Hollywood has courted creators for several years, but in the past few months, there’s been a full-blown creator invasion. Two YouTube-born horror films became box office blockbusters (Obsession and Backrooms, which, as of writing, have respectively earned $426 million and $357 million), private equity firms are raising funds to buy meme IP like Skibidi Toilet, and new studios are launching that focus on acquiring and scaling creator content.
Creators aren’t replacing Hollywood stars, but they are leveraging their brands and views to get Hollywood-style representation, or build new production pipelines around IP with a built-in audience. That’s enticing for both struggling studios and advertisers looking for safer bets.
But there is still a ceiling on how far most creators can climb. One creator and four creator agency reps who spoke with Digiday said big Hollywood creator deals need to be sustainable, IP needs to be scalable, and genres should be clearly defined. Though capital is flowing, slop could slip in. And creators hoping to get snatched up by a talent agency thanks to their TikToks or their IP bought for a cool few million won’t all be successful.
It’s undeniable, however, that Hollywood is paying more attention (and money) to creators.
