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☆ Miramax launched a film development team to resurrect its blockbuster-rich heyday. But a string of key departures has hobbled the vision and frustrated some Hollywood creatives.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Miramax built out a film development team early in the pandemic to bring in new projects and filmmakers. "He's the perfect leader to take the Miramax film team into this next chapter." Hammer's credits as a production executive include "Last Vegas" and "Inside Llewyn Davis." The first source said the film development team had worked to turn the company's reputation around by emphasizing relationships with respected filmmakers. But this person and an independent producer familiar with the Hollywood landscape, agreed that Miramax is no longer a top player in film development.

☆ How a college student uses TikTok to scale her photography side hustle with passive income and find clients she's excited about
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Cheung booked five figures in revenue last year, some of which came from passive income streams. She explains how she leveraged TikTok to find clients and earns passive income from her side hustle. TikTok changed my business trajectoryThe majority of my clients found me on TikTok. It's also been great for generating customers in other creative fields because many of them use TikTok for work, too. CheungI expanded my services to include passive income streamsEarlier in the pandemic, I also developed my own "presets."

☆ A TikToker with 135K followers who posts about mental health has secured deals with brands like BetterHelp and Dove. Read his 2-page media kit.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Jorge Alvarez started posting on TikTok in April 2021 because he wanted more Latinx representation. He shares the 2-page media kit he uses to partner with brands like BetterHelp, Dove, and Taco Bell. Jorge Alvarez started posting mental-health content on TikTok in April 2021 because he didn't think there was enough Latinx representation on the social-media platform. Here is what a recent version of his media kit looks like. Page 1 of Jorge Alvarez's media kit.

☆ I got laid off from my Netflix job 2 months after moving to LA. Here's how I networked my way into A24 and got my career back on track.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Eboni Boykin-Patterson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

McKenzie Bugg moved from a small farm town in Maryland to LA after being hired on a Netflix series. The show was canceled and all of the artists were laid off, two months after Bugg's arrival. I was later hired for the same role at Netflix and moved to LA for the job, but things didn't quite go as planned. I got a great job right after graduatingA director at Adult Swim saw my work on social media and offered me my first animation job on 'Tuca and Bertie.' The news that we were being laid off was really suddenI was really enjoying my job and my coworkers too.

Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) unveiled its own service, known as "Picasso," that uses AI to generate images, videos and 3D applications from text descriptions. Nvidia trained the technology on images licensed from Getty Images, Shutterstock Inc (SSTK.N), and Adobe, and plans to pay royalties. Image-generation technology is "trained" on billions of images, but whether that use is legally permitted is not always clear. Because the AI has been trained on Adobe Stock images, openly licensed content and older content where copyright has expired, the resulting creations are safe for commercial use, it said. "We're very interested in making this creator friendly," Ely Greenfield, chief technology officer for digital media at Adobe, told Reuters.

☆ Adobe releases tools for generating product images from 3D models
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 21 (Reuters) - Adobe Inc (ADBE.O) on Tuesday rolled out a tool aimed at helping marketing departments at e-commerce stores generate product images without having to pay for as many photo shoots. It is designed to allowing marketing professionals to come up with the images they need for web pages and marketing emails. The product straddles San Jose, California-based Adobe's longtime business of generating and editing images and its newer business of supplying technology tools for marketing and e-commerce. "Big e-commerce websites, they have hundreds of people" manually creating 3D renderings, Cottin said. In the case of a shoe, for example, an artist might create a 3D model of the basic model of the shoe.

☆ Startup behind Stable Diffusion releases AI system for generating videos from text
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Anna Tong | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SAN FRANCISCO, March 20 - Runway, the startup that co-created the popular Stable Diffusion AI image generator, has released an AI model that takes any text description – such as “turtles flying in the sky” – and generates three seconds of matching video footage. Citing safety and business reasons, Runway is not releasing the model widely to start, nor will it be open-sourced like Stable Diffusion. The text-to-video model, dubbed Gen-2, will initially be available on Discord via a waitlist on the Runway website. Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) and Google (GOOGL.O) both released research papers on text-to-video AI models late last year. However, the difference is that Runway’s text-to-video AI model is being made available to the general public, said Cristobal Valenzuela, Runway’s chief executive.

