Good morning. In anticipation of the long-awaited sequel, I rewatched The Social Network this week.

Between The Social Reckoning and Artificial (the upcoming Sam Altman biopic), it’s only a matter of time before we get fancast predictions for the TBPN guys.

— Syd Cohen

Today’s lineup:

In a sea of slop and misinformation, creators who earn their audience's trust are the ones who take time to verify their facts.

But what does that process look like? We turned to creators with backgrounds in journalism and science to learn how they fact-check their work →

Start fact-checking before you script: For Adam Cole and Joss Fong of Howtown, fact-checking doesn’t wait until a script is finished. “It’s sort of an ongoing process that’s always happening all the time,” Cole told us.

Nicole Menkart, a science producer at Cleo Abram’s HUGE* If True, shared that her team does background interviews before writing begins. Likewise, edutainment YouTube channel fern noted in a video that the team can spend weeks researching and speaking with experts ahead of scripting.

Verify claims with multiple sources: For HUGE* If True, Menkart said the team checks its claims against at least two sources and follows up with experts about any points that remain unclear.

Cole said fact-checking at Howtown scales to a claim’s importance to a story. The more important a claim is, the more sources they find to support or debunk it.

Get a second set of eyes: On one end of the spectrum, fern has about 100 people working on its videos, including a dedicated team of fact-checkers. On the other end, only Cole and Fong review each other’s work for Howtown.

“That’s one of the big downsides of creator-led journalism versus a newsroom where you [sometimes have more] resources for fact-checking,” Cole said.

If budget is a constraint, one workaround can be free. HUGE* If True runs a table read with its team and reviews scripts together aloud.

“It helps catch any remaining errors or unintended phrasing,” Menkart told us

Zoom out: For creators, trust takes years to earn but only seconds to lose. Fact-checking is a way to protect what they've built.

In 2022, newsletter creator Paul Millerd bet on himself and self-published The Pathless Path, a book he wrote to make sense of his relationship to work.

It spread slowly at first, mostly by word of mouth. Then Ali Abdaal, who quit his medical career to go all in as a creator, started recommending it himself.

To date, The Pathless Path has sold over 86K copies and even features a new foreword written by Abdaal. Despite its independent success, Millerd is now partnering with publisher Authors Equity to relaunch the book for its fifth anniversary in January 2027.

Here's what made the deal worthwhile →

It's a win-win: Millerd gains access to publishing expertise and distribution, while Authors Equity gets a book with proven sales and an engaged following.

"If you're more entrepreneurial and you have a connection with your audience, try to go direct or partner with somebody that enables you to be the best version of yourself,” Millerd said.

Sponsored by Microsoft

Cameras, mics, batteries, and lights. That’s a lot of gear to haul around.

When you create content on the go, your editing setup shouldn’t add to that pile.

Assemble a portable kit with Surface Laptop or Surface Pro, paired with Surface Mouse.

Keep your gear bag light with these tools. See the full Surface lineup today.

Over the last three years, Jake Carlini has turned his challenge YouTube channel into a cinematic universe of fictional characters including Socksus, Purple Dude, and Boxing Glove Guy.

He’s since expanded that universe into a comic book series that’s now coming to the big screen. His first movie, The Cosmic Roommates: Garbage Day, will have a one-day theatrical release on October 22.

Here’s how he’s making it happen →  

“I'm in the business of creating core memories,” Carlini told us. “The theater is such a good spot to do that.”

Big picture: More creators are using theaters less as a means to enter Hollywood, but more as community-building spaces—like Grace Reiter’s premiere for The Hunger Games But Better and Animation Epic’s 30-theater screening.

“Doing in-person events is an easy way to lock someone in,” Carlini said. “You're not just going to be a fan like a year from now. You're here for good.”