The Gown – student newspaper at Queen's University Belfast.

FEATURE: Fame is only a click away for local talent

If you have a creative idea that you want to broadcast, the internet is becoming more and more lucrative, and with sites to share videos, music and your written thoughts, there are endless chances to connect with a worldwide audience. This is especially handy when you are stuck on an island far from the glamour of Hollywood, as I assume most Gown readers are.

BY MATTHEW ROBB

For instance, let’s say you want to be a rapper but you are born and raised in Portrush. It’s hardly the poverty stricken ghettos of Los Angeles. Yet ‘Pure Fresh’ followed that dream, rapping to a crowd of YouTube users who love Buckfast, hate the sight of rollercoasters all year round, and need someone to champion that cause. On YouTube they have almost 200,000 views total, playing venues such as QUB’s own Mandela Hall.

What if you dream of writing a great novel? Stuart Neville from Northern Ireland posted a short story to his blog, where James Ellroy’s agent happened to stumble upon it. Within a few weeks Neville had been offered a two-book contract by a US publisher. He has now published his first novel ‘The Twelve’ to great critical acclaim worldwide.

Yet success need not by measured by the amount of contracts you are offered. The webseries ‘I Am Fighter’ about a character named Barry ‘the Blender’ Henderson has been sweeping across Facebook and YouTube, gathering over half a million views. Featuring the sort of comedy that would make even Ricky Gervais cringe, you have to see it, just so you don’t look bewildered when it inevitably comes up in a conversation with the local internet junkie.

When you get your big idea, there is no point in this web-laden age of even talking to the big studios and producers. You don’t even need to leave the house. Order all the equipment off eBay, print off the script, and make your masterpiece from the comforting glow of your computer screen. Even if it is complete rubbish it will find an audience on the internet, somehow and somewhere. Fame will be yours, even if your fans are a handful of people scattered throughout the world.

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