Latest news with #PaveStudios
Miami Herald
15-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
This is the rare bright spot in a tough Hollywood job market
LOS ANGELES - Toni Gray's phone is blowing up these days. The head of production at Dhar Mann Studios, which makes shows for YouTube and other online platforms, said entertainment industry friends in Los Angeles had once held out before seeking work in the digital realm. But now, with jobs few and far between at the legacy studios, they are reaching out "all the time" looking for opportunities at the Burbank-based studio, known for posting family-friendly dramas addressing topics like bullying. Seeing some of her peers now flock to be a part of production companies built for distribution on YouTube and other online platforms is exciting for Gray, who worked in traditional television for more than a decade and joined Dhar Mann Studios in February. "It's giving people hope that they can get back to work again," she said. "And it's not just monetary hope for their house and their kids. It actually is giving their own being life again to bring their creative element." In Hollywood's TV and film industries, droves of workers are competing for jobs at a time when many companies are consolidating and laying off hundreds of people at a time. But one segment of the entertainment industry has emerged as a bright spot - the economy made up of people creating video for YouTube and social media. That part of the industry, once dominated by amateurs making funny viral videos with smartphones has blossomed into a formidable entertainment force, where video creators are setting up real businesses with large studios in Southern California funded through advertising by major brands. Dhar Mann Studios plans to add 15 positions to its staff of about 75 full-time employees. In Sherman Oaks, Pave Studios, which produces wellness- and true-crime-related shows, is adding 16 full-time workers to its staff of 67 contractors and employees. Nationwide, there were more than 490,000 jobs supported by YouTube's creative ecosystem last year, according to the Google-owned video platform, citing data from Oxford Economics. That's roughly 60,000 more jobs than in 2023, YouTube said. "It's beginning to mature into creators really building businesses," said Thomas Kim, YouTube's director of product management for creator monetization. "We see more and more of that, and that also means that the number of employees and help that they need to sustain their business has grown over time." Sean Atkins, chief executive of Dhar Mann Studios, called it a big growth opportunity in the market. YouTube is a major player in streaming, representing 12.5% of U.S. TV viewing in May, according to Nielsen, more than streaming services including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. "Everything is so new and nascent," said Atkins, a former president at MTV. "I imagine, particularly when you walk around our studio ... that this is what it looked like in the '20s when MGM and Disney and Warner [Bros.] were [founded]. Just this enthusiastic chaos where everyone's trying to figure out what this environment is." The growth in Southern California influencer businesses is a boon to the local production economy that is otherwise struggling. L.A. County saw a 27% decline to 108,564 employees from 2022 to 2024 in the motion picture and sound recording industries, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many Hollywood workers have struggled to find roles, as studios cut down on their programming after the 2023 actor and writer strikes and after overspending during the streaming wars. For years, productions have fled the area to take advantage of lucrative financial incentives out of state and abroad. Production in L.A. County also took a hit following devastating wildfires in January. Meanwhile, the amount of employment in the creator economy is trending up, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Total workers in the L.A. County creator economy, composed of businesses such as media streaming distribution services and social networks, as well as independent artists, writers and performers, increased 5% to 70,012 from 2022 to 2024, LAEDC said. Companies in the creator economy space also increased 5% to 46,425 businesses during the same time period, according to LAEDC. The bleak job market has caused more people who have worked in traditional studio and TV networks to apply for jobs at digital media companies that produce content for platforms such as YouTube or work with influencers who are growing their staffs. The migration reflects changing realities in the business. Consumers' habits have shifted, where more people are watching YouTube on TV screens these days instead of on smartphones in the U.S., eating into territory held by broadcast and cable television. Video creators have adapted, building production teams and expanding into podcasts, merchandise and sometimes scoring streaming deals. For example, one of YouTube's top creators, Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, has a reality competition show on Amazon Prime Video, sells products such as Feastables chocolates and has brand partnerships and sponsorships. His North Carolina holding company, Beast Industries, employs more than 500 people. Kyle Hjelmeseth, chief executive of talent representation firm G&B Digital Management, said he is receiving more calls from people coming with traditional media backgrounds seeking collaborations with influencers. "Five years ago, it would have been very different," he said. "Anytime that somebody from Hollywood or the entertainment complex talked about creators, it was with such a different lens ... a little bit like nose in the air." His company, which has 25 contractors, part-time and full time employees, added four people last month with plans to hire more. "All the pressures of what's happening in Hollywood and the growth of the creator economy [are] crashing