Screenshot from Andrew Schulz’s comedy special: Infamous.
Creators are walking away from million dollar streaming deals.
Andrew Schulz and Yes Theory are great examples:
1. Andrew Schulz took his life savings and bought back the rights to his comedy special after the streaming service expressed their intentions of cutting out parts of his jokes.
2. Yes Theory cut ties with a streaming service due to creative differences after the platform provided 1,250,000$ in funding for the post-production of their feature length documentary Project Iceman.
The Results:
1. Andrew Schulz stated that he made 3x the money he put into his special a few weeks after he self-released it on his website and on Youtube.
2. Yes Theory went on a worldwide theatrical tour for their documentary and sold out every single screening they had.
The Lesson:
Many creators who have already amassed a large audience understand that distributors are not always needed to release their projects. Especially when they feel boxed in by the streamer's creative control.
The idea here is that you take the risk by owning the rights to your work. This means that if it fails, you lose because you're 100% responsible.
But you also gain creative freedom and potential economic upside if the project financially succeeds.
Streaming services are great and without them we wouldn't have some of the best shows and movies ever made. (One of my favorites being Ted Lasso on Apple TV+.)
But, these services are competing with free distribution platforms that have no barrier to entry such as Youtube, Tiktok and others.
You win some, you lose some. Interesting stuff.
What I’ve learned about the industry:
I’ve been working in media and entertainment for about 7 years now.
When I was a teenager, I would dream of one day going to Hollywood. I wanted to “make it” by working on high budget movie productions alongside big names and major studios.
That dream of mine is still present. But the older I got the more I realized how tremendously difficult it is to break into this industry.
The new state of entertainment allows the everyday person from anywhere in the world to create and publish without the need for someone to give permission to do so.
As a Canadian myself, packing my bags and going to Hollywood is very difficult to do because of Visa issues, and other international restrictions for non-US workers.
Today, I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I can focus on working from anywhere I want while connecting with people from the entertainment industries through Youtube, Tiktok, and other online platforms.
Everyone creates content and art nowadays because of how easy it is to do so. The low-barrier of entry we have today lends a voice to everyone in the world willing to say something. That’s a powerful and wonderful thing, and I am here for it.
I love cinema and I can’t wait to make something for the big screen one day. But, I appreciate and love the creator industry a lot and I see space for both to coexist.
