Are Influencers Too Big for Hollywood?

Quinta Brunson got her start a decade ago posting skits on Instagram. Now she’s taking Abbott Elementary into its fifth season. More recently, Benito Skinner hit it big on TikTok with his celebrity parody videos; he went on to create and star in Hulu’s Overcompensating.

Hollywood has long been the top of the mountain, the final level of stardom. But with film and TV on the decline, and brands throwing millions at influencers, are top creators even interested in breaking into the industry?

Lauren Palmer, a senior talent manager at Palette Media, says 85 to 90 percent of her clients are interested in traditional entertainment careers. Her boss Josh DeAngelis, Palette’s co-founder and president of talent, says interest depends on why people got into content creation in the first place.

“There are certain talent who use digital as their version of waiting tables, with the goal of making enough money in the interim to achieve that final goal,” he says. “Then there are others who went into it to just make money and never had traditional aspirations.”

Max Zavidow (@formerteenheartthrob), who posts short films on Instagram and TikTok, always wanted to be a stand-up comedian. As his follower count rose, he stopped thinking of socials as a springboard and more as a destination. “What if social media isn’t just a platform?” he says. “What if it’s not just a launching pad for other places — what if social media is the place? What if it’s a medium?” He says seeing it as such leads one to ask, “What stories best exist here that wouldn’t work as a movie or TV show?”

Creator Mo (@ThatDollMo), who has 6 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, posts feminism-forward comedy content on a weekly basis. But she has loftier — or rather more classic — ambitions. “I love what I’m doing, but I want to do more. That’s the only way [the] industry is going to keep growing,” she says. “That’s the next step for influencers — when they have a big audience, it’ll [transition] to another platform.”

There might be a way, but is there a will? DeAngelis, who manages 175 clients, says “a noticeably smaller portion” of creators wants to spend the effort required to break into the industry. “It’s a humbling experience to go from achieving millions of views to then being just another person in the casting room who’s hoping they get picked,” he explains. “[Creators] have to be putting in the same work that any other actor would. Some talent are very interested in putting in work, others don’t want to.”

Successful influencers seeking Hollywood careers aren’t exactly starting from the bottom. Palmer argues that follow count can offer a shortcut to booking jobs. “I view social [as] leveraging your platform to make you undeniable to cut the line,” she says. “You’re seeing TikTokers going on Abbott Elementary, and I’m unsure if they read for that role against other creators or aspiring actors. But I know for a fact their large social following gave them more movement.”

Both Palmer and Mo cite Dancing With the Stars as an example of a program that’s caught up to the demand for digital stars — one that respects (and rewards) social media followings.

“We’re seeing right now with Dancing With the Stars, everybody’s starting to [respect] influencers when it comes to celebrity status,” Mo notes. “As time goes on, the bigger you are, the more it helps [your career].”

Industry execs may want a cut of the action, but whether casting agents take creators seriously is another question. DeAngelis believes that it will become easier for influencers to break into Hollywood as social media content becomes more established as an entertainment sector in its ownright.

Mo, for her part, does see creators continuing to aspire to traditional stardom. “But I don’t think it’ll be a lot of people,” Mo notes. “Like Britney Spears, she has legend status. You can’t copy those people. They’ll be remembered as originals, while creators have a head start in the industry thanks to their platforms.”

This story appeared in the Oct. 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.