Wil Wheaton On Being An Entertainment Entrepreneur

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uncaptionedWil Wheaton swaggered on stage in front of a standing ovation of about 1500 people at wearing fan knitted replica of Tom Baker's signature scarf from Doctor Who. He was giving a talk earlier this month at Kansas City's Planet Comicon to a crowd that packed every seat in the house, sat on the floor, stood against the walls and spilled out the double doors.

After spending some time talking about his career, he opened the floor to a number of fans, ranging from a little girl who told him about her puppies to some hardcore fans. All of them had questions about different aspects of his career.

That's not surprising, considering there are a lot of aspects to cover. Wheaton made his fame as a child actor, with his first major role as one of the stars of the movie Stand By Me, then as Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Despite his early fame, however, Wheaton's career has never lulled. That's the result of a conscious decision, he says.

"I worked really really hard to be my own person outside of the expectations and limitations that the mainstream entertainment industry had for me," he told me. "You're supposed to go on a journey from child actor to gigantic fuckup to reality TV star. I just rejected that out of hand."

"I made a decision when I was younger to step away from being an actor and explore other things," he continued. "After trying to deny for a long time that I’m creative and need to be making things, I found my way back to being an actor and writer."

Well, not just an actor and a writer. He blogs, maintains a large social media presence, makes appearances at pop culture conventions, does voice acting for cartoons and video games, records audiobooks, and both hosts and produces a popular YouTube show.

He does so many things, in fact, that one of the first things I asked him was how he described himself.

"That’s a thing I struggled with for a long time. I’m really lucky that I get to do the things that I love and share them with other people," he replied. "I was talking with Seth Green about this because we're very similar in that we both have a lot of different creative interests that all support each other. Seth said, ‘I’m an entertainer.’ I told him that I was stealing that from him, because that describes who I am and what I do."

Part of that success, he says, comes from his ability to engage with fans directly. "I got lucky in that the moment I decided to speak for myself without filters was the same moment that high speed internet was getting into homes and blogs were a new thing. So I was able to speak for myself."

Not that he solely works that way. Wheaton's career as an actor has been strong in television, where he recently had roles on the shows Leverage and Eureka. He also plays a recurring role as "Wil Wheaton" on the CBS' Big Bang Theory - a character that he described to the crowd at Planet Comicon as an "evil version of himself." Which is also a role he wouldn't mind at all being permanent.

A positive aspect of those experiences, he told me, was that they were run by people who have adapted to the internet and social media, while much of the industry is still being managed by people who don't get it. He doesn't think that's going to last much longer, though.

When discussing why some in the industry are adapting to the internet and others aren't, he told me that, "I think part of it has to do with our age. We’re all right around our 40s. I think we all grew up with this communications medium, so it's not weird to us.  I think a lot of it is just generational. I know people who work at studios at networks have brilliant ideas they can’t get past old guard. But that’s bound to change."

In the meantime, Wheaton is pursuing one of his passions by hosting YouTube show Tabletop on Felicia Day's Geek and Sundry YouTube network. In every episode of Tabletop, Wheaton plays a board game or role playing game with a group of celebrities. "It's like Jon Favreau's Dinner For Five meets celebrity poker meets board games."

The combination, I have to admit, is pretty addictive. It's easy to get sucked in and watch several episodes in a row. That's no doubt in part due to the fact that behind the scenes, there's a lot of work going on.

"There's a pretty rigorous screening process for the games. I'm playing games all the time and reading about games, so I'm always on the lookout for the games that fit our criteria. For example, it needs to have a high mix of luck and skill, to prevent experience players from dominating new players. (That’s what makes poker tournaments really fun.) The games need to be explainable in about 90 – 120 seconds and be relatively accessible to all levels of players. It has to look good, and it needs to have a compelling story. That last one is key."

One thing the show does not do, however, is let game companies pay for the privilege of having their games on the show. Which is something that they no doubt want, considering that games featured on the show tend to see a spike in sales.  Wheaton is firm about this rule, because he believes accepting money to showcase a game would undermine the credibility of the show. Instead, the show makes its revenue primarily from money that Google put into Geek and Sundry as part of its bid to build premium YouTube networks. The show also makes some ancillary revenues from merchandising.

In the course of my conversation with Wheaton, it occurred to me that he pretty much exemplifies the entrepreneurial model. He has lots of different streams of revenues, works with a diverse mix of companies, and yet maintains a strong brand by actively engaging with his fans. So where will this model take him next?

"I’m really lucky in that I work at this point in my life only with projects and shows that I love and am proud of. I don’t know how long that’s going to last - but I hope that it's a really long time."


I'm an Associate Editor covering science and cutting edge tech.