Freddie Wong Explained

Freddie Wong
Birth Date:13 September 1985
Birth Place:Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Alma Mater:University of Southern California
Years Active:2006–present
Known For:Video Game High School
Notable Works:"RocketJump: The Show"
Module:
Child:yes
S:黄谷子
T:黃穀子
J:Wong4 Guk1Zi2
P:Huáng Gǔzi
Showflag:j
Order:ts

Freddie Wong (born September 13, 1985)[1] is an American internet celebrity, filmmaker, VFX artist, podcaster, and competitive gamer.[2] Wong has participated in at least three YouTube channels; with RocketJump, his production company's main channel, sporting over 9 million subscribers;[3] BrandonJLa, a channel including behind the scenes videos and other content, which holds over 1.1 million subscribers;[4] and Node, a gaming channel with over 3.2 million subscribers.[5] He is also known for creating the web series Video Game High School.[6]

Early life

Wong was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. He graduated from Lakeside School in 2004[7] and later from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. Wong owns and manages Overcrank Media, a Los Angeles–based media production company specializing in feature film and online video content, having produced an independent film titled Bear. Wong met his future collaborator Brandon Laatsch in college.[8]

Career

2006–2010: Competitive gaming, YouTube breakthrough

Wong launched a YouTube channel in 2006, initially uploading gameplay footage to wide success, and competed in the World Series of Video Games in Dallas in July 2007.[9] He won first prize in the Guitar Hero 2 competition, playing the song "Less Talk More Rokk" by Freezepop.[10] [11] It was around this time that he began uploading videos to YouTube and finding popularity with his comedic or video game-related content.

During MTV's "Gamer's Week" celebration in November 2007, Freddie appeared as a guest on Total Request Live.[12] Participating in the program with his newly formed band Hellanor Brozevelt, Wong was part of a country-wide search to find the best Rock Band ensemble. After receiving tutelage from well-known rockers Good Charlotte, Brozevelt performed at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York against Chicago-based Carrie Me Home.[13]

In 2010, Wong helped Joe Penna, known as MysteryGuitarMan on YouTube, shoot a commercial for McDonald's,[14] and assisted Wong Fu Productions in actions scenes of Agents of Secret Stuff.[15] In 2011 Wong produced, co-directed, and acted in a TV commercial for Battlefield 3 at the request of Electronic Arts.[16] [17]

2011–2017: RocketJump shorts and Video Game High School

In 2011, along with his partners Matt Arnold and Desmond "Dez" Dolly, Wong formed the production company RocketJump. They began work on the web series Video Game High School,[18] which began releasing episodes on May 11, 2012, achieved over 100 million views across various online platforms. The series was based on a concept by Will Campos and Chris Pappavaselio. The team was able to raise funding for the series through Kickstarter, where they set a funding goal for $75,000 to be raised in a 30-day period. That amount was quickly pledged in less than 24 hours and continued to climb from there. On October 22, 2011, pledging came to a close, with $273,725 raised for the project from 5,661 backers.[19] The series ran for three seasons, with the final season having a crowd funded budget of over $2.4 million. The final episode of the series was released November 17, 2014, on the RocketJump website and YouTube.

Wong's videos would sometimes feature celebrity cameos, with Jimmy Kimmel in a bathroom tie battle, Andy Whitfield appearing in a Time Crisis tribute video, Kevin Pollak appearing in a Hypnotism stunt, Shenae Grimes in a romantic gun action scene, Ray William Johnson in a troll infestation video, Eliza Dushku appearing in an action scene, Jon Favreau featuring in his video based on Cowboys & Aliens, the glam metal band Steel Panther appearing in his video based on the Crossfire board game, and Smosh appearing in his video "Huge Guns (with Smosh)".[20]

In late 2013, Wong's channel, freddiew was renamed to "Rocketjump", and freddiew2 was renamed to "BrandonJLa". Brandon Laatsch also announced that he and Wong would no longer work together on projects, and any short videos or "shorts" would be posted on either NODE (a gaming channel run by Laatsch and Corridor Digital's Niko Pueringer and Sam Gorski) or BrandonJLa. This was done because they wanted to work on separate projects, as Wong was busy with Video Game High School,[21] and Brandon started working on a VR engine and game Boneworks.

