• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, March 14, 2015

“YouTube stars can be very difficult,” admits Mark Fortner, Managing Partner, Head of Innovation, Mediacom. At our panel on “Who Wants To Be A YouTube Millionaire,” we discovered that even these new pro-am celebs can be divas in their own way.

Whenever Fortner and his team come up with a cool idea they think a YouTube star would run with, “it ends up being different” from what the agency had in mind. So now they develop a specific idea and bring it to these “celebs” to see if they really are comfortable executing it the way the agency wants. If not, they move on.

Machinima’s Chris Landa, Director of Talent, warns that these creators have a lot at stake. “Haters gotta hate,” he couldn’t resist reminding us. Commenters on their accounts will turn quickly and scream “sellout.”

It is tough maintaining authenticity in the world of YouTube stardom.