Good morning. Across the US today, thousands of people are participating in a nationwide shutdown in solidarity with the Minneapolis-St. Paul area—no work, school, or shopping. 

For those looking to get involved but unable to miss work or school, political creator BullCityAnna and North Carolina small business Bright Black Candles pulled together a few alternatives.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

As the Sundance Film Festival celebrates its last “dance” in Park City, Utah, creators were involved in nearly every facet—from red carpet interviews to launching film funds.

Roll the tape → 

We caught up with comedy creators durafest2, Pablo Hernandez, and Alex Maystrik to get their top takeaways from Park City:

The line between film and short-form video is getting even blurrier. Hernandez said festival access opens doors to streamers (along the lines of Disney+’s original vertical content or Fox’s investment in microdramas), even if creators aren’t premiering a film.

“I think people spend so much time on vertical video, even as a second screen. It’s only a matter of time before streaming companies figure out verticals is a route they’re missing out on,” Hernandez told us.

So how do creators get into the right rooms? Platform relationships seem to help. Hernandez and Maystrik, along with creators including pop culture commentator Louis Levanti and video essayist Mina Le, were part of a creator group TikTok brought to Sundance as part of its #FilmTok initiative.

“We were able to enter into spheres with A24 and got on the press line at Sundance. TikTok is really helping bridge that gap to allow us to be in these spheres thanks to their relationships with these companies and studios,” Maystrik said.

Big picture: Film festivals like Cannes and TIFF can elevate creators’ content, from podcasts to vertical scripted sketches, durafest2 told us. “Not only are we utilizing film content with IP and brand recognition, but we’re starting to evolve into minute-plus series that we create on our own, and can develop into premium content,” Maystrik said.

After taking a break for over a year, commentary creator D’Angelo Wallace is back with a new content strategy: filming videos on livestream.

Let’s back up: Over the past eight years, Wallace has racked up 4.3 million subscribers and 278 million views across three separate channels, making videos about internet trends, pop culture, and creator controversies. He decided to take a break in late 2024 after backlash to a video covering Starbucks. His realization? The average commentary viewer had changed.

“Before, there was an expectation of the creator having the majority of the knowledge and the viewer accepting the delivery,” Wallace told us. “But now people come into commentary, oftentimes already knowing much about the situation at hand.”

His solution? Involve the audience (with boundaries). 

“This is still 100% a video-first content strategy, despite the live recording. That is why I've attempted to minimize some of the more stream-exclusive methods of interacting with people,” Wallace said. His revenue comes mostly from AdSense (although he’s starting to do brand deals again).

Zoom out: Wallace encourages other creators to assess how their audiences’ needs may have changed over the years. 

“I think that is a trap that unfortunately many creators at this stage fall into, where your audience appears to be clamoring for the thing that they've always gotten, but your audience has also shifted in subtle ways,” Wallace said. “A lot of it comes down to how willing are you to be a student again?”

Three-hour daily tech news show TBPN, started by business creators John Coogan and Jordi Hays, has grown a loyal following and secured big-name guests from Mark Zuckerberg to Sam Altman…in just one year.  

Hays and Coogan, who expect to read 5,000 ads next year, have become masters of brand partnerships. They sat down with Colin and Samir to share their strategy →

Pitch brands like a Formula 1 team. Brands sponsor for a season and pay on a monthly or annual basis. “You’re giving us revenue predictability, we’re going to go above and beyond to get you as many relevant impressions as we possibly can,” Hays said. Like sports teams, TBPN focuses on innovating both overlays (such as logos on stream) and host-read ads. 

Develop pride around brand partners. In a culture where viewers want to skip ads, TBPN tries to make each ad cool—like selling a rugby polo with brand logos on it. “It was another point of differentiation,” Coogan said. “Many tech podcasts were monetizing in other ways, like having a business on the side. So the idea of being the exact opposite of that—maximal advertising—is sorta funny [...] but when we thought it through it’s about being pro the companies we work with.”

To hear more on how TBPN built the stamina for a daily show and why they’re averse to scaling, check out their full interview with Colin and Samir.  

*This is sponsored content

The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.