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Speaker 1: Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and

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Speaker 1: analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Tuesday, March tenth, twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty six. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am co

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Speaker 1: editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm in

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Speaker 1: LA He's in New York, and Variety has reporters around

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Speaker 1: the world covering the business of entertainment. On today's episode,

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Speaker 1: we'll hear from Variety's Antonio Ferme and Harper Mays on

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Speaker 1: how they assembled Variety's ten Creators to Watch lists this year.

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Speaker 1: As we get ready to celebrate these modern moguls at

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Speaker 1: south By Southwest and Variety's Peyton Turkletaub joins us to

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Speaker 1: explain why so many people are taking in their TV

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Speaker 1: with cocktails and friends as watch party events for fan

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Speaker 1: favorite shows proliferate in bars and restaurants. But before we

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Speaker 1: get to all that, here are a few headlines just

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Speaker 1: in this morning that you need to know. The Whaler

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Speaker 1: Group has launched Lighthouse Studios, a new division that is

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Speaker 1: tasked with developing a network TV like schedule of creator

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Speaker 1: led content. To do so, the company has pacted with

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Speaker 1: Cole Bennett's lyrical Lemonade, that digital medium, music, culture and

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Speaker 1: lifestyle site has some twenty four million YouTube followers. Whaler

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Speaker 1: and Lighthouse have an interesting model that is explained fully

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Speaker 1: in a story posted this morning from yours Truly Brooks

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Speaker 1: Shields has a new show she's starring in and producing,

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Speaker 1: the murder mystery You're Killing Me for Acorn TV. Doctor

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Speaker 1: Drey is a billionaire. Forbes Now says that doctor Drey

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Speaker 1: has joined the elite list of twenty two billionaire entertainers.

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Speaker 1: It's a club that includes Beyonce and Jay Z, as

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Speaker 1: well as Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, and Rihanna. All of

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Speaker 1: these stories and so much more can be found on

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Speaker 1: Variety dot com Right now. Now, it's time for conversations

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Speaker 1: with Friday journalists about news and trends and show business.

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Speaker 1: Next up, Antonio Fermey and Harper Mays, rty's intrepid social

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Speaker 1: media editors, join us to talk about how they put

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Speaker 1: together our first ever ten Creators to Watch list. We'll

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Speaker 1: be celebrating these fine folks at the south By Southwest

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Speaker 1: Festival this weekend. Fermy and Mays are already working twenty

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Speaker 1: four to seven for variety just by the nature of

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Speaker 1: the medium they support. But they found time to scour

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Speaker 1: the internet to find ten rocket ships of digital media

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Speaker 1: whose work specifically focuses on entertainment. From a huge pool

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Speaker 1: of contenders, we picked these ten people. Fanfare please, Quinnlin

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Speaker 1: blackwell Sabrina Beer, Nicky Campbell, Brie Morales, Mina Lee, Jake Shane,

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Speaker 1: Julian Shapiro, Barnum, Grace Reader, Eric Sedanio, and Vinnie Thomas.

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Speaker 1: If you don't know those names now, there's a good

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Speaker 1: chance you will in the future. Antonio Ferme and Harper

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Speaker 1: Mays are two incredible social media editors. Thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for joining me.

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Speaker 2: Of course, happy to being here. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: The two of you ably took the helm of one

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Speaker 1: of our most important franchises that we do here is

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Speaker 1: called our ten to Watch series, where we identify up

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Speaker 1: and comers from a whole range of sectors, and this year,

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Speaker 1: for the first time, we are doing creators who better

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Speaker 1: you who foil all day long making sure the Rietay's

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Speaker 1: content is well seen and appreciated and presented with the

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Speaker 1: right elements for each different platform. So my first question

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Speaker 1: for you when we gave you this assignment keen creators

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Speaker 1: to watch. There's a few million creators out there. Where

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Speaker 1: did you start to come up with the pool of

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Speaker 1: people that then you pick the final ten from?

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Speaker 3: I mean it was hard.

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Speaker 4: Like you said, there are so many creators out there,

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Speaker 4: so many recognizable creators. But we did want people that

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Speaker 4: had a really established fan base, like you see them online,

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Speaker 4: you know who they are, and they have a good

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Speaker 4: amount of followers. But we also wanted people that they

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Speaker 4: were working on other projects. For example, Quinn Blackwell, she's

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Speaker 4: walking in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Jake Shane, He's

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Speaker 4: currently on Broadway. So we really wanted influencers that were

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Speaker 4: on social media and had a very established fan base

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Speaker 4: on social media, but we're also venturing out into more

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Speaker 4: typical mainstream Hollywood ventures.

