Fullscreen Looks Beyond YouTube For Latest Fully-Managed Talent Signings

Fullscreen, the multi-channel network that’s currently home to 2,500 creators who generate upwards of 7 billion monthly views, has added six new names to its more rarefied 360° talent management division. Beyond YouTube channel oversight, Fullscreen’s talent management division provides all-around guidance to roughly 60 influencers and celebrities across every aspect of their careers.

The latest talent signings include Fullscreen’s first TikTok stars: comedic creator Mitchell Crawford (3 million followers) and prankster Q ‘SwagboyQ’ Stenline (3.7 million followers, pictured above). While other Fullscreen creators boast a TikTok presence, these are the company’s first signings to have natively risen to fame on the app.

Other additions to the roster include Coffee and Kareem actress Samantha Cole; Harvard grad, Masterchef finalist, and Voodles founder Nick DiGiovanni; and two YouTube creators: K-pop lover and K-beauty focused Darcei Giles (728,000 subscribers) and beauty vlogger Yoatzi Castro (584,000 subscribers).

@mitchellPrivate School Kids🏫♬ Private School Kids – mitchell

Mahzad Babayan, Fullscreen’s VP of talent management and partnerships, tells Tubefilter that the division’s approach to working with TikTokkers doesn’t differ from creators who hail from other, more established platforms.

“We approach TikTok talent representation the same way that we would any other creator,” Babayan says. “Although with TikTok, the creators we’re working with are relatively new to the game, so we’re really approaching management with white-glove service, and leveraging our experience to help guide them. There’s a lot of education that goes into helping creators dig into what their businesses and futures look like.”

To this end, Fullscreen will work with Crawford to bring his curated content and improv skills to other platforms, and shepherd his acting aspirations. The company will help Stenline — an actor and model — build out his presence on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. Fullscreen adds it saw enormous potential in Giles’ “electrifying demeanor and demographic-capturing video titles” — particularly her popular Black Girl Tries series (embedded below) — and notes that Castro, who is the sister of popular beauty guru Louie Castro, stood out for sharing her Mexican-American culture and journey through motherhood.

@swagboyqDude is really working out in jeans @theswagboyq♬ original sound – swagboyq

Wins To Date

Fullscreen launched its talent management business in 2015, which today is staffed by five managers, including Babayan, Scarlett Perlman, Nick Coffey, Mason Frank, and Eric Gowat. When we profiled Fullscreen’s talent management services in 2018, the division comprised seven managers — though, at the time, Babayan said several were filling dual roles within the company. The current fleet is dedicated solely to talent management. The company also counted a portfolio of 50 clients at the time, meaning it hasn’t substantially increased its roster since then.

Babayan’s team works on myriad opportunities for talent, including film and TV projects, book publishing, podcasting, and music — in addition to harnessing Fullscreen’s native expertise in social media development and branded content. The company’s existing portfolio includes basketball player Brandon Armstrong, digital duo Cody Ko and Noel Miller, writer Aija Mayrock, and vloggers Miles McKenna, Elle Mills, Alyx Weiss, and Jack Douglass.

Babayan says that many clients who have been managed by Fullscreen from the beginning are still with the company, though she continues to seek to diversify its roster. That includes culling talent from both the digital and traditional entertainment worlds, as well as authors, athletes, and gamers. And while a social presence is crucial to any career in entertainment, it’s not a dealbreaker, Babayan says, noting Fullscreen’s pacts with Mayrock and DiGiovanni. (While both count a sizable following on Instagram, their career ventures are largely focused elsewhere).

“Overall, you do want to work with someone who has an understanding of social, and who cares about making it part of amplifying their business,” she explains. “It’s a very important part, but it’s not the end-all-be-all. We’re really going after clients that we feel can have longevity.”

Looking back, Babayan says she’s particularly proud of several of the team’s wins to date. Mckenna, for instance, is in the midst of building an off-YouTube career as an actor, having most recently booked a role in the upcoming Blumhouse and Amazon Studios feature Nocturne. The 24-year-old transgender star is also set to publish his first book — Out!: How To Be Your Authentic Self — though its release date has been pushed to Oct. 6 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Mayrock, too, recently launched a book of poetry titled Dear Girl, published by Andrews McNeel.

