Today on The Colin and Samir Show we speak with filmmaker Owen Reiser. When he realized his work in nature documentaries was drying up, he decided to make his own. The result was Listers , a two-hour birdwatching documentary he made with his brother. It cost him $16,000 and he uploaded straight to YouTube with the ads turned off. It reached millions of people, built a community around his work, and created an interesting revenue model for films on YouTube.
We talk with Owen about how he pulled it off, how much he made, why he turned down Hollywood offers, and what Listers says about the future of filmmaking on YouTube.
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The Business of Email: How Substack Changed Everything
You probably don’t think of your inbox as part of the creator economy, but email is a big business, and Substack is leading the charge.
In this episode, Colin and Samir sit down with Rachel Karten, writer of the Substack newsletter Link in Bio, which covers the world of social media and has grown to more than 105,000 subscribers. Rachel left her role at Bon Appétit to build her own business as an independent creator, and today she earns income through paid subscriptions and brand partnerships on Substack.
Colin, Samir and Rachel break down how email newsletters became one of the most powerful tools in the creator economy and why Substack’s model of direct audience ownership is changing how writers, journalists, and creators make a living.
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Adam Faze: How TikTok Reinvented the TV Pilot
Adam Faze is building what might be the first true TV studio for TikTok. His company, Gymnasium, develops short-form shows that reach millions of viewers — sometimes for less than the cost of a dinner out. In this episode, we talk about how he’s rethinking the studio model for the vertical video era, what it takes to turn a 90-second TikTok into an ongoing series, and why he believes TikTok is replacing the traditional TV pilot.
We also get into how these shows make money, what Hollywood can learn from short-form creators, and how the next generation of entertainment will be developed on our phones.
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Ai Video and the Future of the Creator Economy
In this episode, Colin and Samir break down the launch of OpenAI’s Sora 2 — and what it means for the creator economy. They explore how this new generation of AI video could change everything from audience expectations to the way creators produce content, and share their predictions for what comes next.
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LIVE: Casey Neistat Unfiltered on Modern YouTube
Download Premiere for iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adobe-premiere-video-editor/id6742757464
Casey Neistat unfiltered on the state of modern YouTube from our event Press Publish NYC.
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Hey, We’re Colin and Samir, YouTube creators and podcasters that break down the latest news in the creator economy from a creator's perspective. We have a long history building communities and brands through digital content. New episodes of The Colin and Samir show go live every Monday on Spotify and YouTube.com/ColinandSamir.
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