In 2017, Wong announced that RocketJump would be pivoting away from regular shorts, in favor of other projects.[22] RocketJump stopped uploading videos altogether in 2018, after the second season of Anime Crimes Division.[23]

Since 2017: Podcasting and feature film

From April 2017 to October 2021, Wong co-hosted the podcast Story Break on the Maximum Fun network.[24] [25] As described on the RocketJump website, the show features "[co-hosts] Will Campos, Matt Arnold, and Freddie Wong sit[ting] down in the RocketJump writer's room and attempt[ing] to 'break' a story for a ridiculous concept, property, or idea that [they] in NO way have any rights to." The podcast concluded in 2021, both due to the hosts feeling creatively satisfied with the show and to allow them more time to work on upcoming projects.[26]

Since January 2019, Wong has been a collaborator on a Dungeons & Dragons actual play podcast called Dungeons & Daddies, along with Will Campos, Anthony Burch, Matt Arnold, and Beth May. The podcast is about four dads from Earth that are transported to the Forgotten Realms (one of the official settings for Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition) and go on a quest to search for their lost sons. Wong edits the show and is one of the four players, with Burch as the Dungeon Master.[27] [28] [29]

On October 21, 2021, RocketJump revealed on Facebook that they were beginning work on their first feature film.[30] Shooting took place in late 2021 in Southern California and Utah. The film, We're All Gonna Die, is set to premiere at South by Southwest in March 2024. Wong co-wrote and co-directed the film with his Dungeons & Daddies co-star Matt Arnold.[31]

In 2023, Wong appeared in Dimension 20's sidequest Mentopolis, where he played the character Dan Fucks.

Personal life

Wong is the older brother of actor and YouTuber Jimmy Wong, who co-starred in Video Game High School.[32] [33] His father is Chinese, from Canton, and his mother is of Chinese and Mongol ancestry.[34] His uncle is Corey Yuen, a film director and stunt choreographer.[35]

Filmography

Year Title Role Other notes
2010 Bear Producer
2010 BDS9 Himself
2011 Chuck Freddie TV series; guest appearance in "Chuck Versus the Hack Off"
2012–14 Video Game High School Himself Web series; also co-creator, co-director, story writer, executive producer
2013 MyMusic DJ Elephant TV series; episode: "Ghosts!"
2013Bee and Puppycat Tim Wizard Web Series; episode: “Donut”
2013 Key & Peele Ping TV series; guest appearance in episode 3.07
2013 The Gauntlet Himself Web series; season 2 regular
2014 Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory Himself TV series; episode: "Fully Uploaded"
2015 The Strongest Man Jimmy Yoon Film
2015 RocketJump: The Show Himself Also co-creator, co-director, writer, executive producer, editor
2016 Red vs. Blue Guest writer and director of "The #1 Movie in the Galaxy: 3" episode
Anime Crimes Division Producer
2017 Dimension 404 Director ("Impulse") and executive producer
2017–18 Anime Crimes Division Director and co-creator[36]
2019–presentDungeons & DaddiesGlenn Close, Taylor Swift, and othersActual play podcast; main role
2023Dimension 20: MentopolisDan FucksActual play web series; 6 episodes[37] [38]
2024We're All Gonna DieDirectorFilm; co-director and co-writer

