![]() Production companies making digital series and movies have popped up, backed by the biggest names in the Hollywood establishment, such as Peter Chernin and Brian Grazer. have spent nearly $1 billion getting into the game. Disney, DreamWorks Animation, and Warner Bros. They have agents and publicists, in addition to multi-channel networks (MCNs), which aggregate creators’ channels and manage their careers. Now they’re conquering Hollywood, selling television series, making feature-length movies, and talking about “narrative.” More than 200 of them are worth several million dollars. Surely you’ve noticed, they enjoy nothing more than sitting with their eyes glued to their gadget, watching YouTubers see if they can deep-fry a pair of glasses, earnestly muse on empowerment, “vlog” about their activities that week, or give spirited running commentary while they play Minecraft. ![]() As an actor, no one would have known who I was.”Īpparently, it wasn’t enough that the YouTubers stole our children. job, like, work in the industry for 10 years, and then maybe we’ll let you write half a script.’” But with fans apparently in the millions, says Ash, “they like, ‘Come into our office.’ … I keep thinking how fucking lucky we’ve been. Without it, says Ash, places like Netflix “would be like, ‘Thank you so much. From the buyers’ perspective, their built-in fan base was the key. Fall 2015 had them making the rounds in Hollywood, pitching a fully fleshed-out take. Zero views turned into a thousand, turned into half a million, snowballed into 4.6 million. They continued it after graduating, when they moved into Ash’s aunt and uncle’s attic. With zero dollars and free college equipment they started the series-each episode is actually just a five-minute installment-during their last year of college. (“People were like, ‘But you’ve made out.’ I was like, ‘No, never!’ ” says Ash.) And thus the germ for their YouTube series was born. Much to their amusement, people were puzzled by this rapport. “You got this little schmutz right here.” “Yes, bubeleh,” says Bening as he reaches across their quinoa salads to wipe Ash’s face. He notices that Bening is looking at him funny. It was a beautiful thing,” says Ash, who speaks with rapid-fire excitement. “Six years, domestic partnership in the making, shared bank account. They have lived with each other ever since. The director, Bening, grew up in Ohio, having never known a gay person until 2009, when he met Ash, his freshman roommate, at Tufts. The show’s star, Ash, an Israeli-American, is the gay one. ![]() Like most things YouTube, the series, about a gay college student and his straight roommate, is about themselves. At Le Pain Quotidien in Brooklyn Heights, where many thirty- and fortysomethings come to sweat it out on their television pilot/novel/screenplay/tech start-up or other get-rich-quick scheme, 24-year-old Noam Ash and 25-year-old Austin Bening are giddily basking in their recent Hollywood glory, having just learned that they’re this close to selling their YouTube Web series, My Gay Roommate, to one of the premium online networks.
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