Babayan also touted the record deal she helped forge between Ko and Miller’s Tiny Meat Gang with Arista Records, as well as CJ Perry’s supporting role in the upcoming Bruce Willis film Cosmic Sin, the renewal of Armstrong’s Fouled Out series for retailer Champs Sports, and fashion vlogger and body positivity advocate Sierra Schultzzie

being named a brand ambassador for Hollister.Fullscreen, the multi-channel network that’s currently home to 2,500 creators who generate upwards of 7 billion monthly views, has added six new names to its more rarefied 360° talent management division. Beyond YouTube channel oversight, Fullscreen’s talent management division provides all-around guidance to roughly 60 influencers and celebrities across every aspect of their careers.

The latest talent signings include Fullscreen’s first TikTok stars: comedic creator Mitchell Crawford (3 million followers) and prankster Q ‘SwagboyQ’ Stenline (3.7 million followers, pictured above). While other Fullscreen creators boast a TikTok presence, these are the company’s first signings to have natively risen to fame on the app.

Other additions to the roster include Coffee and Kareem actress Samantha Cole; Harvard grad, Masterchef finalist, and Voodles founder Nick DiGiovanni; and two YouTube creators: K-pop lover and K-beauty focused Darcei Giles (728,000 subscribers) and beauty vlogger Yoatzi Castro (584,000 subscribers).

Mahzad Babayan, Fullscreen’s VP of talent management and partnerships, tells Tubefilter that the division’s approach to working with TikTokkers doesn’t differ from creators who hail from other, more established platforms.

“We approach TikTok talent representation the same way that we would any other creator,” Babayan says. “Although with TikTok, the creators we’re working with are relatively new to the game, so we’re really approaching management with white-glove service, and leveraging our experience to help guide them. There’s a lot of education that goes into helping creators dig into what their businesses and futures look like.”

To this end, Fullscreen will work with Crawford to bring his curated content and improv skills to other platforms, and shepherd his acting aspirations. The company will help Stenline — an actor and model — build out his presence on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. Fullscreen adds it saw enormous potential in Giles’ “electrifying demeanor and demographic-capturing video titles” — particularly her popular Black Girl Tries series (embedded below) — and notes that Castro, who is the sister of popular beauty guru Louie Castro, stood out for sharing her Mexican-American culture and journey through motherhood.

Wins To Date

Fullscreen launched its talent management business in 2015, which today is staffed by five managers, including Babayan, Scarlett Perlman, Nick Coffey, Mason Frank, and Eric Gowat. When we profiled Fullscreen’s talent management services in 2018, the division comprised seven managers — though, at the time, Babayan said several were filling dual roles within the company. The current fleet is dedicated solely to talent management. The company also counted a portfolio of 50 clients at the time, meaning it hasn’t substantially increased its roster since then.

Babayan’s team works on myriad opportunities for talent, including film and TV projects, book publishing, podcasting, and music — in addition to harnessing Fullscreen’s native expertise in social media development and branded content. The company’s existing portfolio includes basketball player Brandon Armstrong, digital duo Cody Ko and Noel Miller, writer Aija Mayrock, and vloggers Miles McKenna, Elle Mills, Alyx Weiss, and Jack Douglass.

Babayan says that many clients who have been managed by Fullscreen from the beginning are still with the company, though she continues to seek to diversify its roster. That includes culling talent from both the digital and traditional entertainment worlds, as well as authors, athletes, and gamers. And while a social presence is crucial to any career in entertainment, it’s not a dealbreaker, Babayan says, noting Fullscreen’s pacts with Mayrock and DiGiovanni. (While both count a sizable following on Instagram, their career ventures are largely focused elsewhere).

“Overall, you do want to work with someone who has an understanding of social, and who cares about making it part of amplifying their business,” she explains. “It’s a very important part, but it’s not the end-all-be-all. We’re really going after clients that we feel can have longevity.”

Looking back, Babayan says she’s particularly proud of several of the team’s wins to date. Mckenna, for instance, is in the midst of building an off-YouTube career as an actor, having most recently booked a role in the upcoming Blumhouse and Amazon Studios feature Nocturne. The 24-year-old transgender star is also set to publish his first book — Out!: How To Be Your Authentic Self — though its release date has been pushed to Oct. 6 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Mayrock, too, recently launched a book of poetry titled Dear Girl, published by Andrews McNeel.

Babayan also touted the record deal she helped forge between Ko and Miller’s Tiny Meat Gang with Arista Records, as well as CJ Perry’s supporting role in the upcoming Bruce Willis film Cosmic Sin, the renewal of Armstrong’s Fouled Out series for retailer Champs Sports, and fashion vlogger and body positivity advocate Sierra Schultzzie being named a brand ambassador for Hollister.