Over the last couple years, we’ve talked a lot about creators and their IPs moving into (and performing well in) spaces like TV and film. Much of this movement has been self-financed and distributed, though creators are snagging more development partnerships with traditional studios and streaming services.
But we haven’t seen anything like what Dropout is doing.
On March 2, Sam Reich‘s comedy studio and the stars of its series Game Changer will get in front of TV viewers with a special crossover episode of ABC‘s long-running cop show The Rookie.
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Shows in the cop/firefighter/criminal investigation genres are known for their splashy crossovers, but typically you’re talking about two network series overlapping. Dropout’s episode is the first time a major TV network has picked up a creator-founded and -fronted digital property for an integration of this scale. (A couple creators have independently appeared on shows, though: former Try Guy Eugene Lee Yang, for example, appeared in an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.)
Per Variety, the episode will put The Rookie‘s stars Nathan Fillion, Mekia Cox, Lisseth Chavez, and Deric Augustine in the room with Dropout’s Reich, Vic Michaelis, Jacob Wysocki, Zac Oyama, and Anna Garcia.
Called “Fun and Games,” the episode was filmed in part at Dropout’s Los Angeles studio (specifically the Game Changer set). Its official description: “Harper and Miles feel the weight of their recent mistakes, while Harper is tasked with training Miles. Nolan and Celina are dispatched to a robbery call at the Dropout TV Studios where Nolan encounters a familiar face.”
By the numbers, this matchup makes sense: Dropout’s premium subscription service just hit 1 million paid subscribers, and its YouTube channel brings ~10 million views per month. The Rookie, meanwhile, is now getting almost 10 million views per episode.
Some fans, however, aren’t thrilled with Dropout’s decision to appear on a police procedural. Game Changer‘s X post announcing the crossover drew negative responses, with one person screencapping their cancelled payment to Dropout’s service and captioning it, “Not subscribing to copaganda in the year 2026.”
Dropout is also making moves outside of The Rookie. Earlier this week, Reich revealed the Dropout streaming service has licensed British comedy horror webseries Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.
“Is Dropout getting into licensing content?” Reich wrote on LinkedIn. “Yes, maybe, carefully. As with anything we do, this is experimental–driven by my love for the show as well as a great relationship with its creators. But if it works, we might do more things like it.”
