Everyone likes a good underdog story, so Cricket Wireless is attaching its name to an uplifting web series that celebrates rising talent. In partnership with Issa Rae‘s Ensemble — which is part of her company Hoorae Media — the mobile phone company has launched Making It, which pairs established creators with hungry up-and-comers.
Amid a resurgence of web series content, Cricket and Hoorae are sharing the spotlight with an eclectic group of Black creators. Across six episodes, Making It will show what happens when digital tastemakers with significant social media followings — like Devan Anderson, Chizi Duru, and Kier Gaines — join forces with upstarts like Jerrold Smith, Charisma Lowe, and Isaac Williams.
The first episode of Making It features a conversation between Anderson and Smith. It premiered on Cricket’s YouTube page and on the two featured creators’ respective channels. Additional content will roll out via short-form channels on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. By routing the series through creator hubs, the producers of Making It are “reaching creators’ audiences where they are most engaged,” according to a press release.
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Rae, who has been active in the web series space since the format’s first peak, has long positioned herself as a champion of independent voices. By serving as an executive producer for several web series, working with Project Greenlight, and turning Tubi into an incubator, Rae has found numerous ways to elevate unheralded creators.
Now, long after levelling up from her own web series and becoming the star of the HBO series Insecure, Rae is using her prominent position to continue her long-running mission. Ensemble, a branded entertainment company under the Hoorae umbrella, concocted Making It alongside Cricket and the agency Hearts & Science.
“If creators are the new showrunners, brands are the new producers, and Ensemble is the new studio system,” Ensemble President and Co-Founder Ian Schafer said in a statement. “We built Making It to give more creators access to production services and scalable distribution while creating more opportunities for creators to realize their dreams through mentorship, opportunity, and community. Cricket’s belief in creators’ potential makes them — and this select group of creators — the perfect storytellers.”
Making It shows that you don’t have to be Issa Rae to mentor the next generation of digital media pioneers. Brands can get in on the fun, and why wouldn’t they? Helping out smaller creators is a good way to generate positive PR, and in an era of influencer marketing defined by efficiency, a show like this can be an economical campaign. In other words, Making It is a win-win-win that supports creators, brands, and viewers.
