In 2022, a 16-year-old called Kane Parsons began to post a web series called ‘Backrooms’ on his YouTube channel, drawing inspiration from a famous 4chan meme. That year, the film studio A24 contacted him and began production on a full-length feature film of the same name, which was released in May. The film has grossed $350 million worldwide and Kane, who turned 21 last month, is the youngest director ever to have a film open at number one in the North American box office.
Social media, for all its apparent flaws, has created a new meritocracy in the world of entertainment
Parsons’s stunning success has started a race in Hollywood to scout for talent in the online world. In this respect Hollywood is playing catch-up to British comedy, where talent agencies are constantly scanning platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to find content creators with the talent to take their acts mainstream. And so social media, for all its apparent flaws, has created a new meritocracy in the world of entertainment, enabling people from ordinary backgrounds to achieve mainstream success at frighteningly young ages.
One such young person is Katie Kennedy, an Oxford master’s student who began making provocative yet informative history videos when she was in her final year of her undergraduate degree. Her videos carry title captions such as ‘Was Anne of Cleves a minger?’ and ‘Was Marie Antoinette a snooty cow?’. In contrast to this bombast, Katie was a shy, bookish child who was obsessed with the Horrible Histories TV show, whose songs she has committed to memory (‘Charles II: King of Bling’ is her favourite).
