Catch and Release
For an Internet star, fame is fleeting.
Last summer, Brooke Brodack’s frenetic bedroom-set skits attracted millions of viewers on YouTube—attention that landed her a much ballyhooed deal working for Carson Daly Productions and NBC. A year later, Brodack—a 21-year-old from Holden with a knack for the wacky—has little to show for her big break. No projects got off the ground. She had to return the nice video camera she was given. And Carson? She met him once, for 20 minutes.
Brodack was the first YouTuber to hit it big, but won’t be the last: Web video is awash in new ideas, and TV execs want a piece of that mojo. As Brodack’s case shows, though, once they snatch up the fresh face du jour, the next step is less clear. (Among her few chores was promoting a new NBC website; it flopped.) But Brodack’s not bitter: Back home, she’s making videos and trying to launch an acting career, thankful for the showbiz lessons learned. “I haven’t gone into anything with high expectations anymore,” she says.
Brodack was the first YouTuber to hit it big, but won’t be the last: Web video is awash in new ideas, and TV execs want a piece of that mojo. As Brodack’s case shows, though, once they snatch up the fresh face du jour, the next step is less clear. (Among her few chores was promoting a new NBC website; it flopped.) But Brodack’s not bitter: Back home, she’s making videos and trying to launch an acting career, thankful for the showbiz lessons learned. “I haven’t gone into anything with high expectations anymore,” she says.
Originally published in Boston magazine, August 2007
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