Content creators are no longer staying confined to their homespun setups. As Trump’s proposed policies keep Hollywood on edge, YouTube stars have been moving to the forefront to expand their businesses.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, popular digital creators like Dhar Mann, Dude Perfect, and Alan Chikin Chow are aiming to establish a media legacy by investing in large-scale studios to film their content.
Mann, who uploads short films to raise awareness on heavy topics like bullying, wasn’t always filming inside of an airplane fuselage near the Burbank airport. The creator began his journey on the platform in 2018, despite having no film background.
Recalling his humble beginnings, Mann said, “In the early days, when we were shooting out of my apartment and we needed different film sets, my dining room was a restaurant, my bedroom was a patient room for a hospital, every single thing in my apartment was used for production sets.”
Now, all his apartment contributes is some furniture for his current property — a campus made of three buildings and more than 100,000 square feet of land, homing multiple sets for restaurants, schools, shopping malls, etc. Having employed a staff of nearly 200 people, Dhar Mann Studios shoots some 8 films simultaneously.
“These are real film-level sets. We use the same equipment; we have the same types of resources that the same production companies are doing on TV,” he said. “Well, now you’re seeing that on YouTube.”
In the same city, an upcoming episode of Alan’s Universe required a pastel-coloured classroom to be transformed into a science lab, where actors reacted to a chemical reaction happening offscreen. The YouTube show is developed by Chow, who observes the takes from the camera’s lens.
“We used to make eight-minute videos. They were very vignette-y; they were not super story driven. I would not say that the earlier episodes are something that you could see on ‘real television’,” said Chow, who partnered with Roku this year to make his series available beyond YouTube.
The anthology series follows love, friendships, and overcoming the brunt of high school life. Despite being a modest webseries in its earlier stages, Alan’s Universe has upped its production quality by expanding to a professional setting.
“Because of this space, because of the cameras we have, because of the level of storytelling and the detail that we put in our writing, I can definitely say that what we’re making now is something that you could have seen as a Disney Channel Original Movie back in the day,” he said. “There’s no difference, really. The level of quality storytelling, detail, world building, is all there.”
Both Mann and Chow were able to build their empires, thanks to the revenue generated from YouTube, enabling a new age of media production. They confirmed that their businesses attract investor interest, a development which abides by a common industry practice.
MrBeast, known for his high-budget content, is looking to raise $200 million at a $5 billion valuation for his business, while sports comedy creators Dude Perfect saw a $100 million raise in an investment round in 2024.
Building a legacy
For Mann, who has two daughters to look after, it’s not just about what his flair for content creation earns him now. He admitted that he and his content creator friends also seek to secure a contingency plan for their families.
“All the friends that I have that are creators, they’re now buying houses, they’re getting married, they’re having kids. A lot of those folks are trying to think of, how can I still have a career? I built this amazing YouTube channel, but how could I have some sort of exit event, which allows me to live my life, buy my house, send my kid through college, but also allows me to not lose what I’ve built,” he said.
“They want to make more money while still being in control of their business creatively, and not have some media company that has never run a YouTube channel take over and may not understand how digital content works.”
Validating Mann’s insights, YouTube’s sales executive Brian Albert said, “I think everyone has come to recognise that our creators are truly next-gen media companies. They’re writers, they’re producers, they’re directors, all wrapped in one.”
In Hollywood’s footsteps
Much like the rise of Hollywood, YouTube personalities and their businesses are showing promise outside the Los Angeles sphere as well. According to The Hollywood Reporter, advertisers are now leaning towards creator content to not just improve quality but also to target younger consumers.
At an advertising event hosted by Spotter in March, Samir Chaudry of Colin & Samir acknowledged the shift in the media landscape. “YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said that creators are the startups of Hollywood, and today, a lot of these startups are starting to look more and more like studios,” he said.
YouTuber Kinigra Deon moved from LA back to Birmingham Alabama to launch a scripted entertainment studio of her own. She said at the event, “In 2021, I moved back to Alabama, not to escape from Hollywood, but to build my own Hollywood.”
As content creators seep into the spaces once reserved for Hollywood big-names alone, the industry has begun to take notice. Mann mentioned that many of his crew members come from Disney and Lionsgate, adding that Dhar Mann Studios CEO Sean Atkins used to be the president of MTV. Chow, too, has a casting director on his team who formerly worked for Nickelodeon.
“Sometimes, we get pushback from people who are not that open-minded. I would always think, what is the difference?” Chow posed. “Our show was shot with a similar budget to a Nickelodeon show, and the build of the world and the scripts are just as good. I think it really comes down to people slowly starting to understand that this is the new era.”
For these longtime creators, their passion for the craft is also what drives them to make tough calls. Mann mentioned receiving an offer to sell his company last year, but he turned it down. He said, “I just realised, what would I rather do with my life? This is the most amazing career that I could ever dream of.”