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Speaker 5: The follow off on what Harper said, it was really

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Speaker 5: interesting to see how these ten creators were using social

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Speaker 5: media not only to build an audience, but also to

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Speaker 5: give them leverage inside Hollywood. Get them inside the writer's

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Speaker 5: room at Netflix, get them onto Broadway. You know, in

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Speaker 5: the past, it was a tried and true thing where

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Speaker 5: you have to be an assistant and drug your way

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Speaker 5: through that. For many, many years, to even get a

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Speaker 5: possibility to do that. But now these creators have kind

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Speaker 5: of figured out that they don't need to do that anymore.

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Speaker 5: They can use social media for as long as they

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Speaker 5: want and do it that way instead, and they have

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Speaker 5: a lot of freedom and autonomy over the content that

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Speaker 5: they're posting, and it really allows them to be a

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Speaker 5: unique version of themselves. So it was really cool to

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Speaker 5: connect with these people and see how they were different

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Speaker 5: from maybe some of the more traditional Hollywood actors who

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Speaker 5: had to go through the system in a more rigid way.

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Speaker 5: And I think it's only the beginning of how we

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Speaker 5: can see creatives come about and interact in the Hollywood ecosystem.

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Speaker 2: For the year's of companies, For.

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Speaker 1: All of the creators that you surveyed, did you find

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Speaker 1: that most of them do aspire to be on screen,

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Speaker 1: to be on stage, They want to use this as

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Speaker 1: a jumping off point, or did you find some people

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Speaker 1: that feel like this is what I want to be

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Speaker 1: for the rest of my life.

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Speaker 4: From what I've seen in my experience, most people want

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Speaker 4: to venture out of social media like they still will

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Speaker 4: be on it and they have that established, but it

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Speaker 4: doesn't necessarily have to be becoming an actor or being

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Speaker 4: on Broadway. It can kind of become like you're opening

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Speaker 4: up your own business, like Alex Hooper, for example, opened

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Speaker 4: up an energy drink brand. And so I think most

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Speaker 4: of them do have bigger aspirations from what I've seen,

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Speaker 4: but a lot of them want to stick on social

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Speaker 4: media as well.

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Speaker 5: It's interesting because when we all first met about this,

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Speaker 5: my kind of thesis for this was that these were

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Speaker 5: going to be ten creators whose end goal was to.

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Speaker 2: Live on social media, and I was wrong.

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Speaker 5: It was actually kind of the opposite, like with Harperson,

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Speaker 5: that they were using social media to give them leverage

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Speaker 5: to get into not just Holly, but but also to

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Speaker 5: get the brand deals or whatever they wanted, because this

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Speaker 5: is where visibility is, and this is what all these

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Speaker 5: big companies are starting to realize. When I talk to

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Speaker 5: someone like Vinnie Thomas, you know, he used social media

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Speaker 5: to get himself in Netflix rooms. He's currently working on

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Speaker 5: a spinoff series for Big Mouth, which is a pretty

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Speaker 5: big show. But at the same time, he told me

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Speaker 5: that the reason why it was so important to have

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Speaker 5: his social media and why he's not going to get

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Speaker 5: rid of it, is because just in case things.

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Speaker 2: Don't work out, or if work goes dry for six months, and.

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Speaker 4: You can make so much money on social media too,

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Speaker 4: it is insane between the partnerships and everything. Can you

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Speaker 4: can make a living through it easily?

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Speaker 1: Because we know, it's not that you have to have

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Speaker 1: one hundred million followers, you know, Kardashian level follow You

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Speaker 1: have a small but dedicated band of followers. You reach

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Speaker 1: that niche that whether it's a marketer or film's distributor

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Speaker 1: or somebody trying to promote a TV show, if you

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Speaker 1: reach the niche that they want, they will pay or

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Speaker 1: any of the creators that you spoke with, are they

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Speaker 1: struggling with the business aspects of the job.

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Speaker 2: I think it's the other way around.

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Speaker 5: I think they have a lot of options that go

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Speaker 5: down and young people are really business savvy, and a

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Speaker 5: lot of these people are friends and they work together,

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Speaker 5: and if they're starting a podcast, they'll go on each

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Speaker 5: other's podcast and I'll help promote it, and they'll share

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Speaker 5: resources with each other.

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Speaker 2: It's kind of like all rising tides. You know. It's

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Speaker 2: a great thing, and so I don't think they struggle

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Speaker 2: with it.

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Speaker 5: I think that they're actually probably better at it than

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Speaker 5: creatives were in generations past.

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Speaker 1: In talking to people, Is there anybody's story one of

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Speaker 1: these ten creators, anybody that really stands out to you

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Speaker 1: as a sign of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps?

