Good afternoon. And good news for job hunters: we’ve got twice as many job postings in today’s newsletter—starting close to home.

Colin and Samir are looking for short- and long-form video editors to join the team here in LA. If you or someone you know would be a good fit, check out the link to apply here.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Today’s lineup:

Director Christopher Nolan’s latest film, The Odyssey, pulled in another $87M domestically at the box office this weekend, grossing $640M worldwide—and is on track to be Nolan’s biggest movie ever. At the forefront of its press tour? Creators.

Here’s where they fit in→

Other creator stops included Kareem Rahma’s Subway Takes, Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast, and food creators Top Jaw. 

The insider POV: “Each creator choice made by The Odyssey promotional team is about the value of the creator’s creativity and encouraging their large audience into theaters to see the movie,” Joanna Jordan, founder of Central Talent Booking told us.

How we see it: A few years ago, Hot Ones was the one creator stop on a Hollywood press tour. Now, Reece Feldman’s set footage gets more Instagram views than three media brands combined. Studios still hand those outlets access, but they don’t have as much reach. Creators aren’t just a supplement to the press tour anymore, now creators are the tour.

A year ago, the New York Times asked “Can The Washington Post’s TikTok Guy Make It Without The Washington Post?” Now we have an answer. 

Jorgenson told us how he built Local News International into a sustainable business in its first year→

Bring the audience with you. Beyond individual news stories, Jorgenson regularly shares the story behind how LNI was started—leaving a legacy news room to run an independent media company.

"Weaving the bigger picture into the videos gave people a narrative—something to root for," Jorgenson told us. "I still remind them weekly that I left the Post, and whenever we do, we get a ton of new subscribers."

Determine product offerings. In its first five months, 49% of LNI’s revenue came from advertising, followed by 21% consulting work, and 14% from the newsletter (including ads and membership). The rest came from grants, speaking engagements, and platform payouts. 

"We're not just doing this one thing," Jorgenson told us. "We’re presenting the options, and you can kind of à la carte pick from them."

Be selective about brand partners. LNI worked with nine ad partners, spanning non-profits like MediaWise to CPG brands like Harry’s. Jorgenson (who said LNI’s demo is mostly young males) runs brand partners through a thick filter: no betting or prediction-markets, no Political Action Committee (PAC) endorsements.

So even though politics is LNI’s beat, he won't take political money in order to preserve his own voice. “You really have to pick an ad partner that feels like it's in line [with your company ethos]—otherwise your audience may revolt to some degree,” Jorgenson said.

Big picture: Jorgenson said LNI’s first year proved its business model works—now year two is about building beyond short-form video. 

LNI will launch a weekly 20-30 minute long-form YouTube show. Jorgenson said that’ll open up the opportunity for mid-roll ads and a format that’s easier to sell against than one-off short videos. 

"It's going to be hopefully one of the biggest sources [of revenue]," he said, "if not the biggest."

Creators whose Google accounts house their YouTube channels, Gmail, and AdSense revenue now have another means of account recovery: a selfie video.

Between the lines: Biometric verification is quickly becoming the internet's new trust layer, forcing creators to balance stronger security against growing privacy concerns.

Users can now record a short video with guided head movements that Google will use to verify their identity if they're locked out. Google says videos are encrypted and can be deleted. 

Worth noting: The rollout has sparked skepticism, with some users questioning if uploading facial biometrics is the right move at a time when AI-generated video and deepfakes are becoming increasingly realistic.