Notes and References

  1. News: Rolph . Amy . July 16, 2007 . Seattle's 'Hero' struts into rock stardom . July 23, 2010 . Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  2. Web site: Hitting 27 today – thanks everyone!. Twitter. Freddie. Wong. September 13, 2012. September 13, 2012.
  3. Statistics retrieved on March 18, 2016, at .
  4. Statistics retrieved on March 18, 2016, at .
  5. Statistics retrieved on October 16, 2016, at .
  6. Web site: Here's How Freddie Wong Used $2,435,434 To Make 'VGHS' Season Three. 2015-05-12. Tubefilter. 2017-01-16.
  7. Web site: Owen . Rob . 2015-11-30 . Seattle filmmaker Freddie Wong's work makes jump to Hulu . 2024-03-16 . The Seattle Times . en-US.
  8. Web site: YouTube Sensation Freddie Wong: 'Hollywood Is Out of Date' (Exclusive). Kurt. Orzeck. Dec 21, 2011. June 21, 2017. Reuters.
  9. Web site: This Channel Still Exists? (The Script!). August 24, 2017.
  10. video of the second half of Freddie's winning performance
  11. http://www.freddiew.com/2007/07/16/world-series-of-video-games/ World Series of Video Games
  12. Web site: The Going Thing- freddiew.com . October 10, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110711025944/http://www.freddiew.com/2007/11/13/the-going-thing/ . July 11, 2011 . dead .
  13. Web site: 'Rock Band' Rock Off . https://web.archive.org/web/20090116190129/http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/192056/rock-band-rock-off.jhtml#id=1575310. dead. January 16, 2009. July 21, 2014. MTV.
  14. https://twitter.com/fwong/status/40889539132129281 Freddie Wong Twitter Update
  15. Web site: Agents of Secret Stuff. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/kMy-6RtoOVU . 2021-12-21 . live. YouTube. July 1, 2012. Nigahiga. November 24, 2010.
  16. , 2011
  17. , 2011.
  18. Web site: Video Game High School Archives.
  19. Web site: Video Game High School. October 21, 2011. Kickstarter. May 13, 2012.
  20. Web site: Huge Guns (with Smosh!). https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/t6CXAaI1OAo . 2021-12-21 . live. YouTube. August 6, 2012. FreddieW. January 13, 2011.
  21. Web site: Phase Two . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/diVBqGBKtBs . 2021-12-21 . live. www.youtube.com . en.
  22. Web site: This Channel Still Exists? (The Script!) . www.rocketjump.com . en . 24 August 2017.
  23. Web site: RocketJump - YouTube . www.youtube.com.
  24. Web site: Story Break. July 19, 2018. July 19, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180719233516/http://storybreak.rocketjump.com/episodes. dead.
  25. Web site: Story Break. November 14, 2017. July 19, 2018.
  26. Web site: 2021-10-08. Story Break #169. 2021-10-25. Maximum Fun. en-US.
  27. Web site: Koss . Nakiesha . June 1, 2020 . Stepping into the Adventurous World of Podcasting with "Dungeons & Daddies" . 2023-08-08 . Adobe Blog.
  28. Web site: 2020-04-08 . Interview with D&D Podcast "Dungeons & Daddies" . 2021-01-10 . Cosplay Realm Magazine.
  29. Web site: Dungeons & Daddies . December 12, 2020 . Dungeons & Daddies . en.
  30. Web site: RocketJump. October 21, 2021. We're shooting our first feature, and we're looking for anybody who owns a 90s era import tuner (the more tricked out the better!) in the SoCal/Utah/Arizona area. We'd pay to use it for our shoot in November - hit us up!. 2021-11-07. Facebook. en.
  31. Web site: We're All Gonna Die . March 1, 2024 . SXSW Schedule . en.
  32. Web site: Jimmy Wong as Internet savior. Roderick. Kevin. March 24, 2011. LA Observed. May 9, 2012.
  33. Web site: Never stop working. If you're doing something you love, then it shouldn't be a problem.. July 7, 2011. The Other Asians. May 9, 2012. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130412071817/http://theotherasians.com/2011/07/jimmywong/. April 12, 2013. mdy-all.
  34. News: Nguyen. Stacy. Hit singer Jimmy Wong on Alexandra Wallace and why angry responses are unproductive. 20 June 2021. Northwest Asian Weekly. 2011-04-07.
  35. Stuntwomen React to Bad & Great Hollywood Stunts 9. April 3, 2021. Corridor Crew. 9:33. YouTube.
  36. Web site: Wong . Alex . Crunchyroll Isn't Worried About Netflix and Amazon Focusing More on Anime . www.inverse.com . December 24, 2017 . en.
  37. Web site: Carter . Chase . July 26, 2023 . Dimension 20's new Mentopolis series is a noir-flavoured RPG mind romp featuring Hank Green and Freddie Wong . August 8, 2023 . . en.
  38. Web site: Sheehan . Gavin . July 27, 2023 . Dropout Announces Next Live-Action Series Dimension 20: Mentopolis . August 8, 2023 . . en.