natalie Bass laid the foundation for her Monroe Street shop Zip-Dang with her online store Orangyporangy. Orangyporangy started as a way for Bass to do something many people struggle to do: get paid to make art. "The main concept behind my clothing is that it's graphic and bold, but at the same time it's really comfortable. Everything has a kind of retro design or style," she says. In addition to helping Bass define her brand, Orangyporangy led her to her core audience: people in search of what she calls "handmade ladywear." Bass developed a steady stream of customers for her A-line skirts, upcycled tops and screen-printed shirts through a combination of online retail and sales at traveling art shows. Bass says starting small allowed her to think big. "I started out of this tiny Madison apartment. That gave me a lot of freedom to figure out what I wanted to do while I was doing it, without making huge commitments or investing a lot of money I didn't have," she says. Along with her husband, fellow graphic artist Mike, Bass opened Zip-Dang three years ago and has gradually shifted much of her energy toward building that business. "It's terrifying opening up any kind of shop, but I felt confident about moving forward because I already had an established business that I knew people were into," Bass says. "I never would have started a bricks-and-mortar store without first having a website and a following online." The Basses value the face-to-face contact a bricks-and-mortar shop provides. They're especially thankful for the support they've received from the neighborhoods along Monroe Street. Zip-Dang is now hiring its first employees, and there are plans to open a Monroe Street workspace that will double as a pop-up retail store where other local artists can sell their wares. Bass is shocked at how effective social media has been for reaching customers right here in Madison. "It's insane how well Facebook works for business," she says. "It's just cool to feel connected to the people who are paying attention to what we're doing."# Shooting for stardom: Tips from Chad Voder's creators Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda, founders of Madison's Blame Society Productions, teamed up to play Darth Vader's less successful brother in their Star Wars-inspired web series Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager. (Sloan provided the voice while Yonda appeared onscreen.) Since 2006, the show has received more 100 million views on YouTube, making it one of Madison's best-known web projects. I've appeared on Chad Vader, and I've contributed to Blame Society projects like Beer and Board Games, but I've never asked Yonda and Sloan for advice on becoming an Internet star - until now. Here are three tips from each of them. From Yonda: 1. Do something you love. 2. Seek out feedback, especially from your most engaged fans. 3. Stick with it. Consistency is the key to building an audience and improving your content. From Sloan: 1. Don't get hung up on page views. 2. People like fresh ideas, but they also like familiar things. Give 'em both. 3. The Internet is ultimately driven by personalities. When someone subscribes to your YouTube channel, they're subscribing to you, which is pretty rewarding. D.B (c) 2014 Isthmus Publishing |