Hello,
I’m on my way back from the south of France with lots of experiences from Cannes Lions. Lot’s learned, lot’s observed… and I’ll do a full breakdown next week.
But one thing I want to share this week is what I’m noticing in Hollywood, and how creators are disrupting the industry!
For decades, the entertainment industry operated on one rule: bigger is better.
More budget. More VFX. Bigger stars. More marketing spend. The assumption was that spectacle can be bought.
But recent blockbuster hits Obsession and Backrooms have proved that cultural influence doesn’t need a big budget. And if you’re a marketer, a brand builder, or a founder trying to understand where culture is going, this shift matters far beyond movie theatres.
THE OLD HOLLYWOOD MODEL
- Build hype before release
- Hook the audience with a star, a franchise name, or a trailer
- Get them into a seat
- Assume they’ll stay
This worked in a world where audiences had fewer options and longer attention spans.
Now audiences are trained, by years of YouTube, social media, and infinite content. They don’t feel obligated to finish a movie. They don’t owe any director their attention. And they will absolutely check their phone in the middle of a $200 million Marvel film if it’s boring.
Hollywood hasn’t fully adapted to this. Many still make films the old way: slow burns, deliberate pacing… and wonder why general audiences aren’t showing up.
What Creators Do Differently
Here’s what YouTubers understand that most studio executives don’t:
Attention is not given. It is earned again, and again, and again.
A creator doesn’t get to hook you once at the start of a video and coast. YouTube’s analytics are brutal and instant. If people click away at the 2-minute mark, the algorithm buries the video. If watch time drops off in the third act, the creator knows exactly when they lost you. The feedback is real-time, ruthless, and public.
- Re-hook the audience every few minutes, not just at the start
- Earn the next 30 seconds continuously throughout the content
- Read community feedback in real time and adapt
- Build parasocial trust so audiences show up not just for content, but for them
The Creators Who Proved It First
Directors Curry Barker (https://www.youtube.com/@thats_a_bad_idea/videos) (Obsession) and Kane Parsons (https://www.youtube.com/@kanepixels/videos) (Backrooms) have been major headlines in Hollywood over the last few months. But there have been many who’ve proven that creators can also make shifts in the industry.
Issa Rae (https://www.youtube.com/@HOORAEMedia/featured) built The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl on YouTube from her Stanford dorm room. When she tried to cross over, ABC denied her but HBO eventually took a chance on her. Insecure ran five seasons and made her the first Black woman to create and star in her own series on premium cable.
RackaRacka (Danny & Michael Philippou) (https://www.youtube.com/@Therackaracka) has 6.7 million YouTube subscribers and 1.1 billion views built on chaotic horror comedy. Their debut Talk to Me was made for $4.5 million and grossed $92 million worldwide through A24.
MrBeast (https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast)’s Beast Games on Amazon Prime Video had a $100 million budget, drew 50 million viewers, and became Amazon’s biggest unscripted show ever. MrBeast lost tens of millions of his own money to make it bigger than Amazon expected. Now, he’s renewed for two more seasons, and hundreds of millions in creator deals.
Markiplier (https://www.youtube.com/@markiplier), one of YouTube’s biggest gaming creators, released Iron Lung, a horror film made for $3 million that grossed over $50 million worldwide. Theatres had to add multiple shows in various cities around the US and Canada after its popularity grew.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
What we’re watching in Hollywood is the most visible version of a shift that’s happening everywhere: the people with the most direct, consistent relationship with an audience are winning.
- Don’t hook once and coast. Your audience isn’t obligated to stay. Content and story matter.
- Feedback is your advantage. Creators win because they listen to their audience in real time and adapt. Most brands are still running on quarterly strategy cycles—close that gap.
- Distribution is the moat. YouTube, email lists, communities—owning your distribution means nobody can take your audience away. Rented platforms are a risk.
- Independent doesn’t mean small. Blair Witch was $60,000. Obsession was $750K. Beast Games was $100 million. The budget didn’t make these work. The idea and the audience did.
WHAT’ HOT
- How to be the most interesting person in a room — Some great YouTube vids that help you level up.
- The best from Cannes Lions — Which brand did it the best?
- What else did you miss in Cannes? — Colin and Sameer with some great highlights.
- Creator-led brands are the future — Top creators are no longer just building audiences, they’re building brands generating hundreds of millions in revenue.
I want to give a special shoutout to all you guys reading these letters! It means so much to me plus our whole team!
See you in the next one. 😊
-Benni