into each other in this moment, and that's why we're having a conversation about jobs, because there's such a shift in the energy, and we're certainly feeling it," he said. Pave Studios launched last year with fewer than 10 employees and now has grown to 67 contractors and employees. Part of that growth is fueled by the increasing audience for its videos and podcasts available on platforms including YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The company is hiring for roles including executive producers, with a pay range of $95,000 to $145,000, depending on the show, said founder Max Cutler. "As we grow and as the business becomes more complicated, you need more specialists and more people," Cutler said. "Video is definitely a leading growth area for us." Jen Passovoy joined Pave Studios in January as a producer, after working for 10 years at Paramount on competition series such as "RuPaul's Drag Race" and "Ink Master." "Coming from a traditional TV background, I was drawn to how nimble and audience-focused the company is," Passovoy said in an email. "There's less red tape and more room to actually create. You get the energy of a startup with the same high-quality content you'd expect from a major studio." Passovoy, 34, said the job market for traditional studio and TV network workers is really tough right now. "I know more people out of work right now than working, which says a lot," she said. "The traditional TV model just doesn't exist in the same way anymore. Budgets are shrinking and the jobs that used to be steady aren't there. There have been so many layoffs across the industry, and it's forced a lot of incredibly talented people to rethink how and where they create." Skills that people develop in traditional studio and TV roles can translate to digital-first roles, including video editors for influencers and digital media companies, industry observers said. The creator economy also has more specialized roles, such as thumbnail designers - people who create the images used to tease videos on sites including YouTube. Those jobs can pay six figures annually, as they can be instrumental for getting audiences to click on those videos. Roster, a hiring platform that lists job postings in the creator space, said the number of employers signing up to hire on the site has increased by nearly 80% from January to June 2025. Based on a sampling of 1,430 creator job posts in 2025, Roster said the most popular open position was video editor (representing 42.5%), followed by thumbnail designer (16.1%) and producer (10.6%). There are downsides. Not all jobs are full-time. Many creators opt to hire freelancers. "Their production needs need to expand and shrink like an accordion," said Sherry Wong, CEO of Roster. "That's why we see a lot of creators, even if they're really big established creators, they are hiring freelancers, contractors, and being able to keep it as lean as possible." With so many people looking for work, there's intense competition for those jobs, and the ways to apply can be creative and involved. Miami-based creator Jenny Hoyos found freelancers through a hiring challenge she hosted on Roster. Applicants were given 10 minutes of raw video footage and instructed to edit it down to a video short, roughly 30 to 60 seconds long. Hoyos, 20, requested that applicants create a final product that was engaging, cohesive and matched her specific style. She received more than 100 submissions. While there were strong contenders from California, the winners ended up being from Brazil and India. They became her two go-to freelancers, who she said are essentially working an amount equivalent to full-time editors. This method of seeking talent was Hoyos' way of making sure the people she brought on to her team were willing to go the extra mile, she said. Those hoping to break into the digital media world don't necessarily have to have grown up with YouTube and social media like she did, but they do have to "commit to being addicted to watching" content, she said. Not everyone who works for YouTube creators gets paid. Screenwriter Natalie Badillo isn't earning a salary while she tries to build up an audience on YouTube. Badillo, who sold a self-titled project to HBO Max a few years ago, said she was looking for a way to "not wait 8 billion years for a TV show to get picked up," and creating a YouTube channel,"Great Job Nat," was a way to get her material out into the world. "Why wait for somebody to throw you a party when you can just throw your own party?" she said. Badillo draws on her connections with folks from the traditional film and TV world to produce the YouTube videos. While the channel is getting up and running, collaborators work for low pay or simply for the fun of it and to gain experience. Still, her ambitions are big. "I want to be the Jon Stewart of the West," she said. The pay disparities can be an issue for people from traditional media industries looking for jobs. While some programs featuring influencers and vertical excerpts of TV shows and movies are covered by union agreements, other projects don't have those protections. "With temporary hiring, it's like everything else in Hollywood - you either need to have another job that balances things out or you need to get to a critical mass of enough work on enough different projects," said Kevin Klowden, executive director at Milken Institute Finance. "The number of sustainable Hollywood jobs has shrunk." But as the two worlds collide, traditional media companies are already paying attention to the popularity of creator shows and are trying to find ways to partner with influencers. Amazon earlier this year announced more seasons of MrBeast's reality competition series "Beast Games," and digital media companies are adding people with traditional media backgrounds to their staffs. "It's still a lot more tiptoeing," Hjelmeseth said. "Everybody's kind of like looking at each other from across the room, like, 'Should we dance?'" Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Los Angeles Times
