Hunting for the next hit YouTube IP

Kim Masters talks to Kori Adelson, whose company produced Backrooms, and Roy Lee, producer of Weapons, about the hunt for the next hit YouTube IP. Adelson and Lee share their observations about the effect movies like Backrooms, Obsession, and Iron Lung have had on what studios are looking for; the filmmakers behind those three had large followings on YouTube. Adelson and Lee also explain how those same studios need to embrace creative risks–at the smaller budgets those films operated under– while taking care to understand the Gen Z audience.   Plus, Masters and Matt Belloni discuss a federal judge pausing the Warnermount merger, and Peacock’s newfound profitability. Peacock’s numbers are believed to be due, in part, to having streaming rights for the NBA playoffs, and the Spanish-language broadcast for the World Cup. [NOTE: This episode was posted after Paramount announced that they will halt the merger until next June, at the latest, while the court weighs its decision.]