Good morning. Corny holiday movies are getting the microdrama treatment. The leads of Netflix’s Hot Frosty are starring in a short-form video series across social platforms for makeup brand Maybelline this month. 

Maybe she’s born with it, but he’s definitely a snowman come to life.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Hi y’all, it’s Syd. As The Publish Press’ avid movie-goer (@sydco on Letterboxd, if you’re curious), I’ve had the absolute pleasure of seeing two creator-led films recently—not online, but in actual theaters: Jonah Feingold’s 31 Candles and Creator Camp’s Two Sleepy People. Both are touring the country, bringing a creator spin to indie distribution and drawing a crowd while doing so. 

How they made it happen →

Funding: Two Sleepy People was self-financed for $100K, while 31 Candles was classified as an “ultra low budget project” by SAG-AFTRA (maxing out at $300K). Feingold funded the movie through 33 investors—all of whom have invested in his previous feature and doubled their investments.

Touring and distribution: At both screenings I attended, the excitement was palpable. Although Feingold is having a wide release of 31 Candles in AMCs nationwide this January, its screening (like Two Sleepy People) took place in a local theater. But there’s a reason why he may not distribute this film on YouTube for a while.

“I know that for a movie to succeed on YouTube, you have to make them at scale, and you have to be willing to release clips from the movie to help drive traffic,” Feingold told me. “And I wasn't willing to do that with 31 Candles. 31 Candles is a movie that's designed to be watched in one sitting.”

Meanwhile, Creator Camp’s co-founder and CEO Max Reisinger wants to show creators the long-term impact of a theatrical release. 

“A movie ticket is 10,000x higher of a CPM than a YouTube view,” Reisinger told me. “If you could make half a million dollars off of this, then this is a whole new way to make money, especially for the artists of the internet.”

Big picture: With shortening box office windows, cinema closures, and lower film grosses post-pandemic, it takes innovative measures to get a movie in the theaters (and make people watch). Creators like Feingold, Markiplier, and Creator Camp are using both traditional film financing models and self-funding to keep the theater experience alive—one sold-out indie screening at a time.

This weekend, QTCinderella’s Streamer Awards returned for a fifth year—setting a new livestream viewership record for the show at 965K peak viewers (over 400K more than last year), according to Esports Charts. Sponsors included brands like AT&T and creator bbno$.  

This year included nine new categories, many of which lined up with larger trends we’ve been tracking across streaming:

Big picture: As a fan-nominated and fan-voted award show, the Streamer Awards is an opportunity for creators to peek under the hood at what their audiences are most excited about (because it may give a glimpse into their future). After winning “Best Creative Arts Streamer” in 2024, music creator PlaqueBoyMax just became the first Twitch streamer to be nominated for a Grammy—leaving us wondering which winners from this year will make even bigger moves in 2026?

Sponsored by CTB

It’s not often you see Miles Teller sit down for a long-form podcast. But at a moment when his career is shifting into its next chapter, he joined Theo Von for a conversation on This Past Weekend.

They covered everything from the actor’s Florida roots to how his newest film reshaped his views on life after death. Over 1.24 million viewers have already tuned in.

To make it happen, Theo partnered with Central Talent Booking. For more than 26 years, CTB has been the go-to team for talk shows like Theo’s to book high-profile guests.

Want to land a collab that drives viewership like this? Partner with CTB today.

Long-form video is the gift that keeps on giving—at least for science education creator Mark Rober. He recently topped the Netflix Kids charts with videos from his YouTube back catalog. 

The series, Mark Rober’s CrunchLabs, comprises seven top-performing YouTube videos, some going back six years like “World’s Largest Jello Pool” and “World’s Tallest Elephant Toothpaste.” The series debuted on Netflix at no. 1 on Kids TV Shows and no. 5 in the US. Today, it’s at no. 3 in Kids TV Shows and no. 10 globally.

The CrunchLabs series is a part of a deal Rober struck with Netflix in August, which includes an original competition series due next year. Rober also recently launched a FAST channel with Samsung TV, which includes YouTube back catalog videos.