Kevjumba Leverages his YouTube Fame into a Feature Film

Kevjumba has been MIA on YouTube for a long time, and everyone's been wondering where he's been. Well those answers are finally answered, as I found the trailer for Kevjumba's new movie yesterday.

What's crazy about this movie is that it's pretty damn legit. While guys like Wong Fu and Kevjumba had previously released full-length movies, this is the first time we've seen big mainstream names attached to a movie by these YouTube stars — names like Martin Scorsese and Ray Liotta.

What this should do is show that Asian Americans can take matters into their own hands. Instead of going the traditional acting route of auditions, Kevjumba leveraged his popularity on YouTube into a movie deal (as well as a commercial deal) and is now starring in a very promising movie. Wong Fu has been doing the same thing by creating their shorts and fundraising for their own productions. While it's not easy to get a following as large as KevJumba's, it's probably easier to hustle for those YouTube followers than by going to audition after audition and hoping for your “big break” like 99% of actors out there. In this day and age it's all about creating your social footprint and getting people to come to you.

It remains to be seen whether this movie will be any good, but from the get-go it looks like it's got a lot of potential. I look forward to more productions by Kevin.

Written by Larry Vo