Here at Tubefilter, we’ve been keeping our eye on the internet creator → movie maker pipeline for a couple years now. To us, it’s clear Hollywood (especially the horror arm of Hollywood) now views creators as a developing pool of talent. And even creators who aren’t–or don’t want to be–picked up by major studios are making it into theaters by sealing their own screening deals with chains like Cinemark.
With all this in mind, Creator Camp is right on trend by launching its own “internet-born film studio” aimed at giving successful content creators the production resources they need to make Hollywood-scale films.
The Creator Camp team (which describes itself as “a tiny group of 20-year-olds”) caught our attention a few months ago, when they revealed plans to host a 1,000-person film festival at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas. To do that, they partnered with Patreon, gave 10 digital content creators cash to make their own high-production short films, and also tapped industry names like Quentin Tarantino for advising and workshops.
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Now, based on the success of that film fest, the team has rented a massive space to make into a creator studio.
“Everyone knows Hollywood is broken. But nobody’s doing anything about it,” Cristina Colina, Creator Camp’s Chief Creative Officer, said in an announcement. “While the internet now fully owns audience attention, traditional entertainment still hasn’t caught up.”
She cited YouTube’s viewership stats (which put it ahead of every streaming service and TV network in the U.S.) and movie theaters’ struggle to put butts in seats. She also asserted that “there’s no ‘A24 for YouTubers,'” which we think isn’t quite fair, considering A24 has been a leader in finding and funding successful creator films, like RackaRacka‘s Talk to Me. It just released details about an upcoming backrooms film from TikToker Kane Parsons.
“Meanwhile,” Colina went on, “creators armed with millions of loyal fans and the skills to write, shoot, and edit are telling better stories than studios…at a penny of the cost.”
But Creator Camp’s studio so far isn’t a penny of the cost, and it might be hurting for expertise, too. Colina noted that the team “emptied our entire bank account on this office and have no idea what to do with it.”
“We know nothing about the film industry,” she said. “We’re just a tiny group of 20-year-olds figuring it out as we go. And it all starts here: with a big office and way too many ideas.”
It’s a sunny take on things, but those things have to work out for the sun to keep shining. Hollywood is tight-knit, filmmaking is a long game, and if Creator Camp’s financial resources truly are drained, it’s almost certainly going to have to find funding somewhere to keep it afloat until its box office sales roll in. Maybe Patreon will step up again?
That being said, we do think that, if Creator Camp can manage to learn about the film industry, it could establish a valuable path for creators to turn their ideas into big-screen showcases–especially if it can provide upfront funding the way traditional Hollywood studios do. Creators like Sam & Colby can afford to independently get their movies in theaters, but there are lots of smaller creators who have the vision but no funds, and could use a hand.
For now, Creator Camp’s studio is an empty building. But we’re curious to see where it goes–and where it takes creators.
