Verified: Creators court Emmys

Later this morning, the Television Academy will announce this year’s Emmy nominations. In a demonstration 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.

Watch my full conversation with Broski here.

Some highlights from 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, 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 an essential 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.”

Jeremiah Brown is a creator with more than 2.1 million followers on TikTok, who gained social media notoriety after appearing on season seven of “Love Island USA” and season two of “Love Island Beyond the Villa.” Ahead of this Sunday’s “Love Island" season eight finale, I spoke with Brown in Cannes — where he was one of the 16 creators TikTok brought to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity — about building his profile as a creator after breaking out on reality TV.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Dylan Wells: When did you start thinking about yourself as a creator? 

Jeremiah Brown: That's a great question. I never thought about that. I think, once I got out of the villa, I kind of just started making content because a lot of people wanted to see my life, my family and things I'm into. So I would say probably like a year ago, July.

DW: And after the villa, you immediately started a book club on social media and engaging with BookTok. 

JB: Which I had no idea about, because I wasn't on TikTok like that. I had like five posts, maybe 10 posts, some funny ones and then some book reviews. And I was like, oh, this is fun. Being able to connect with my audience and supporters through books has been everything. Because I love books. And I didn’t know people still loved books, and they put me on to a lot of amazing books, like, “Fourth Wing” and “ACOTAR,” so it's been a blessing.

Read more on how Brown is thinking about diversifying his income and why “Love Island” is particularly prime for producing creators.

Dan Roth is the Editor-in-Chief and VP of Content at LinkedIn. At Cannes Lions, Washington Post Creator President Sara Goo sat down with Roth to talk about the company’s latest announcements to enable brands and B2B creators to connect on the platform and monetize content; the role AI is playing in the job market; and how brands can best show up authentically on the platform. You can read the highlights of their conversation here.

Correction: Last week’s Leader to Leader Q+A incorrectly identified the co-founder and co-CEO of Whalar Group alongside Neil Waller. It is James Street.

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