12-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
This is the rare bright spot in a tough Hollywood job market
Toni Gray's phone is blowing up these days. The head of production at Dhar Mann Studios, which makes shows for YouTube and other online platforms, said entertainment industry friends in Los Angeles had once held out before seeking work in the digital realm. But now, with jobs few and far between at the legacy studios, they are reaching out 'all the time' looking for opportunities at the Burbank-based studio, known for posting family-friendly dramas addressing topics like bullying. Seeing some of her peers now flock to be a part of production companies built for distribution on YouTube and other online platforms is exciting for Gray, who worked in traditional television for more than a decade and joined Dhar Mann Studios in February. 'It's giving people hope that they can get back to work again,' she said. 'And it's not just monetary hope for their house and their kids. It actually is giving their own being life again to bring their creative element.' In Hollywood's TV and film industries, droves of workers are competing for jobs at a time when many companies are consolidating and laying off hundreds of people at a time. But one segment of the entertainment industry has emerged as a bright spot — the economy made up of people creating video for YouTube and social media. That part of the industry, once dominated by amateurs making funny viral videos with smartphones has blossomed into a formidable entertainment force, where video creators are setting up real businesses with large studios in Southern California funded through advertising by major brands. Dhar Mann Studios plans to add 15 positions to its staff of about 75 full-time employees. In Sherman Oaks, Pave Studios, which produces wellness- and true-crime-related shows, is adding 16 full-time workers to its staff of 67 contractors and employees. Nationwide, there were more than 490,000 jobs supported by YouTube's creative ecosystem last year, according to the Google-owned video platform, citing data from Oxford Economics. That's roughly 60,000 more jobs than in 2023, YouTube said. 'It's beginning to mature into creators really building businesses,' said Thomas Kim, YouTube's director of product management for creator monetization. 'We see more and more of that, and that also means that the number of employees and help that they need to sustain their business has grown over time.' Sean Atkins, chief executive of Dhar Mann Studios, called it a big growth opportunity in the market. YouTube is a major player in streaming, representing 12.5% of U.S. TV viewing in May, according to Nielsen, more than streaming services including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. 'Everything is so new and nascent,' said Atkins, a former president at MTV. 'I imagine, particularly when you walk around our studio ... that this is what it looked like in the '20s when MGM and Disney and Warner [Bros.] were [founded]. Just this enthusiastic chaos where everyone's trying to figure out what this environment is.' The growth in Southern California influencer businesses is a boon to the local production economy that is otherwise struggling. L.A. County saw a 27% decline to 108,564 employees from 2022 to 2024 in the motion picture and sound recording industries, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many Hollywood workers have struggled to find roles, as studios cut down on their programming after the 2023 actor and writer strikes and after overspending during the streaming wars. For years, productions have fled the area to take advantage of lucrative financial incentives out of state and abroad. Production in L.A. County also took a hit following devastating wildfires in January. Meanwhile, the amount of employment in the creator economy is trending up, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Total workers in the L.A. County creator economy, composed of businesses such as media streaming distribution services and social networks, as well as independent artists, writers and performers, increased 5% to 70,012 from 2022 to 2024, LAEDC said. Companies in the creator economy space also increased 5% to 46,425 businesses during the same time period, according to LAEDC. The bleak job market has caused more people who have worked in traditional studio and TV networks to apply for jobs at digital media companies that produce content for platforms such as YouTube or work with influencers who are growing their staffs. The migration reflects changing realities in the business. Consumers' habits have shifted, where more people are watching YouTube on TV screens these days instead of on smartphones in the U.S., eating into territory held by broadcast and cable television. Video creators have adapted, building production teams and expanding into podcasts, merchandise and sometimes scoring streaming deals. For example, one of YouTube's top creators, Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, has a reality competition show on Amazon Prime Video, sells products such as Feastables chocolates and has brand partnerships and sponsorships. His North Carolina holding company, Beast Industries, employs more than 500 people. Kyle Hjelmeseth, chief executive of talent representation firm G&B Digital Management, said he is receiving more calls from people coming with traditional media backgrounds seeking collaborations with influencers. 'Five years ago, it would have been very different,' he said. 'Anytime that somebody from Hollywood or the entertainment complex talked about creators, it was with such a different lens ... a little bit like nose in the air.' His company, which has 25 contractors, part-time and full time employees, added four people last month with plans to hire more. 