Good morning. We’re officially one month out from Press Publish LA: The Hollywood Creator Summit. If you’re a creator interested in attending, please submit your application ASAP as we have less than 50 spots open.

We’re already sold out of industry tickets, but we have a limited number of Newsletter Bundles still available.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Today’s lineup:

Yesterday, travel challenge creator Piotrek “Łatwogang” Garkowski closed out a nine-day stream that broke the record for a livestream fundraiser, racking up over 218M Polish zloty (about $60M USD) for a cancer patient support foundation. 

That’s over 3X the previous single livestream record—$19 million raised by French streamer ZeratoR last September. For reference, MrBeast’s biggest livestream fundraiser was $12 million.

Breaking down a record-setter:

How creators are responding:

Zoom out: Garkowski, who makes travel and challenge content exclusively in Polish, has 5.4M followers across platforms. He was able to mobilize more than a quarter of his audience at one time and shatter the previous record with just 0.2% of MrBeast’s following. 

Playback, a musical microdrama starring comedy creator Hannah Stocking, launched last week on the MyDrama app—featuring a cameo from our own Samir Chaudry. 

We spoke with the show’s leads, Amber Laird and Royce Lundquist, about what makes the series stand out → 

Big picture: The global microdrama industry is on track to surpass $11 billion in revenue this year but has largely consisted of formulaic, low-investment content. Now creator talent and real production value is coming in. For example, Issa Rae just announced her own microdrama series with TikTok, calling it a return to her digital roots. 

Lundquist said that influx of quality production makes microdramas "a much better alternative to doom scrolling—things that connect people a bit more with their humanity." For creators willing to bring craft to a still-developing format, the lane is open.

Sponsored by CTB

Comedy and chaos collide on Feeding Starving Celebrities with Quenlin Blackwell. Since launching in 2023, it has become one of the most-watched series on her YouTube channel.

As the series continued to grow, Quen teamed up with Central Talent Booking to unlock even more high-impact guest opportunities.

With 26+ years of industry expertise, CTB helps creators secure guests who drive conversation and engagement.

Earlier this month, CTB helped book actress Halle Bailey. That episode has already surpassed 1.1 million views.

Looking to land collaborations that energize your audience? Partner with CTB today.

On Friday, we hosted over 60 LA-based creators at The Lighthouse for Coffee with Creators, a community event including a Creator Support Q&A with Colin and Samir. 

We were blown away by how many types of creators showed up, from a 15-year-old business creator to a 50-year-old Hollywood editor trying to break into the creator editing scene. We had creators in stunts, comedy, VFX, short-form, long-form, podcasts…if we tried to finish the list, we’d use our whole word count.

So instead of doing that, here’s what we learned at the Q&A:

Consider your role in video formats. If you appear on camera, getting clear on your purpose is key to standing out. 

For example, if you host an interview show: “Ask yourself ‘Am I the expert? The most opinionated? The friend? Or a fan?’ Define your role to make sure you’re not just another voice,” Colin said.

Don’t size yourself. When pitching to brands and business partners, don’t classify yourself a “smaller” or “mid-size” creator. Instead, define your niche audience.

“‘Who is it for?’ and ‘Why do they watch?’ are the two most important questions if you're going to commercialize your creativity,” Samir said, placing himself in the shoes of a brand. “Because I am not buying a video, I'm buying access to your audience.”

Make projects because you want to, not because you feel like you need to. “If you are doing something because you think you're supposed to be doing it, there's another person doing it because they love doing it. And that person's more fun to watch,” Samir said.

We’ll be hosting Coffee with Creators on a monthly basis, so be on the lookout for the next one.