Some of YouTube's Biggest Stars Break Down How the Platform is Reshaping Hollywood

3 months ago

THR's cover stars — YouTube CEO Neal Mohan and some of the platform's biggest creators, including Kinigra Deon, Michelle Khare, Marques Brownlee, Adam "W" Waheed, Cleo Abram, Trixie Mattel, Katie Feeney, Jesse "Jesser" Riedel, Brittany Broski and Dhar Mann sit down with THR to break down how the video platform is reshaping Hollywood, the biggest misconceptions people have about content creators and much more.

Transcript

00:00It all kind of happened by accident.

00:02I didn't start off thinking I was going to be a YouTuber.

00:05I started a YouTube show called with my friend Katya.

00:09She's dead now.

00:10She's not dead.

00:11She's dead to me.

00:12I actually moved out to LA to be an actor,

00:14and I was trying for like a year and a half

00:15and didn't get anything.

00:16I decided, hey, maybe if I make something,

00:18somebody will see it and put me in a movie.

00:20One of them took off and been doing it ever since.

00:30I think probably the most frequent incorrect assumption

00:38that I see is that they don't think it takes very long

00:41or very much effort to make a video.

00:43What they see from the final version is like,

00:46we did that all in one take,

00:47and usually it takes multiple takes.

00:49It takes a lot of planning.

00:51There's so much production.

00:53It's really like running a TV show, you know?

00:55There's so much that goes into it.

00:56The writing, the producing, the shooting,

00:59editing, all of it.

01:00Every bit of money that I make from the internet

01:03goes right back into my production value.

01:05You know, that's a whole crew that's there that I'm paying.

01:08So we still live in this world where traditional media

01:11doesn't necessarily see YouTube,

01:13doesn't treat it with the respect that it deserves,

01:16but YouTubers over here are building real studios.

01:19They're creating feature-length content, TV-length episodes.

01:23They're hiring dozens of people at a time

01:26where Hollywood is laying off lots of people.

01:29So much of television is waiting for older, white, straight men

01:32to understand what you're pitching.

01:33And with YouTube, you can be anybody

01:36and be passionate about it, and you can reach your audience.

01:39That's like point A, B is YouTube, and there is C.

01:42It eliminates so many steps.

01:44There is no gatekeeper.

01:45There's no barrier between you and your audience.

01:48So I think the biggest misconception is that

01:50YouTubers are not studio builders because they truly are.

01:53The worst advice I've gotten as a creator, post every day.

02:00Can I say something really controversial?

02:03I think that is the number one way to hit burnout.

02:07Forcing yourself to post even when you don't want to,

02:09that's this, I think, personally, my opinion,

02:12this toxic grind mindset.

02:14Go get a real job.

02:15It's not a real thing.

02:16You're not going to make money off it.

02:17There's no career in it.

02:19I feel like low-key listening to the comments too much.

02:23Because sometimes, first of all,

02:25there's so many different opinions in the comments section.

02:27And then a lot of times, they'll want something very niche

02:32and specific.

02:32And then if you try to cater to all of them,

02:34they will just fall apart.

02:35I do read my comments.

02:37But I mean, I feel like I have a pretty,

02:40I mean, my comments are very nice.

02:41My YouTube comments are, I have a really nice community

02:44on YouTube.

02:45I read all the comments, for better or for worse.

02:47I get very excited to see our audience feedback.

02:50I do read comments, but I do have a developed skill,

02:54which is separating useless comments with useful comments.

02:58I think when you sign up to be an internet creator,

03:01you need to be aware of what you're signing up for.

03:03I also think that the cost of community

03:07is being annoyed sometimes.

03:09I've got some pretty crazy comments in the past.

03:11But yeah, one time I had to take my mom's account away,

03:14because somebody had wrote, you're not funny.

03:16And then she's like, my son is funny.

03:18And then the guy was like, oh, you're his mom?

03:20And she's like, yeah, I am his mom.

03:21You want me to prove it?

03:22And it just kept going.

03:22It was a huge thread.

03:24And everyone was liking it.

03:25I had to delete the whole thread and take away

03:28her phone for a month.

03:29But she's back now.

03:33The biggest tip that I would give any creator starting out

03:35is know what you're doing it for.

03:38Like, what is your mission?

03:39Why do you want to start a YouTube channel?

03:41Why do you want to make work that is potentially, hopefully,

03:45seen by millions of people?

03:47What is it that you actually want to say?

03:49The key to success on YouTube is authenticity.

03:52Really be yourself.

03:54If you're passionate about something, a particular topic,

03:58then that's going to come through in the content that you create.

04:01So above and beyond everything else, above and beyond the tricks

04:04of the algorithm or how you shoot the camera or thumbnails

04:08or what have you, be yourself.

04:10I really think the key to success is to keep going,

04:13not just do the same thing every day.

04:15But do something, try it, see what worked, see what failed,

04:18and be willing to be humble to critical feedback

04:22to get better at something.

04:23Try new things.

04:24A lot of it's trial and error.

04:26Be careful who you take advice from,

04:28because not everybody knows what's best for you,

04:31and not everybody wants the best for you.

04:35Who would play me in a movie?

04:37Easy.

04:37Robert De Niro.

04:38A lot of people say we look alike when he was younger.

04:41And I think he's just, to me, he's my favorite actor.

04:43Scarlett Johansson.

04:45I'm a big Marvel fan.

04:46I'm going to like contemporary, like Michael B. Jordan types,

04:50just because action figure hero feels appropriate.

04:54So I'll just go with that.

04:55Shawn Mendes.

04:57I love Shawn Mendes.

04:59He can play me.

05:00I get to meet him though.

05:01Maybe Natalie Portman.

05:02Who would play me?

05:03Probably Pamela Anderson.

05:06Probably Pamela Anderson or like Holly Madison.

05:08But more realistically, it's Trixie Mattel out of drag.

05:11My default used to be Sydney Sweeney, but I don't know anymore.

05:14I would hope I would get to play myself.

05:15Where I see myself five to ten years from now,

05:18the biggest filmmaker that there is, having a full-blown studio completed.

05:27I want to create premium films, movies that you would see in the theaters,

05:31comedy films on my channel.

05:33Even if I quit drag, I think I would take YouTube with me.

05:36I love making videos.

05:37I just, I love it.

05:38It's my happy place, sitting and talking to no one.

05:42Sometimes I'm so good at it that I'm like, what's wrong with you?

05:45Why are you able to have prolonged conversation with no one?

05:51But we're not, we're not gonna, you know, don't look in the mirror that long.

05:54You know, don't stare into the abyss.

05:56Just be happy your mental illness permits you to sit in monologue.

Some of YouTube's Biggest Stars Break Down How the Platform is Reshaping Hollywood | THR Video

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