'All the pressures of what's happening in Hollywood and the growth of the creator economy [are] crashing into each other in this moment, and that's why we're having a conversation about jobs, because there's such a shift in the energy, and we're certainly feeling it,' he said. Pave Studios launched last year with fewer than 10 employees and now has grown to 67 contractors and employees. Part of that growth is fueled by the increasing audience for its videos and podcasts available on platforms including YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The company is hiring for roles including executive producers, with a pay range of $95,000 to $145,000, depending on the show, said founder Max Cutler. 'As we grow and as the business becomes more complicated, you need more specialists and more people,' Cutler said. 'Video is definitely a leading growth area for us.' Jen Passovoy joined Pave Studios in January as a producer, after working for 10 years at Paramount on competition series such as 'RuPaul's Drag Race' and 'Ink Master.' 'Coming from a traditional TV background, I was drawn to how nimble and audience-focused the company is,' Passovoy said in an email. 'There's less red tape and more room to actually create. You get the energy of a startup with the same high-quality content you'd expect from a major studio.' Passovoy, 34, said the job market for traditional studio and TV network workers is really tough right now. 'I know more people out of work right now than working, which says a lot,' she said. 'The traditional TV model just doesn't exist in the same way anymore. Budgets are shrinking and the jobs that used to be steady aren't there. There have been so many layoffs across the industry, and it's forced a lot of incredibly talented people to rethink how and where they create.' Skills that people develop in traditional studio and TV roles can translate to digital-first roles, including video editors for influencers and digital media companies, industry observers said. The creator economy also has more specialized roles, such as thumbnail designers — people who create the images used to tease videos on sites including YouTube. Those jobs can pay six figures annually, as they can be instrumental for getting audiences to click on those videos. Roster, a hiring platform that lists job postings in the creator space, said the number of employers signing up to hire on the site has increased by nearly 80% from January to June 2025. Based on a sampling of 1,430 creator job posts in 2025, Roster said the most popular open position was video editor (representing 42.5%), followed by thumbnail designer (16.1%) and producer (10.6%). There are downsides. Not all jobs are full-time. Many creators opt to hire freelancers. 'Their production needs need to expand and shrink like an accordion,' said Sherry Wong, CEO of Roster. 'That's why we see a lot of creators, even if they're really big established creators, they are hiring freelancers, contractors, and being able to keep it as lean as possible.' With so many people looking for work, there's intense competition for those jobs, and the ways to apply can be creative and involved. Miami-based creator Jenny Hoyos found freelancers through a hiring challenge she hosted on Roster. Applicants were given 10 minutes of raw video footage and instructed to edit it down to a video short, roughly 30 to 60 seconds long. Hoyos, 20, requested that applicants create a final product that was engaging, cohesive and matched her specific style. She received more than 100 submissions. While there were strong contenders from California, the winners ended up being from Brazil and India. They became her two go-to freelancers, who she said are essentially working an amount equivalent to full-time editors. This method of seeking talent was Hoyos' way of making sure the people she brought on to her team were willing to go the extra mile, she said. Those hoping to break into the digital media world don't necessarily have to have grown up with YouTube and social media like she did, but they do have to 'commit to being addicted to watching' content, she said. Not everyone who works for YouTube creators gets paid. Screenwriter Natalie Badillo isn't earning a salary while she tries to build up an audience on YouTube. Badillo, who sold a self-titled project to HBO Max a few years ago, said she was looking for a way to 'not wait 8 billion years for a TV show to get picked up,' and creating a YouTube channel, 'Great Job Nat,' was a way to get her material out into the world. 'Why wait for somebody to throw you a party when you can just throw your own party?' she said. Badillo draws on her connections with folks from the traditional film and TV world to produce the YouTube videos. While the channel is getting up and running, collaborators work for low pay or simply for the fun of it and to gain experience. Still, her ambitions are big. 'I want to be the Jon Stewart of the West,' she said. The pay disparities can be an issue for people from traditional media industries looking for jobs. While some programs featuring influencers and vertical excerpts of TV shows and movies are covered by union agreements, other projects don't have those protections. 'With temporary hiring, it's like everything else in Hollywood — you either need to have another job that balances things out or you need to get to a critical mass of enough work on enough different projects,' said Kevin Klowden, executive director at Milken Institute Finance. 'The number of sustainable Hollywood jobs has shrunk.' But as the two worlds collide, traditional media companies are already paying attention to the popularity of creator shows and are trying to find ways to partner with influencers. Amazon earlier this year announced more seasons of MrBeast's reality competition series 'Beast Games,' and digital media companies are adding people with traditional media backgrounds to their staffs. 'It's still a lot more tiptoeing,' Hjelmeseth said. 'Everybody's kind of like looking at each other from across the room, like, 'Should we dance?''
