【聯合報／By BROOKS BARNES and HUNTER ATKINS╱田思怡譯】
Hollywood Star-Making Machine Descends on YouTube
LOS ANGELES — A few months ago, CBS Films wanted Bethany Mota, an 18-year-old video blogger, to make a cameo appearance in the movie “The Duff” and tell her 7.2 million YouTube followers about the experience. CBS figured that Ms. Mota, known for making fashion videos from her Los Banos, California, bedroom, would jump at the chance.
Her response: Talk to my team. Ms. Mota, as the studio discovered, is now encircled by a Hollywood talent agency — United Talent — and lawyer, not to mention two publicists. The representatives came back with a $250,000 fee, according to a person involved, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. CBS was dumbfounded.
The star-making system of the future, it turns out, needs the star-making system of the past — or at least a swarm of agents and managers has decided it does: The middle men and women have arrived, eroding YouTube’s status as the quintessential do-ityourself enterprise.
The great promise of YouTube was its ability to cut out Hollywood- style intermediaries, but there are now more than 20 agencies and management companies competing to represent YouTube personalities, at least triple the number of three years ago.
Their sales pitch: For a 10 percent to 20 percent cut of your income, we will make you a bigger online star while broadening your career to include traditional licensing, endorsement, recording and acting deals.
“We’re not just miners digging for gold,” said Larry Shapiro, head of talent at Fullscreen, a web video company. “We’re turning that gold into precious jewelry.”
Still, YouTube stars are not exactly scarce. CBS passed on Ms. Mota and signed five lesser- known personalities for a fraction of her fee; together, they reached a larger base.
Did Ms. Mota’s representatives ask for too much? Brent Weinstein, United Talent’s digital chief, said video creators were represented no less aggressively than movie and TV stars. “These are extraordinarily talented artists, with large audiences, and it’s our job to help them build long-lasting careers,” he said.
Two years ago, YouTube was still predominantly a do-it-yourself kind of place. But then the video platform decided to allow all content producers (instead of just some) to share in ad sales.
At the same time, lucrative brand deals — embedding a product into the action of a video — started to proliferate, driven in part by spiking subscriber bases . The most popular video creators make $1 million or more annually.
Intermediaries of all types started chasing the cash.
“Almost overnight it became a complete frenzy,” said Raina Penchansky, chief strategy officer for Digital Brand Architects, one of the first companies to open a YouTube division.
The rush to represent social media stars has become so overheated that some entertainment executives are raising questions about exploitation and even government regulation. The concern is that some intermediaries — upstarts and less-honorable companies — are taking advantage of Internet performers, many of whom are naïve teenagers.
“Money changed everything,” said Naomi Lennon, president of Lennon Management, which focuses on YouTube personalities.
Like traditional celebrities, many YouTube stars have hired both an agent and a manager .
For the most part, video creators seem thrilled at the attention. YouTube has become so crowded that they need help getting noticed. As mainstream advertisers, book publishers and TV networks have started to view them as legitimate, the deals have grown too complex to handle alone.
Horror stories about signing contracts without proper vetting have circulated.
Last year, an online video supplier called Machinima came under public fire after a client, Ben Vacas, 24, realized he had signed away rights to his videos “in perpetuity, throughout the universe, in all forms of media now known or hereafter devised.” (Machinima says it now offers less restrictive contracts.)
At Fullscreen, roughly 50 clients have signed on for what Mr. Shapiro calls “360 degree” service. He said another 200 or so receive “high level” help.
Mr. Shapiro cited a deal Fullscreen worked on for its client Our2ndLife, a group of comedic heartthrobs, that involved taking over MTV’s social media channels (Vine, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Tumblr) and starring in a preshow for MTV’s Movie Awards. The group members were paid, and it significantly raised their profile in Hollywood and on Madison Avenue, Mr. Shapiro said.
He said, “It’s balancing their social imprint and their book deal and their music deal while brokering new relationships.”
