‘Walt Disney is not Mickey Mouse’: The modern creator career path, from full-time to founder
The business of being a creator isn’t a solo show. They have become full-on productions.
In the two decades since YouTube’s debut, creators such as Smosh’s Ian Hecox as well as Mythical Entertainment’s Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal have helped to map out the path to becoming full-time creators. They have built out teams and eventually entire companies around themselves.
Now other creators like Dhar Mann and Savanah Moss are following suit by erecting what are effectively the new generation of Hollywood studios and production companies. Meanwhile, the likes of McLaughlin, Neal and Hecox are charting the next phases of the creator career trajectory, as covered in the video below.
More in Future of TV
Future of TV Briefing: 6 charts that sum up the state of streaming subscriptions
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how deceleration in streaming subscription growth and steady subscriber churn have coincided with a rise in people subscribing through aggregators.
Future of TV Briefing: How the TV, streaming and digital video industry spent its summer (2025 edition)
This week’s Future of TV Briefing recaps a summer during which the future of TV began to bore many more shades of its past.
Future of TV Briefing: The 2025 glossary
This week’s Future of TV Briefing updates the list of the key terms that can cause confusion when talking about the TV, streaming and digital video industry.