Business Insider
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
Video podcasting is surging and creating much-needed work in Hollywood
Morgan Absher was trying to launch a career as an occupational therapist when COVID-19 derailed her plans. She turned on her phone, and "Two Hot Takes," a video podcast that takes a funny look at viral Reddit stories, was born. What she said started as a "depression hobby" has turned into a thriving career and made Absher a YouTube personality. Absher said video had deepened her connection with audiences and advertisers beyond what audio can afford. She believes seeing her helps the audience feel closer to her, and having video expands her accessibility to people with hearing impairments. Then there's the ability to work with advertisers who want to be seen as well as heard. "When you add video, you really open the door to the brands you can show," she said. She and the podcaster Kaelyn Moore now cohost "Clues," a new video-first true crime podcast from Max Cutler's Pave Studios. Podcasting has never been bigger. It's credited with helping shape the presidential election. Big Tech is coming for its piece of the pie. And now video is transforming the medium as people increasingly prefer to watch their favorite hosts, helping people like Absher build careers. YouTube said in February that more than 1 billion people listened to podcasts on the platform every month and that in 2024, viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly on TVs. Edison Research said in October that YouTube had become the top podcast consumption platform. The rise of video pods has even led to debate over the question: How do you define a podcast, anyway? But one thing that's not up for debate is that video has expanded the market and job opportunities in podcasting. It's not just hosts who are benefiting Video podcasting's growth has created opportunity for people in a medium that's traditionally had a low barrier for entry but rarely is a full-time job. Along with podcasters like Absher, social media creators are increasingly getting in on the action. It's also creating opportunities for service firms like Podglomerate and Creator Science that help hosts translate their shows to the screen, as well as digital media and Hollywood folks whose traditional sources of work are drying up. Podglomerate is hiring people including motion graphics editors, animators, scriptwriters, and even composers, said Chris Boniello, who came out of video and now runs production for the company. "I do think it's going to bring a lot more people into the space," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you see TV editors with multicamera skills coming into podcasting." YouTube and Spotify are helping grow the field, with creators eager to cash in on video's much-bigger revenue pie. EMARKETER expects advertisers to spend some $108 billion on digital video in 2025, versus about $2.5 billion being spent on audio podcast advertising. YouTube, with its massive scale and powerful algorithm, can be a great discovery engine, solving a problem that has long vexed the medium. Podcasters also like that YouTube keeps people watching by serving them more episodes. Spotify, meanwhile, is promoting short video clips to entice people to tune in. For advertisers, SiriusXM recently rolled out Creator Connect, a tool that creates different versions of a podcast ad for video and social media. Gabe Tartaglia, who heads podcast and satellite sales for SiriusXM, has said that the company has heard from advertisers that they want to be able to buy against hosts' multiplatform efforts. About 12% of SiriusXM's podcast advertisers are already running ads on more than one format, he said. Jay Clouse, the founder of Creator Science, said his own video podcast grossed $60,000 in revenue in 2024 between programmatic ads on YouTube and brand integrations — triple what it was making in 2022 as an audio-only podcast. 'No doubt video has increased the cost' The rise of video has raised the once low barrier to entry for podcasting. While people could make a show with as little as a phone, full productions with everything from location rental, hair, and makeup can cost as much as $10,000 a shoot. With YouTube comes opportunity but also competition. To stand out quickly from the millions of other creators, you have to work hard to optimize your title, thumbnail, and format, Clouse said. "You're still auditioning for them," he said. "They might listen for 60 seconds and leave. So the first 30 seconds, two minutes, has to be retentive. You need to think about the title and thumb before you record. It needs to be attention-grabbing, and you need to know what the package is going to be." Forever Dog Productions, a podcast studio founded in 2016 and known for its work with comedians like Bowen Yang of "Saturday Night Live" and Ayo Edebiri of "The Bear," went all in on video in 2023. Growing on YouTube has meant a lot of testing and studying things like retention and watch time to find the audience. It also more than doubles the number of people required. "You can't half-ass it," Joe Cilio, one of Forever Dog's founders, said. "No doubt video has increased the cost and amount of personnel." For those coming from traditional TV and film, a reality check can await. "Sometimes the Hollywood people have to downshift because they're used to television and now they're in digital media," Cilio said. "It's smaller potatoes; it's less money." Hosts who are used to the cozy embrace of their listeners can likewise be unprepared for the negative comments that can come with being on YouTube and beyond, where making snarky remarks is as easy as hitting play. "Podcast people like being pod-famous, but then you start putting them on Facebook — people are crazy," Cilio said. "Talent can take the comments so hard. The price of engagement can weigh heavily because people don't want to be criticized." The New York comedians Claire Parker and Ashley Hamilton host the podcast "Celebrity Memoir Book Club," a part of Vox Media, on which they discuss celebrity memoirs. They've seen the discovery and revenue benefits of video but acknowledge the downsides, like the expense and emphasis on visuals.
