The days of YouTube being the home of low-maintenance, at-home, DIY stars are officially over.
The New York Times lifts the curtain Tuesday on the brave new world of YouTube star-making, and reveals that the traditional power players of Old Hollywood—agents, managers, and publicists, etc—are swooping in on the platform’s biggest stars.
And it’s making it much, much more expensive to work with a group that had previously been assumed to be an untapped, unsophisticated, and inexpensive group of talent.
The Times retells one anecdote about CBS Films wanting 18-year old Bethany Mota—currently appearing on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars—to make a cameo in a film.
She told them to talk to her team, which included reps from UTA, an attorney, and publicists, who told CBS their client would be happy to appear… for $250,000.
While YouTube was once seen as a great democratizing force, cutting out the traditional Hollywood gatekeepers and middle men, it’s now firmly entrenched as part of the Hollywood, Inc. org chart.
Agents, attorneys, and the like are selling YouTubers on the possibility of broader reach, more sophisticated—and lucrative—branding deals, and a team of gatekeepers to protect them from those seeking to take advantage of sky-high subscriber numbers.
The trend is also posing some thorny questions about whether representatives of YouTube stars have to follow the same laws and regulations that apply for more traditional talent.
Read More: The New York Times
Brief Take: With YouTube stars boasting more online followers than many of the traditional A-Listers, it was only a matter of time before the Hollywood, Inc machine turned their attention to this new generation of stars.
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