Wow! And I remember the people at my company being like, “Why are we meeting with a 16-year-old?” And I was like, “Trust me, this kid is very talented.” Ever since our phones had cameras on them, that has become my default advice to people. And now with Blender and visual effects, you can make a thing literally on a laptop that when I was growing up would have cost you tens of millions of dollars.
Hollywood always seems to be in the middle of an angsty crisis. Variety called what just happened with these two YouTubers a “tectonic shift in Hollywood that sent shock waves through the industry.” [Rogen laughs]
Is that overstating it? Because I guess what I think is so alluring to executives is that YouTubers, as you just mentioned, have cheap technology that they can use to get millions of eyeballs. They can workshop an idea and then have a built-in audience. So I guess it takes the guesswork out of selling tickets? I don’t know if online engagement necessarily translates into ticket sales. But to the first part of your question, I think it’s overstating that it’s a “tectonic shift” if your assumption is that these shifts don’t happen constantly in Hollywood. That’s something me and Evan talk about a lot. I always think of that line in “Network” where Robert Duvall is like, It’s a volatile industry, and the investors are like, Why are we financially invested in a volatile industry? I think by definition it is a volatile industry. The one defining feature of Hollywood from my experience is that every few years there’s a tectonic shift. Thank god it’s not really my job to be overly invested in these trends. I’m able to keep my head down, and we’re aware of them, and we’ll ride the waves if it fits in with our own creative ambitions.
To me, it’s not that shocking that something like this happened. There’s a whole generation of people who have access to essentially professional filmmaking equipment for a price that, again, when I was young was completely unobtainable. They’re making their own stuff, and studios are making tons of money off of it, which is not that different from when Lonely Island and those guys made YouTube videos and people hired them, or when the “Broad City” girls made their show on YouTube and people hired them, or Nathan Fielder.
Just as an aside, what makes a good pitch? I think a good pitch is short. If the idea is genuinely good, the pitch is easy. The quintessential pitch I’m used to hearing is from a nervous comedy writer who has terrible people skills. When someone comes in too slick and flashy, I get a little suspicious. But I’m just looking for the idea. I know myself, I’ve had so many ideas that are so hard to pitch. I remember trying to pitch “Pineapple Express,” and them just looking at us like we were insane. When we pitched “The Studio,” our only thought was to way overdeliver. What makes it easy for these people whose entire job is, like, risk mitigation to say yes?
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