Night parts ways with Night Studios leadership team, will pivot with Reed Duchscher at the helm

Night has parted ways with Night Studios head Alex Piper and its VP of Development, Jared Jacobs.

The Dallas-based management company best known for working with MrBeast (though that relationship shifted recently) launched its own creator-focused content production arm in 2022, and tapped Piper, YouTube‘s former Head of Unscripted Originals, to lead it.

Night’s goal, Piper told Tubefilter at the time, was to create a “multi-platform, multi-genre independent content studio” that would partner with established digital talent to “use their IP as a proof of concept and launching pad for premium ideas.”

But “some things don’t meet your expectations,” Night Founder/CEO Reed Duchscher wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

“In 2022, we started a production studio with the goal of helping creators develop premium content for streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon. However, after a couple of years, it has not materialized as we had hoped, despite our best efforts,” he said. “Therefore, we are making some changes to the team and direction.”

In his own LinkedIn post, Piper confirmed he’d been let go. “Night Studios got shut down because we didn’t get the job done,” he said. “We can call it whatever we want. Parting ways. Different direction. But last week we had a job, and next week we don’t.”

He added, “It’s no one’s fault. Everyone involved in Night Studios did the right thing. We worked hard. We were supported. We were thoughtful and passionate and successful. But sometimes it just doesn’t work well enough. And I can own my part in that.”

However, to be clear, Night Studios is not shutting down. Duchscher specifically says he will oversee the division going forward, and that “[w]e remain excited about our existing slate of projects in development with a diverse range of talent.”

Night President Ezra Cooperstein also commented publicly to say the division is continuing operations.

So, why hasn’t Night Studios taken off? Duchscher attributes some of its issues to a change in creator ideology. “Most top creators no longer view premium distribution as the ultimate goal,” he wrote. “While we agree, we also see a powerful opportunity to extend brands and open new revenue streams on platforms beyond YouTube, TikTok, etc.”

He also thinks streaming services still fail to see the potential in creator-led projects.

“Besides the MrBeast x Amazon project (which we are very excited about), streamers are still getting their heads around the power of creators to tell stories and move audiences,” he said. “We hope to see more progress in this area soon.”

It’s not clear if Night and/or Night Studios is involved in the development of Beast Games, which Amazon snagged for a reported $100 million back in March. But if that series performs well–which, with MrBeast’s reach, is almost a certainty–it may pique streamers’ interest in doing more production deals with creators.