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Speaker 4: Well, Quinn Blackwell started on Vine forever ago, and so

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Speaker 4: she had no nepotism, know anything, She had no connection

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Speaker 4: to the industry. So she totally started bare Bones on

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Speaker 4: Vine and she's hilarious, and so she just built such

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Speaker 4: a following from there, and then really that following carried

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Speaker 4: over to Instagram and then.

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Speaker 6: TikTok, and then you have someone like Julian Shapiro Barnum

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Speaker 6: who has his famous segment Recess Therapy. His ultimate goal

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Speaker 6: is to start the first late night show on social media,

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Speaker 6: and he wants to have them these street style interviews

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Speaker 6: but also in a late night Colbert style for which

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Speaker 6: is kind of like mixing together different mediums.

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Speaker 2: And at first he was.

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Speaker 5: Talking to people who are more established in Hollywood, but

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Speaker 5: ultimately he's now producing it independently.

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Speaker 1: What was it like when you made contact with people

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Speaker 1: and said, hey, Variety wants to talk to you. Was

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Speaker 1: their excitement?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, they were so excited. There was a huge honor

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Speaker 4: for them. We were worried initially that they didn't want

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Speaker 4: to be labeled as creators because a lot of them

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Speaker 4: want to be labeled as actors or musicians or et cetera.

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Speaker 4: But no, it was huge for them and they were

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Speaker 4: all so so excited.

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Speaker 5: It's a testament to us staying up with the times

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Speaker 5: because we've been covering the entertainment industry for one hundred

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Speaker 5: and twenty years, and if we're not covering this side

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Speaker 5: of the business, you know, we're going to kind of

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Speaker 5: lose a grasp on what's happening well. And I was

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Speaker 5: already getting a ton of messages on LinkedIn and different

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Speaker 5: places on social media where I shared our story, people

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Speaker 5: pitching stuff for next year and pitching our clients, and

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Speaker 5: I think that's just a testament of this is an

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Speaker 5: exclusive list that people want to be on. And it's

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Speaker 5: exciting that we're for a brand that you know is

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Speaker 5: able to hold that presiege and an era where there's

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Speaker 5: so much competition out there.

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Speaker 1: We have been around for one hundred and twenty years

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Speaker 1: by ignoring big, obvious trends that are staring us in

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Speaker 1: the vase. This is an incredible transitional moment for our business.

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Speaker 1: I feel like we say that every week, but it's true.

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Speaker 1: Antonio and Harbard, thank you so much for your work

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Speaker 1: on this feature and for talking to me today.

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Speaker 4: Yes, thank you so much for having us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for having us.

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Speaker 1: And now we turn to Peyton turkletaub a variety reporter

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Speaker 1: who spotted a hot trend in her social media feed.

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Speaker 1: She investigated and took it all the way to the

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Speaker 1: finish line with a great feature that was recently published

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Speaker 1: in print and online. Peyton turkle tub, thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for joining me. Hello, you've written a very charming story.

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Speaker 1: But it's very hard to capture a trend in a

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Speaker 1: moment and say it all in about six hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty words, and you did an excellent job with a

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Speaker 1: story about the rising trend of watch parties at bars.

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Speaker 1: People are gathering in numbers at their favorite watering holes

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Speaker 1: for organized watch parties for everything from Survivor to the

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Speaker 1: White Lotus to of course, heated Rivalry to RuPaul's drag race,

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Speaker 1: which has been a thing for a while and certainly

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Speaker 1: was one of the sparks of this trend. Peyton, what

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Speaker 1: was it that brought this to your tension in the

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Speaker 1: first place, What was the spark for this story.

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Speaker 3: Watch parties are not new and they've been happening for many,

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Speaker 3: many years. But last summer across the country, people were

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Speaker 3: obsessed with that Love Island USA season, So people were

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Speaker 3: going to watch parties for that, and I knew some

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Speaker 3: people who were going to those. I was seeing it

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Speaker 3: all over my social media. And then this year around

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Speaker 3: Christmas when Heeded rivalry came out and that madness descended

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Speaker 3: in a good way on everyone. People were hosting watch

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Speaker 3: parties for that, and being in LA, I think they

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Speaker 3: just came across my social media, and you know, people

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Speaker 3: hosted them all throughout the country in New York, LA.

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Speaker 3: So it was kind of put on my radar from

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Speaker 3: that seeing it online and just how many people were

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Speaker 3: showing up, because you would see it online and people

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Speaker 3: would just be standing on the sidewalk looking into bars

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Speaker 3: because they were so at capacity that they couldn't even

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Speaker 3: have more people come in.

