Good morning. Earlier this week, Ludwig posted a MrBeast video to his own channel (with permission). Now it’s on track to be Ludwig’s most-viewed video. Just another reminder that the life of a creator comes with its fair share of humbling moments.

–Hannah Doyle

Now Serving: Ice Cold Content

After a year of sourcing funding, scouting locations, and developing both flavors and brand strategies, TikTok’s favorite ice cream creator, Dylan Lemay, opened his brick and mortar scoop shop in downtown Manhattan last week.

Although it’s steps away from at least one famous NYC ice cream landmark, Dylan’s differentiator is in the name: Catch’n Ice Cream from Dylan Lemay. Customers pick a flavor and toppings then catch their creation in a cup after a toss from their server, a ritual you might call the Dylan Lemay special.

“Since the very first meeting in mid-July last year, we knew the main value proposition for the customers was going to be the experience,” Tejas Hullur, creator and Lemay’s business partner said. “Dylan saw many stitches and tags on TikTok of others attempting to do what he did in his videos and we wanted to recreate that as close as we could in a physical form.”

To do that at scale, Lemay and Hullur had to find a manufacturer that could make a machine that produced ready-to-toss ice cream balls. And employees couldn’t be your run of the mill high schoolers saving up for a car—they needed to be acrobats with social media prowess to boot. Even branding details had to be accounted for, down to the engraved ice cream scoops. Simply put, Catch’n needs to do more than nail their cookies & cream.

Hullur shared more on how the ice cream gets made in our exclusive q+a at the end of this newsletter 👇

Our Take

Creators who want to diversify into new business ventures have to pinpoint what experience the audience gets from their content and emulate it in their product. Dylan’s followers responded to the toss and his “chop-chop, fold-fold” technique, so he made that a priority for his scoop shop. Bringing the experience his followers usually see on a screen to life right in front of them could put Dylan in a winning position—even in a market as competitive as NYC’s.

The Next YouTube-Born Feature Film

Remember Ryan Ng’s prediction that the next Spielberg is going to be a YouTuber? It might come to fruition sooner than you thought.

Earlier this year, filmmaker Danny Gevirtz set out to make a coming of age movie called I Think I’m Sick.

How it started: In April, Gevirtz launched an Indiegogo to crowd-fund part of the $500,000 he needed to cover his movie’s production costs.

It’s a tried and true strategy for films helmed by creators—Chris Stuckmann raised $430,000 for his own feature in March. But Gevirtz, who has raised about $63,000 on Indiegogo, is amending the playbook.

How it’s going: To reach his goal, Gevirtz has partnered with fellow creator Matti Haapoja to produce the film and secure brand deals to get closer to the $500k mark.

Haapoja and Gevirtz’s manager, Tyler Wells, said that so far, the team has brought in six figures through brand deals that are being fulfilled via 12 behind-the-scenes videos on Matti and Danny’s channels.

Our Take

Gevirtz is making a feature film in a way only a YouTuber could. By documenting the behind-the-scenes process on his channel, he’s created inventory for brands to advertise and opportunities for followers to buy in. By sidestepping more traditional routes like production scholarships, Gevirtz is leaning on brands, followers, and other creators to make it happen.

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Karl Jacobs Gets Graphic

Comic book graphic, that is. The gaming creator and longtime MrBeast crew member known for streaming his Minecraft plays is publishing Time Traveler Tales with comic publisher Dark Horse.

The books are inspired by Jacobs’ Twitch Series, Tales from the SMP, and will chronicle Jacobs’ part in Dream SMP’s Minecraft server. They’ll follow events inspired by the streams, like adventuring through a haunted house and a village.

Jacobs announced Time Traveler Tales to an audience of more than 23,000 on his Twitch channel (which has 3.5 million followers).

Our Take

Dream SMP is the next generation’s Marvel Universe, with a fandom that lends itself to a host of media—including fanfiction, shows, and movies. The next iconic character might not be complete fiction like Peter Parker, but instead based on a real person...a person like Karl Jacobs.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Miss Excel starts a newsletter.

• Julie Nolke is launching a new sketch comedy channel.

• Dude Perfect will stream a Thursday Night Football broadcast.

• The Hype House starts a YouTube channel with a new cast.

• Airrack hits 1 billion views.

• Spacestation’s creator agency is hiring an Account Manager and a handful of other positions.*

*This is sponsored advertising content.

Q&A: Tejas Hullur

Congrats on opening Catch’n Ice Cream! It’s been nearly a year in the making. What’s been the hardest part of the process?

Thank you! Crazy, time really flies. The hardest part of opening the shop has been lining up the thousand variables that all needed to come together to make everything work in the end, if that’s buildout, recipe design, hiring, and more. Not only that, but in an extremely expedited manner since every day we miss in summer is financially detrimental.

The shop has been open for a little over a week. How has the reception been among customers?

So far the customers find the experience very unique! The design of the shop, the ice cream, and the experience is unconventional, especially in NYC. Customers have been a solid mix of fans and those who just walk by. We are very fortunate with our location at 65 Bleecker since it is right on the NYU campus and in a part of town with a high restaurant and shopping culture.

Was it hard to find staff that could execute the ice cream toss? What did that interview process look like?

The interview process was surprisingly simple due to many interested in how unique the work culture would be at the shop. For example, one night, I had to train the employees on throwing ice cream and “spade flips” so we walked in circles for five hours throwing, catching, and creating unique tricks. It was a lot of fun overall!

Catching the ice cream itself isn’t difficult however packaging that into different tricks is where it can add up. Luckily, we have an A-class staff who are all pushing the boundaries to make an interesting show.

Outside of that, the interview process also considered the employee’s relationship with social media. Have they created content? Do they mind being in content, etc.?

Did you find that some employees are starting to make content because they are working there? Whereas they might not have previously?

Through just seeing Dylan's process in the shop, some employees are now wanting to make content who didn't before and others who were interested are more excited about it and wanting to learn more.

Many have watched me make videos in the shop and come up and ask editing questions, milestone questions, ears have definitely perked up!

Dylan told Grubstreet that you guys made a machine that makes the ice cream balls. Can you walk us through how that came together?

Dylan noticed that in his fan’s stitches and recreations of his videos, the ice cream would always turn into a soggy mess. When ideating for the shop, Dylan found a special machine from a company called Carpigiani, one of the world’s leading ice cream machine manufacturers. Later, we found out that Carpigiani was a fan of Dylan’s and they both spent time creating a new process with that machine. This later turned into what we have today!

Through the process of opening the shop, were there things that you’ve learned that have influenced your content or workflow as a creator? If so, what?

Yes. I, specifically someone who showed the behind the scenes of creating an ice cream shop, spent too long planning on how I wanted the storyline to look instead of recording key moments. I know this is contradictory to many top creator’s ideology but with something so spontaneous, I wish I had had the mindset to record first and piece the story together later.

Are there certain metrics or goals you are hoping to hit with the ice cream shop?

More than maximizing profit, we want this shop to be a creator hub in NYC. If any creator needs a bit for a video, they can contact us and come behind the bar for a fun experience. We also are planning to feature other creators’ merchandise at the shop and create limited-time ice cream offerings in collaboration with creators.

What’s your favorite part about having the shop open? Any flavors we should try?

I’ve learned more in the process of going from idea to physical location in the heart of NYC than the last 4 years of business school combined. To watch the team tackle all the problems that came our way and make Dylan’s dream come to reality blows my mind!

For flavor, I highly suggest the fruity pebbles. Also for Samir, don’t worry, we’ve got a vegan dark chocolate strawberry that's amazing.