A group of rising stars from “Obsession,” “The Pitt,” “Euphoria” and more gathered Thursday to talk about the Gen Z effect on entertainment and navigating careers in Hollywood as part of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation‘s inaugural First Act: Summer Soiree event.
The participants — Patrick Ball (“The Pitt”), Megan Lawless (“Obsession”), Tonatiuh (“Kiss of the Spider Woman”), Caitlin Reilly (“Hacks”), Darrell Britt-Gibson (“Euphoria”) and Courtney Taylor (“Ballard”) — shared their career stories and advice with a crowd of fellow young performers at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Meryl Streep Center for Performing Artists at the union’s headquarters in Los Angeles.
The panel discussion comes on the heels of box officer sleeper hits such as Curry Barker’s “Obsession” igniting the zeitgeist and growing appetite among Gen Z, who are the most active moviegoing demographic.
Araya Doheny/Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA Foundation
“We are in this state where it feels kind of exciting because I think we’re starting to see a lot of original stories again, which I think we are so starved for,” Taylor said during the panel moderated by Rochelle Rose, SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s national director of performers programs. “Stuff like ‘I Love Boosters,’ ‘Backrooms,’ ‘Obsession,’ we are so hungry for something new. We’re starting to see that and I think the opportunity that we have there is to lean on that and lean on every story.”