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Speaker 1: The best advertising for any restaurant is a line out

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Speaker 1: the door, for sure. Yes, it's sort of like a

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Speaker 1: mashup of the movie going experience where you watch something

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Speaker 1: with a lot of people and have all the laughs

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Speaker 1: and the gasps all at the same time, but also

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Speaker 1: still the intimacy of television that you watch on a

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Speaker 1: weekly basis or you watch on a binge basis. For

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Speaker 1: pop culture lovers, this is the best of both worlds.

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Speaker 1: What are the common threads between the types of shows

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Speaker 1: that tend to lend themselves to these kind of watch parties.

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Speaker 3: I think any show that has a following can definitely

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Speaker 3: lend itself to this, But there are some commonalities. The

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Speaker 3: stuff that people want to cheer at and get very

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Speaker 3: excited by, so shows that have big moments, so if

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Speaker 3: heated rivalry, of course, there's very dramatic moments that people

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Speaker 3: want to experience as a group and they want to

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Speaker 3: come out and see other people. And one of the

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Speaker 3: reasons why reality shows are so popular is because they

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Speaker 3: are kind of sports adjacent. You want to yell at

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Speaker 3: the TV and share at them, and that lends itself

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Speaker 3: to being in a group and being in public and

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Speaker 3: going to a bar and getting a drink and hanging

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Speaker 3: out with your friend. When you look back at the

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Speaker 3: Love Island to watch parties that were happening this past summer,

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Speaker 3: lots and lots of drama, just things that get the

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Speaker 3: audience riled up.

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Speaker 1: You make a good analogy about sports. Anything surprise you

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Speaker 1: in your reporting for this, and anything that you didn't

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Speaker 1: expect to learn that you found out through your reporting.

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Speaker 1: You've got a number of people from different establishments and

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Speaker 1: different companies that are involved in organizing these. You got

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Speaker 1: a lot of sources on the phone for this.

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Speaker 3: I think what was most surprising was just how many

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Speaker 3: people come out to these. I went to a Survivor

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Speaker 3: watch party for the story for the seven fifty premiere,

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Speaker 3: and more than six hundred people circled in and out

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Speaker 3: of the bar the entire night, which is that's a

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Speaker 3: ton of people to come in and out of a

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Speaker 3: bar just to watch a TV show. So I think

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Speaker 3: the sheer number of people that are coming out is

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Speaker 3: impressive and interesting in something that kind of surprised me.

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Speaker 3: And I think the other thing that I hadn't thought

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Speaker 3: about before was the financial upside for bars that host

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Speaker 3: these events for a bar and pub and what have you.

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Speaker 3: Especially people are drinking less and post COVID people are

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Speaker 3: going out less, so it is a way for them

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Speaker 3: to have these events that people come out to. I

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Speaker 3: spoke to a woman who hosts reality TV show watch

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Speaker 3: parties across LA and she was saying too, you know,

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Speaker 3: a lot of these shows are on a Tuesday night

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Speaker 3: or a Wednesday night, when people aren't really going to

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Speaker 3: bars as much as they would on a weekend. So

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Speaker 3: it's a good way to levy that the slower moments

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Speaker 3: in a bar.

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Speaker 1: That's good business reporting. We thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: delivering us this great little story. It's that it's those

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Speaker 1: observational moments as a journalist that can just make all

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Speaker 1: the difference awesome.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: As we close out today's episode, here's a few things

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Speaker 1: we're watching for. Don't miss my colleague Clayton Davis's final

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Speaker 1: Oscar predictions. He was right about Sinners leading the nominations pack.

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Speaker 1: Don't miss my colleague Angelique Jackson's interview with Viola Davis

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Speaker 1: as to why Davis yelled out a famous line from

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Speaker 1: an August Wilson play when Michael B. Jordan of Sinners

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Speaker 1: won the Actor for Best Actor in a Film. Looking

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Speaker 1: ahead to next week, Variety will have a team at

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Speaker 1: the Big Hong Kong Film Mark Content Marketplace. We'll produce

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Speaker 1: three digital daily starting March seventeenth, our great correspondent, Nomen

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Speaker 1: Rama Chandron will lead the charge. We love to hear

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Speaker 1: from our listeners, so please send thoughts, scripes, and other

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Speaker 1: feedback about Daily Variety to podcasts at Variety dot com

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Speaker 1: Before we go, Congrats to Billy Parks. He's been named

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Speaker 1: head of the newly launched Fox Creator Studios. He's a

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Speaker 1: season producer who has also held senior roles at the

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Speaker 1: Churnin Group, Full Screen, Astronauts Wanted, and Outer Media. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening. This episode was written and reported by me

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Speaker 1: Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Antonio Ferme, Harper Maze, and

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Speaker 1: Peyton turkletaub Stick Snick's hick Picks. Please leave us a

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Speaker 1: review at the podcast platform of your choice, and please

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Speaker 1: tune in tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety