Social media is an amazing tool, but it's really the face-to-face interaction that makes a long-term impact.
Felicia Day
I feel like maybe I'm part of that generation that became more of a gamer than a video consumer. It's always been something I've done with my spare time. If I had three hours on a Friday night, I'm not out partying. I'm probably playing video games.
Every single job is a challenge. You are walking into a new set, a new character, creating a world and trying to get comfortable to do your best work.
Whether you're a Twitter follower, a YouTube subscriber or a Facebook friend, natural social instinct is to collect people and to not kind of see them later. But unfortunately, with social media, you collect them and they're in your life, whether you really want them or not.
I was a huge fan of video games; I wanted to write something, and I saw the tools at my fingertips to upload a video to my audience, and that's why I'm here today. I think that freedom and the lack of gatekeepers, combined with people's passion, is what really the true spirit of Internet geekdom is about.
I'd been in Hollywood for five years before I started writing 'The Guild.' I worked enough to pay all my bills. So I was very lucky in that respect. Most people don't make a living acting.
I've played pretty much every single-player RPG there is, has been, ever will be. But as far as the MMOs go, especially with the voice chat, it becomes like hanging out with your friends in a chat channel, and you're playing at the same time. So it becomes a lot more social than people would probably think.
I think the more web video there is, the more press you'll get, as well as all the people who want to tell stories that haven't been told before but can't do that on TV because different stories are a risk.
Every quirky girl doesn't have to be the best-friend character. It's a very limiting and self-fulfilling prophecy. People only write things that will get green-lit, so they write to those stereotypes.
Typecasting is something I have to be careful with, since I play myself on Geek & Sundry so much on my weekly show 'The Flog.' That's why I did 'Dragon Age: Redemption' last year, so I could do something a little more dramatic and hard-edged.
I think the whole definition of a geek is somebody being passionate and focused, and being proud of saying that they're passionate and focused, on a narrow range of subjects.
Just because you have star power and a huge marketing budget, you can see from some professional web series, it doesn't equal views.
There is definitely a way in which women are raised to be less proactive, less business-oriented, and less willing to jump into creative no man's land. I think media has more of an influence on how we perceive gender identity than anything else.
I'd been on 'Buffy' - that is an amazing community, the Joss Whedon fans.
When I go to a web video meeting and look around, at least half the show runners are women. And a lot are actors-cum-writers who are frustrated with the situation of being a woman actor in Hollywood and have decided to create their own show.
That's the great thing about incubating something on the web: you have the potential to go to other platforms. Every single platform has a different audience that you find.
I actually did go through severe depression and anxiety attacks where I couldn't sleep for weeks. It was definitely several months of being not myself.
People always ask why I stay in the online space versus going to TV or film, like most people would do, and the answer is that there's opportunity for innovation online - not only innovation in storytelling, but also innovation in how you interact with your audience and that is very fulfilling to me personally.
My goal with every show we put on Geek & Sundry is to make it that big of a success, not just within the video but within fandom itself.
I guess I just always had this idea that I would go to Hollywood. I had the typical 'get up and go' attitude that you have to have in order to make the brave step into the big city.
People don't appreciate that when you're on the Internet, it's a 24/7 job. Even if you're not releasing episodes, your show is living and breathing on the Internet because there's a community around it. Ninety percent of the work is after the web series is shot, and you have to constantly maintain your community, because it's all you have.
I'm a big champion of people doing things outside the system.
The substance of what it means to be a geek is essentially someone who's brave enough to love something against judgment. The heart of being a geek is a little bit of rejection.
Basically, my socialization as a child didn't come from any schooling; it came from being in theater and meeting people online.
My dad was in the military, yeah. He was in the Air Force, and he was a doctor, so he would go places for six months here, and two years there. And I was home-schooled because I played the violin, and I did a lot of competitions.
My goal in creating Geek & Sundry was to create a community based around web video, and we've accomplished that, especially on our budget.
I always enjoyed acting. My aunt was actually an actress.
I'm resigned to the fact that the corseted history of America is not as exciting as that of Britain.
I'm super excited about gaming always. That's the thing that I geek out over; those are the vlogs that I'm surfing if I'm not already playing a game at night.
My favorite 'Mister Rogers' episodes were always the ones where Mr. Rogers would go into the community.
I love sitcoms, and I grew up on sitcoms. That's my tasty junk food.
I have a little obsessive-compulsive personality. You can tell because I played online games for eight hours a day.
Hollywood typecast me as the secretary. I could have worked as the quirky secretary for the rest of my life, but I decided not to do that.
I still do commercial work as an actor, which I love, because it's very quick, and it definitely pays my bills.
Geek and Sundry has an eclectic line-up of shows all targeted around things I love: Comics, Tabletop Games, Books and more.
I don't appeal to everyone well. I appeal to fewer people in a much stronger way. That's what fandom is to me, and what creates fans for everything I make.
I was a child of a tech family. My grandfather was a nuclear physicist and was always a gadget guy.
I learned that lack of budget can be overcome by fan passion if you can get your content to the people who like what you do.
I'll be in a series for three or four episodes, but then I'll be off the series, and downtime, as an actor, is a little more than most people understand. Most of the time you're just sitting around taking coffee with friends.
Now that we've transitioned to more Smart TVs, where people are broadcasting their cable box, I hope that Geek & Sundry is something that people will click on in the future, knowing that they're going to get content that they love.
People don't teach you how to handle the workload that comes from a little bit of success, and it's something I'd never had to handle, because I'd been rejected for so long.
I would never let somebody say that they're me. That would be the ultimate betrayal of what I stand for.
Finishing games has been something I'm really proud of, seeing something through to the end.
I'm a huge fan of BioWare games. I think they do some of the best character-building. I mean, I have a relationship with Thane from 'Mass Effect' that is as vivid as any crush that I've had on a TV-show character.
I think every role is always exciting and intimidating. I've never had a role where I wasn't intimidated by it.
When I carve out time to game, it's because I rationalize that I 'deserve it,' so I relish every minute of that 2-3 hour session.
I'm very persistent; I know the Internet very well, because I grew up on the Internet. I had Internet when there was just dial-up, and the Internet was my social outlet.
I believe you are never past the point of creating opportunities for yourself.
Voice acting is very different from live-action. You only have one tool to convey emotion. You can't sell a line with a look. It's all about your vocal instrument.
Comic-Con has become more of a pop cultural festival, and to not be included feels like you're missing the biggest celebration of the year.