中譯
幾個月前，CBS電影公司想請18歲的視頻部落客（簡稱V落客）貝莎妮．莫塔在電影「又肥又醜的朋友」中客串，並把這段經驗告知她在YouTube上720萬追隨者。CBS心想，在加州洛斯巴諾斯市的臥室裡製作時尚視頻而成名的莫塔，會為此機會雀躍。
她的反應是：「去和我的團隊談。」一如電影公司發掘的明星，莫塔現在被好萊塢「聯合經紀公司」圍繞著，還有律師，更別提兩位公關。不願透露身分的參與者說，莫塔的代表回報要25萬美元出場費。CBS目瞪口呆。
事實證明，未來的明星製造系統需要過去的明星製造系統，至少大批經紀人和經理人已如此認定：男男女女的經紀人降臨，侵蝕YouTube典型「自己動手」企業的地位。
YouTube的強項就是能跳過好萊塢式中間媒介，但現在有20多家經紀和管理公司爭著要代表YouTube名人，數目至少是三年前的三倍。
他們的廣告詞：只要把收入的10%到20%分給我們，我們會使你成為更大的網路明星，並擴展你的事業，納入傳統的收取版權費、商品代言、錄音和演出合約。網路視頻公司「全銀幕」經紀部門主管夏皮洛說：「我們不只挖金礦，還把金子變成珍貴的珠寶首飾。」
不過，You Tube明星並非稀世珍寶。CBS略過莫塔，用聘請她費用的一小部分簽下五個名氣較小的名人，他們的追隨者加起來更多。
莫塔的經紀人是不是獅子大開口？聯合經紀公司的數位部門主管韋恩斯坦說，視頻創作者經紀人的積極度不亞於電影和電視明星。他說：「這些人是才華極高的藝人，擁有廣大觀眾，我們的工作是幫助他們建立持久的事業。」
兩年前，YouTube大致還是「自己動手」的園地。但當時這個視頻平台決定讓所有的內容製作者（而非僅部分）分享廣告收入。同時，利潤豐厚的品牌合約──把產品置入視頻情節中──開始增加，部分是視頻訂戶激增所帶動。最紅的視頻創作者年收入破百萬美元。
各路仲介開始追逐金錢。
最早設立YouTube部門的Digital Brand Architects公司首席策略師芮娜．潘查恩斯基說：「熱潮幾乎是一夕間湧現。」
爭搶社群媒體明星經紀合約熱過了頭，以致一些娛樂公司高層主管提出有關剝削，甚至由政府來管理的問題。他們關切的是，一些仲介──新創公司和信譽較差的公司──正在利用網路表演者，表演者中很多是天真的青少年。
專找YouTube名人的蘭儂管理公司總裁娜歐米．蘭儂說：「金錢改變了一切。」
如同傳統的名流，許多YouTube明星雇用一位經紀人和一位經理人。
大致而言，視頻創作者對受到矚目欣喜若狂。YouTube人滿為患，他們需要有人幫忙來引起注意。」隨著主流的廣告客戶、圖書出版商和電視公司開始重視他們，合約變得太複雜，獨自處理不來。
未加審視就簽合約的恐怖故事不斷流傳。去年，網路視頻供應商Machinima遭到各界砲轟，24歲的客戶瓦卡斯發現他簽的合約把視頻權利放棄了，「永久、在世界各地、在所有現在已知和未來發明的媒體」。（Machinima表示現在提供的合約限制較小。）
在「全銀幕」公司，大約50名客戶已簽下夏皮洛口中的「360度」服務合約。他說，另約有200名客戶獲得「高階」協助。
沙皮洛舉出「全銀幕」為客戶搞笑團體Our2ndLife做的合約為例，包括占據MTV社群媒體頻道（Vine、Twitter、Snapchat、Facebook、Tumblr），並在MTV電影獎頒獎典禮前表演。這個團體的成員拿到了酬勞，並且大幅提高在好萊塢和麥迪遜大道的知名度。
他說：「在仲介新關係的同時，平衡他們的社交印象和他們的書約和音樂合約。」
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