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The original web series “Video Game High School” so far has racked up over 40 million views, not to mention availability on DVD, Blu-Ray, Netflix and elsewhere. Season 1 mainstays Freddie Wong, Brandon Laatsch, Matt Arnold, Will Campos and Brian Firenzi will all be returning, along with much of the main cast and guest stars, for a second season, currently being funded through Kickstarter.
Filmmaking duo Brandon and Freddie join Shira Lazar and Beau Ryan on What’s Trending to talk about plans for the new 6-episode season (featuring 20-25 minute episodes), funding long-form projects through Kickstarter and their predictions for what 2013 holds for the world of entertainment.
Even though Freddie technically started the year off eating Wheat Thins on his couch, we’re pretty positive that the upcoming 365 days will be major for YouTube and its content creators.
For their long-term passion project, the moviemakers is looking at a total of three seasons, with possible multi-media spin-offs.
The boys decided to use Kickstarter to fund the second season because they used it for the first season and friends had used it to produce documentaries. Plus it just seemed like a no-brainer. “It’s like asking why YouTube and why not Vimeo?” asks Freddie. And they’re specifically asking for the exact amount of money that they spent on season 1. “It’s probably more than you’d expect, but it’s still like a fraction of what Hollywood movies and TV shows take to make.”
Not that they’d want the Hollywood budget! “I don’t even know if Hollywood can have the Hollywood budgets anymore,” Freddie says. “There’s so much more content out there that what people are getting paid to make it is going to be less than it used to be.”
Even though fans are tempted with the irresistible tease of  much more of Harley Morenstein a.k.a. The Sauce Boss from Epic Meal Time in the new season, other Kickstarter perks for funders include personal donut deliveries, custom VGHS I.D. cards and a VGHS yearbook. What more could anyone want?
We also ask the video game masters if they think gaming will become a professional sport.
“I think it will become a professional sport but not in the way that people think it’s going to,” says Freddie. “It’s going to become something that people will watch […] It also won’t happen the way that we’re doing it in ‘Video Game High School.'”
And much of the popularity of gaming as a communal and entertaining activity can be owed to YouTube.
“YouTube is growing at an alarming rate,” Brandon says. Even though haters will always hate about changes to a beloved platform, Brandon stresses that the changes YouTube has been making are fantastic. “What they’ve changed has caused tremendous growth across the board and is really pointing people in the right direction.”
Contribute to VGHS Season 2 on Kickstarter and catch up with Season 1 on YouTube!
Subscribe to Freddie on YouTube and follow him on Twitter. Follow Brandon on Twitter, too.
Subscribe to co-host Beau Ryan’s RadNerd TV on YouTube and follow him on Twitter.For all of your YouTube exclusives and interviews with today’s hottest celebrities innovating online, subscribe to What’s Trending and join us LIVE every weekday at noon pt/3 pm est on YouTube.
