A while back, I was thinking about the fact that Ashton Kutcher has almost 6 million followers on Twitter. With that kind of fame, he’s in a position that most people aren’t: he can do things like write a book (even a fictional book) and it’s almost certain to be a success. He’s now in a much better position to have all his work be successful than the average person. But, it’s not even about having that many twitter followers (which acts as free advertizing for whatever he wants to promote), but it’s also about the fame. A few weeks ago, it was reveiled that “The Situation” from Jersey Shore was on track to earn 5 million dollars this year. (Just to be clear: this is more money than you or I will earn in our entire lives.) All of the Jersey Shore cast can earn “appearance fees” — i.e. clubs will give them thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to show up someplace, just because it stirs up a lot of talk and interest in the place.
In effect, their fame makes everything they touch golden.
It may seem naive, but for a long time my philosophy was simply “work hard + make good stuff = success”. I think the “fame” component that would be enormously helpful in making my game a success.
Related: The Rising Price of Snooki: A Comparative Analysis of Jersey Shore Appearance Fees (Gawker)