YouTube Killed Film School

For 100 years, the path to becoming a filmmaker was relatively straight-forward:

Shorts → festivals → representation → feature script → financing → production → distribution → repeat with bigger budgets.

Rian Johnson, for example, made 90 shorts at USC (like this one), created Brick for $450,000, won at Sundance, then scaled to bigger budgets like The Brothers Bloom ($20M), Looper ($30M), and then Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($300M).

But the goal posts have changed:

• You don't need representation

• You don't need to enter festivals

• You don't need to win contests

Why? Because social media is the new scouting ground for studio IP.

MrBeast's "Squid Game" recreation got +805 million views — more than most blockbusters reach globally (Netflix reports that only 330 million watched the actual show).

And studios are taking notice.

So what’s the new path?

Content → Audience → Algorithm → Studio Deal

Kane Parsons, age 16, made a short film in his bedroom. No film school, no representation, no festivals. Just a viral YouTube video.

Three years later, he's directing the A24 feature adaptation with:

• Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor attached

• James Wan's Atomic Monster producing

• Shawn Levy's 21 Laps backing it

Studios watched the internet, saw what was popular, swooped in. No development costs, no risk. This is because social media is the ultimate testing ground.

The algorithm is your film festival. Your audience is your representation.

The same storytelling skills that made Brick compelling work on YouTube. The difference? Direct audience access, real-time commercial proof, built-in leverage.

The goal posts haven't just moved — they've multiplied. But all you need to win is a computer and a YouTube account.

- Brock Swinson

P.S. Learn more about Rian Johnson’s creative process in my interviews with his go-to actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Noah Segan.