Good morning. 30 days and 30 videos later, Ryan Trahan has finally delivered a penny to MrBeast. In the process, he also raised $1,396,345 for Feeding America. We're going to take the long holiday weekend to celebrate. See you back here next Friday!

–Hannah Doyle

What Happens When a Creator Partners with a Politician? 

One-fourth of The Try Guys and Texas native Eugene Yang has teamed up with former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke to fundraise for O’Rourke’s run for governor of Texas. Yang will also film a documentary on the campaign. 

O’Rourke made his first foray into social media four years ago, vlogging daily for 34 days during his run for U.S. Senate in 2018. He lost, and is now taking a different approach in a run for governor. 

The documentary, This is Texas, will spotlight what being a democrat looks like in Texas, the local issues they’re facing, and the need for new political leadership in the state. The film will go live on The Try Guys’ YouTube channel September 7th.

Later this month, a fundraiser under the same name will be held in San Antonio, where Yang will interview O’Rourke about the political challenges facing Texans and how he plans to confront these issues once elected governor. 

“I’m so proud to be a Texan, but it’s sickening to see Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans design laws that are meant to harm anyone who doesn’t fit their idea of what Texas should be—whether it be low-income Texans, LGBTQ+ Texans, Texans with disabilities, Black Texans, Latino Texans, AAPI Texans, you name it,” Yang said in the event press release.

“That’s why on July 11th, I’ll be in San Antonio trying to raise some money for Beto O’Rourke and the Texas Democratic Party so they can organize communities across the state, register as many voters as possible, and finally rid us of right-wing, extremist politicians.”

Our Take

A political candidate and a YouTube creator have never partnered at this scale for a political campaign, with their names sharing the same weight on the promo posters. As more creators speak up on matters like Roe v. Wade and party affiliations, we expect a sea change where, like traditional entertainers before them, creators will use their platform to amplify the causes they support—even if it means alienating some of their audience that doesn’t hold the same beliefs.

From the Small Screen to the Big Screen: Marcel the Shell 

The movie based on the popular YouTube series debuted in select theaters in California and New York over the weekend.

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On was created by actor Jenny Slate and director Dean Fleischer-Camp in 2010. At the time, the two were dating and Slate made the high-pitched, baby-like voice when she felt cramped in a hotel room. 

Fleischer-Camp had taken up animated video production and thought the voice was so funny that he wanted to use it for a video. They got googly eyes, a shell, and little shoes from a craft store. Then they made a stop-motion video and uploaded it to Fleischer-Camp’s YouTube channel. The video went viral, and they published two more videos over the following three years, which earned upwards of 4 million views each.

In a recent talk following a screening, Fleischer-Camp said that he and Slate always had it in their minds to make Marcel into a feature, despite the sub-five-minute runtime on their videos. The two were approached by film studios following their viral success but turned them down. 

“I wanted to make a movie that was personal and did justice to the internet love for this character. We knew after that round of meetings, ‘If we’re going to expand Marcel, it needs to be made independently,’” Fleischer-Camp told the LA Times. 

The movie was made independently over seven years, and debuted at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival, where it was afterwards sold to A24 for the feature film rights and distribution. So far it’s earned high praise from critics and has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s set to open in more theaters across the US this weekend.

Our Take

For Slate and Fleischer-Camp, the YouTube videos acted as a minimum viable product. As creator and consultant Paddy Galloway says, "the algorithm is the audience." The uploads proved that there was an appetite at a large and global scale. Without the social proof on YouTube, it's hard to say whether a 90-minute film about an animated shell with a squeaky voice would have ever found its way to theaters.

Sponsored by Mighty Networks

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Hank Green Cautions Platforms in VidCon Keynote

The creator and VidCon cofounder published his presentation from the event earlier this week on YouTube, where he offered a critique of the swipe mechanism that’s grown in popularity across social platforms over the past few years—across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Green makes the case that what YouTube did to television—putting power in the hands of audiences and creators over media companies and ad execs—the swipe has done to all social platforms. The feature allows users  to easily breeze through content with the flick of their finger, scrolling past ads and creator brand deals—without giving any power to creators.

“We're going to have to figure out ways to provide video content in this way that [audiences] like very much but also establish deeper relationships with them, and figure out other ways to monetize and share revenue between the platform and creators. Otherwise there isn't a creator economy here.” Green said.

Our Take

Short-form video is no doubt here to stay. But the mechanism that’s made it popular—the addictive swipe— can have a negative impact on creators, making them feel more like commodities that are plentiful and replaceable. Is the answer as simple as removing the swipe? It might be more nuanced—if short-form swipe video is candy and longform is broccoli, we’re going to need to find a way to make our content diets more balanced.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Leon Hendrix is hiring a full-time video editor.

• Charlamagne Tha God and iHeartRadio host the Black Effect podcast festival.

• Bretman Rock’s MTV show starts its second season.

• Michelle Khare is hiring for 3 positions.

• Ryan Trahan concludes his 30-day penny series.

• Snapchat launches a paid subscription plan.

• Streamer Nobru signs with YouTube Gaming.

Our condolences are with the friends and family of Minecraft creator Technoblade, who has played an integral role in shaping the gaming community. Rest In Peace.