The Scary Truth About YouTubers & Hollywood

Welcome to Created, the newsletter that's more essential than a back-up SD card on a shoot day. Here's what we got today:

• How a YouTube movie critic sold his movie to an Oscar-Winning distributor

• Why sleep paralysis went viral on YouTube

• The color theory of thumbnails

YouTuber Sells His Movie To Oscar-Winning Distributor

YouTube movie critic Chris Stuckmann sold his film Shelby Oaks to Neon, the distributor behind Oscar winning Best Picture Parasite.

Backstory:

• 2011: Stuckmann begins uploading movie reviews, growing an audience of 2M subscribers with nearly 2,000 videos over 13 years.

• 2021: Stuckmann launches a Kickstarter to fund production of Shelby Oaks. In a month, he raised $1.3M — the highest ever for a horror film on Kickstarter.

• 2024: Post-production on the film wraps. Stuckmann secures a global distribution deal with Neon (including a US theatrical run)

Quote: "This honestly is everything that I have been working for since I was 14 years old and decided I wanted to make movies. And it's been 22 years of trying to do that," said Stuckmann.

Why This Matters: Success on YouTube is quickly becoming validation for Hollywood to trust creators with bigger budgets.

But what's most interesting is Stuckmann's movie is not an expansion of his YouTube videos. Not at all.

Consider the current norm:

• Yes Theory made a movie called Project Iceman which was similar to past videos about the 'Ice Man' Whim Hoff.

• Ryan Kaji's upcoming movie is a mix of live action and animation, similar to his past videos.

• Wesley Wang's YouTube short film was picked up by Darren Aronofsky and will likely turned into a similar style movie.

But Stuckmann's movie? It has nothing to do with his current talking head format.

It's brand new IP. New story. New characters.

So Good...It's Scary? Since 1977, horror movies average the best ROI on production costs.

It's a safer risk for studios, especially now when betting on YouTubers.

Think about it. No CGI like Sci-Fi. No need to pay A-listers like RomComs.

It's no surprise YouTubers Racka Racka also made their movie debut with...you guessed it...a horror film.

🎯 Weekly Roundup: Thumbnails

Here's why we love these YT thumbnails. Hopefully they inspire your next one.

1. Neon green plus pink highlights (complimentary colors) draw your eye immediately (HopeScope)

2. High-contrast elements (white + red) with very timely story (fern)

3. Simple photo executed masterfully with text sells the concept (Babish Culinary Universe)

4. Perfect use of negative space to catch attention (Kelly Wakasa)

And what do all 4 thumbnails have in common? A dominant color and a highlight color. One sets the tone, one grabs your attention.

🚀 Outlier Of The Week

This video by Cody Hales got 1.8M views though he only had 39K subscribers. That's 165 times higher than the channel's average.

Here's why it took off so you can apply to your next video:

1. Unanswered Question: Sleep paralysis is a terrifying mystery — but Cody dives into the unknown head on, legitimately trying to enter a state of sleep paralysis.

2. Still Funny: For such a dark concept, Cody jam packs the 16 minute video with hilarious sketches, an original song about sleep paralysis, and masterful comedic video editing.

3. Deep Dive: Still, the video educates the viewer on what sleep paralysis is, both scientifically and from Cody's own experience.

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After all, nothing great is created alone. Talk soon,

Jon