Good morning. Nearly four years after Claire Saffitz left the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen, the pastry chef/food creator has reprised her beloved YouTube series “Gourmet Makes” as “Claire Recreates,” where she remakes store-bought novelty desserts—starting with Nestlé Drumsticks. As one comment on the inaugural episode put it, “the timeline is healing.”

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

TikTok and YouTube Creators Make a Run for Hollywood

This week, 19-year-old filmmaker Wesley Wang signed with veteran director Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures to make a feature-length adaptation of Wang’s viral YouTube short film, nothing, except everything. 

With the film being distributed by TriStar Pictures, the deal makes Wang one of the youngest directors to work for a big Hollywood studio—and marks further inroads for creators making the jump to Hollywood. 

Roll the tape:

• Last February, creator Kane Parsons, aka Kane Pixels, signed with A24 to make a film based on his popular YouTube horror films.

• Comedy creator Jack Martin recently starred in NBC’s sci-fi show La Brea.

• Comedy creator and singer Veronika Slowikowska starred in Hulu’s Davey & Jonesie’s Locker. 

• Prayag Mishra, who rose to fame on TikTok for his shoulder-leaning “it’s the way you act” catch phrase, is now repped by Underscore Talent in his pursuit of a variety of roles, including romantic comedies. 

“I want to be known as different characters to people and be a part of something a lot bigger than making videos myself—being part of a bigger team, and delivering a message that I can’t do just by myself,” Mishra told us.

Looking ahead: Given recent platform volatility, including a looming TikTok ban, creators like Mishra are attracted to the relative reliability of traditional Hollywood distribution. 

"I'm watching movies that Leonardo DiCaprio made 10, 15 years ago and becoming an overnight fan of him…I think that speaks to the permanence of something film-related," Mishra said.

Why Hasan Piker Doesn’t Copyright Streams

Fans of Twitch streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker said that they’ve been able to build budding side hustles by reposting clips of Piker’s original streams—something Piker has publicly celebrated.

Context: During a stream on Twitch last week (which featured Piker delivering pizza to students and faculty who were protesting on UCLA’s campus), a student told Piker that he runs a fan channel called “HasanAbi_waitingroom.”

• The student claimed he was able to pay off part of his college tuition by cutting up clips of Piker’s streams and monetizing the fan channel. FYI, Piker doesn’t copyright his content.

• Several other streamers then shared on X that they too paid off debt—including medical bills and student loans—by launching similar channels.

Piker’s response? “F**k copyright,” he tweeted.

Zoom out: Creators and fans have previously criticized media publishers for using copyright laws to target and remove content, even when it drives massive interest in the original property (see: Nintendo taking down Zelda gameplay videos on YouTube).

While some fans have applauded Piker’s stance on copyright, one Reddit user shared a different perspective: the streamer is just doing what's best for his business. “Hasan has made the calculated judgment that the value he receives from fans…is greater than the value he would receive by aggressively managing his copyright,” the user wrote.

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Veteran Podcast Producers Jump to Substack

Podcast producers Andy Mills and Matthew Boll just launched Reflector, a “documentary-style” Substack audio show about “the messiness of human nature.”

Context: After helping create hit podcasts at The New York Times (including The Daily and Rabbit Hole), Mills and Boll cited a) creative control and b) the ability to better own their audience relationship in their decision to move to Substack.

Why it matters: While plenty of reporters have launched independent, subscription-based publications on Substack, Mills and Boll are two of the most prominent audio-first journalists to do so—and build a business primarily centered on podcasts.

FYI: Veteran investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein is leaving The Intercept to launch a Substack publication, he announced yesterday.

➕ Community Tab

As we wrote in today’s top story, an increasing number of creators are making the jump to the big screen.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Gaming creator TheDonato launched Road to Fame, the first game from his Dedo gaming studio.

• LTK now lets creators upload longform videos.

• Threads is running a bonus program for creators.

• Issa Rae is producing a comedy starring Keke Palmer and SZA.

• SmartLess welcomes Presidents Biden, Obama, and Clinton onto their latest podcast.

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