Good morning. Over the weekend, I (Syd) saw The Devil Wears Prada 2, expecting another reboot leaning on cast reunions and celebrity cameos to scrape by.

Instead, I was met with a beautiful message on the importance of journalism in a landscape that is constantly downsizing and profit-maxxing. And yes, some very fab outfits.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Today’s lineup:

If closed mouths don’t get fed, video editor Liam Adams just got the buffet. Last month, the freelancer made a short-form series asking to be hired by his favorite creator, Ryan Trahan—a series so short-lived it only lasted one episode before Trahan reached out.

And said…no.

Trahan didn’t need an editor at the time, but it didn’t seem to matter anymore. Adams had gained 260K views, 3,700 new followers, and the attention of creators like Mark Rober, Airrack, and Jenny Hoyos—all interested in working with the 21-year-old editor with only a few previous clients. One even extended a full-time job offer.

Why it worked: “If the video was made by Ryan Trahan, I would've believed it,” Colin and Samir’s editor Jesse Leon told us. “It had similar pacing, music, and graphics—just a really good video.” 

By combining Trahan’s signature editing style with his own voice, Adams was able to show his audience (and creators) his ability to adapt to another creator’s tone of voice and creative decisions.

“Creators don’t want to hire faceless accounts to hide behind their screens and cut clips together,” Adams told us. “Creators want to collaborate with people who are confident in letting the internet know who they are.”

Supply and demand: At our Coffee with Creators event last month, a shared frustration among creators was that good editors were a scarce resource. One reason why? 

“A lot of the time, people get into editing to be a creator themselves,” Leon said. “Then they learn and move on.”

Adams—although unafraid to go on camera—plans to remain an editor for the time being. He began freelance editing for creators like Dantic, and is building out his portfolio before pursuing a full-time role.

From Subway Takes to microdramas, short-form content is raking in views—and attention—at a rapid clip. But no two creators are building a short-form content business the same way.

So? We're featuring several short-form creators—from Milky Tran to NY Nico—to understand their business, challenges, and biggest opportunities.

Comedian Pooja Tripathi started Brooklyn Coffee Shop in 2023 with a green screen and a good joke.

Now it’s a weekly series with nearly 500K followers, averaging nearly 1 million views per episode with cameos from Kumail Nanjiani to Delaney Rowe. Plus? It’s profitable.

Tripathi told us how she built the popular series into a sustainable business →

From part-time to full-time. While working for a nonprofit, Tripathi found a coffee shop that would let her film after it closed at 4pm. For the first year, the show ran on a loose schedule—just eight episodes in 2023 with a freelance crew of five. But it had strong viewership, with nearly 11 million views. 

In January 2025, Tripathi started posting weekly. She quit her day job and started self-funding production, hiring freelancers to film four episodes in a single shoot. 

She hired a producer, Tori Jeanine, to handle what had become an unsustainable solo operation. "I was literally having breakdowns," Tripathi said. "I just didn't know that I was starting a business."

The business: Revenue from brand deals on both her personal account and the show fund the series. The show turned profitable nearly two months into working on the series full-time, after Tripathi signed with a management company. 

What separates it from the crowd: The show has a signature visual look developed by her DP, Eyal Cohen, who also handles color. Tripathi has trained the team on a distinct editing style with high-quality sound. "Every single person on this team is contributing, even comedically—even the sound mixer is contributing to the comedy in the sound mix," Tripathi said.

Looking ahead: Tripathi sees short-form as a tool and stays open to what’s next. Traditional TV opportunities have come up, but Tripathi’s measured about them. "I'm looking at a lot of those traditional opportunities and wondering why that's better than what I'm already doing for me," Tripathi said. 

Last week, YouTube parent company Alphabet revealed the streaming company’s Q1 ad revenue: $9.88 billion, an 11% increase from this time last year. 

Other noteworthy stats Alphabet revealed during its earnings call:

Worth noting: Brandcast, YouTube's annual pitch to advertisers, is next week.