Vox Media’s Unsold Brands Field Penske Interest, Exec Exits

Mark Stenberg: How did you go from YouTube creator to director of an A24 film?

Kane Parsons: It’s a lot less calculated than it looks. I had been creating Attack on Titan animations on my YouTube when I found out about The Backrooms and started making videos related to it. 

Mark: Do you consider yourself a YouTube creator or a director?

Kane: I don’t really feel like there’s a difference. The act is no different. If anything, I think we are going to see a lot more crossover like this, which is inevitable when a lot of talented people learn to make videos on YouTube. If anything, they might have a more intuitive grasp of how to capture the attention of people online.

Mark: You continued releasing Backrooms videos up until a year ago, which generated a lot of hype for the film. Why don’t more films do that? 

Kane: I have no clue. I did The Backrooms for basically no cost and in a fairly short time frame, and it yielded a baked-in audience. 

Mark: Do you think more studios will try to replicate this?

Kane: There will be a desire to reverse-engineer that, but it will be really difficult. It is a unique case, partially because no one knows the author of the original piece, so you can take it in so many different directions. It has had years to incubate online. 

Mark: Do you want to make more films?

Kane: I like to pick a thing and get obsessed with it and build my projects with a level of meticulousness. I am biased toward the experience of working independently on YouTube and find it more creatively fulfilling. It’s where I come from and where my peers are. 

Pulled Quotes

“RIP website traffic. You had a good run.”
Media analyst Evan DeSimone, on Google transforming its Search bar into a chat bot
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“This is bad and the people making it should feel bad.”
A (comparatively) positive review, on The Washington Post’s new video strategy
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“There is nothing to buy, besides a subscription, and therefore nothing to justify: you can listen to all the Drake you want, no alibi required.”
The New Yorker’s Kelefa Sanneh, on Drake’s new album(s)
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“The industry is wrestling with how to define a podcast. … And if you can’t define it, you can’t measure it, you can’t monetize it.”
SiriusXM chief advertising officer Scott Walker, on the challenges facing the satellite radio company
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