By Victor Karamalis
John Gerard was all set to put down a deposit on a new home purchase when he decided suddenly to quit his job, put the house buying on hold, bought camera equipment, and jumped in his car in a noble attempt to attain fame in 31 days. He started on August 21st and his final destination is Irvine, California with absolutely no itinerary. Some of you may be thinking that he is a freak but I call this DIY production grade reality TV on the web.
Although this may sound slightly familiar with 2004’s ‘My Date With Drew’, this is no less an education on an average human’s attempt to make it big using whatever tools and tactics are available in this Web 2.0 world in which we live. Currently, he has three videos on top of his website courtesy of Daily Motion, another video platform service but promises to serve up better quality videos than rivals YouTube and Metacafé. After this is all done, he wants to create a documentary based on his month-long escapade.
John has been going to different cities and looks for opportunities in the local media markets. In addition, he is going out of his way to put the spotlight on himself such as meeting up while on air — with Matt Lauer of the Today Show in Rockefeller Center and handing him his business card. Content aside (which is quite amusing by the way), he’s doing this entire trip without any planning while buying a high quality video camera, new laptop, and a cellular carrier wireless plan to connect and upload; the entire initial investment set him back $10,000. He himself is spellbound by the freedom that the technology gives him. He did go overboard financially but has no regrets. He hopes to make it on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno too. With the help of some very good friends, he is pulling all the strings that he can when he is going into cities like Cleveland and/or Cincinnati this weekend on a whim and arranging for local media coverage.
‘El Mariachi’ was another low budget film but it was scripted and planned. Yet, that movie was able to find an audience because of the content in spite of its budget; that just gave the movie extra grit for the masses and no time limit of 31 days. True that ad networks and Web 2.0 were not a force back in that time but this exercise in guerilla marketing may become a new trend where high quality video content can set itself apart from its low level sibling in exchange for some hard currency. John also seeks sponsorship through this 31 day self imposed marathon as mentioned on the site from those who believe in following their dreams. It may be possible that the power of blogging with rich media could make a dent in making some people household names. But is 31 days too short a time to do this with only one person meeting and greeting while taping himself including driving behind the wheel? The world is waiting…