Later this morning, the Television Academy will announce this year’s Emmy nominations. In a show of how creators are building their own production studios and Hollywood empires, YouTube entered shows by seven creators in its “For Your Consideration" slate of projects the platform is pushing for recognition. While in Cannes, I sat down with one of the creators, Brittany Broski, to discuss her creator journey and how she conceptualized “Royal Court,” her medieval-themed celebrity interview show.
Broski initially blew up online for her comedic short-form TikToks, but quickly expanded her content to include two shows — the vodcast “The Broski Report” and her aforementioned show on which stars try to prove their worth to join her Royal Court. Her projects — like those of Sean Evans, Michelle Khare, Cleo Abram and others being pushed by YouTube for consideration — are emblematic of how creators are reshaping Hollywood, building their own production studios and developing shows that rival traditional offerings and have found huge audiences online.
Some highlights of our conversation:
Broski was strategic from the start: Broski has been active on social media since she was a child, but it was a brief, COVID-era video of her sampling and reacting to kombucha that went mega-viral, immediately turning her into a meme seen by millions (32 million on TikTok alone). She immediately took action to ensure she would not just be known as the “Kombucha Girl,” strategizing about platform diversification and differentiating her content.
She lucked out with timing: Like many top creators today, Broski was an early adopter of TikTok and blew up during the pandemic. “COVID changed everything,” she said, c. Creating conditions that no longer exist make it impossible for new creators to replicate that type of meteoric success due to the saturation of content online today. “Probably everyone in high school right now or college has or knows a friend who has gone viral. … I don’t think it could happen again today.”
She’s seen the dark side of the creator economy: “It’s almost like the norm is being taken advantage of. It's these young, bright creatives who people see everyone watching, and are like ‘How do I get a piece of that?’ I’m very lucky that it happened to me early on,” Broski told me. Her advice to aspiring creators is blunt: “Have a back-up plan.”
“Royal Court’s” origin story: Broski set out to build a show that would become a quintessential stop on a press tour à la “Chicken Shop Date” or “Hot Ones,” looking to combine late-night elements with a format that strips away celebrity facades and allows them to actually connect. “What’s going to make them want to lean in? You know it’s not just a chair with a fake backdrop of LA behind me, and I’m like ‘Tell me your deepest darkest secret.’ We have to establish that you can trust me, in this culture of, ‘Gotcha!’ I’m not going to get you,” she said.
She’s now running an entire production studio: Broski broke down the “Royal Court” production process, from booking to guests donning capes to release date. Steps include a mandatory “intricate knowledge of that fan universe,” of any guest, empowered by her team of chronically online writers. She’s anti-AI (like many creators I met at Cannes, FWIW — a much more AI-skeptical creator gathering than SXSW) and bullish on “creator-made, beautiful human content.”
This story is part of Verified, a newsletter that is published by Washington Post Creator, a team outside The Washington Post’s newsroom that is focused on the creator economy and content partnerships with independent creators. Learn more about Washington Post Creator.