☆ This creative skill for freelancers is in ‘giant’ demand—and can pay as much as $145 per hour
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Gili Malinsky | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

As far as creative skills go, graphic design is in high demand. Topping the list of in-demand creative skills was graphic design. Here's what graphic design entails and how much freelancers and side hustlers stand to make. Many graphic designers have a bachelor's degree in the field but if you're keen to dive in, you won't necessarily need one. These can be tailored to specific needs, like user experience design, or more general courses which cover the basics of design software.

☆ Small-business owners say they've seen higher sales, skyrocketing click-through rates, and better brand awareness by using user-generated content in 3 smart ways
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Erin Greenawald | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Small-business owners and marketing pros say user-generated content boosted their brands on social. When users post content about a brand on their own channels, it gets the brand in front of new audiences. Insider spoke with several small-business owners to learn how they source user-generated content and use it across channels to maximize their marketing efforts. Use it for more than just organic social mediaReposting UGC on social media is an obvious way to fill your brand's social channels with engaging content. "Small-business owners should capitalize on creating mock UGC in-house to fill the gaps between their professional content and true UGC," Kutting said.

☆ Why some TikTokers think the app's new paywall feature is a game changer and how they are approaching content strategy and pricing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The platform is introducing a new feature that allows creators to charge users for specific videos. TikTokers share what type of videos they'd paywall and how much they'd price them at. "I anticipate many creators, across niches, will experiment with the new Series feature," said Ryan Detert, CEO of the influencer-marketing company Influential. TikTokers are already planning how much they'd charge for exclusive contentReni Odetoyinbo, a personal finance and career creator, said this new feature could be financially lucrative. Despite this concern, creators including Pena said this update could still revolutionize creators' earnings and content offerings.

☆ Companies Are Laying Off Middle Managers, That's a Huge Mistake
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

But in recent weeks, as companies brace for tougher times ahead, the assault on middle managers has picked up new steam. At Meta, Mark Zuckerberg is eliminating layers of middle management, demoting many supervisors to the ranks of the supervised. Zuckerberg offered a telling explanation for his decision: He doesn't want to have "managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work." In the UKG survey, 42% of middle managers said they were often or always stressed — a higher share than either frontline workers or C-suite executives. The businesses most likely to weather the current economic turmoil, Harter says, are those that unlock the hidden value of middle managers.

☆ A woman used ChatGPT to make strange crochet animals that went viral on TikTok. Viewers seized on them as an example of AI's failings.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Alex Woolner asked ChatGPT to write crochet patterns and posted the results online. Some people saw the AI patterns as an example of the new tech's limits. Woolner asked the bot: "Write me a crochet pattern for a narwhal stuffed animal using worsted weight yarn," referring to a thick yarn commonly used for crochet. Gerald — the viral crochet narwhalThe first animal Woolner made from the AI-generated pattern became an internet celebrity. Viewers seized on it as an example of AI failingsWhile some viewers thought the narwhal was strange but cute, others saw it as a sign of AI's limits.

☆ TikTokers share how they're planning to use the app's new paywalled-content feature, including what they plan to charge for exclusive videos
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The platform is introducing a new feature that allows creators to charge users for specific videos. TikTokers share what type of videos they'd paywall and how much they'd price them at. On March 7, TikTok announced a new program called Series that allows creators to charge followers to watch longer videos that can be up to 20 minutes long. "I anticipate many creators, across niches, will experiment with the new Series feature," Ryan Detert, CEO of the influencer-marketing company Influential. TikTokers are already planning how much they'd charge for exclusive contentReni Odetoyinbo, a personal finance and career creator, said this new feature could be financially lucrative.

☆ 7 things to do in Austin that will make your 'work trip' to SXSW unforgettable
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Elizabeth Wood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Austin is home to SXSW, the annual tech and culture conference that attracts thousands. If you're going for work, tack on a few days and enjoy some local fun. Many companies send their employees to SXSW on business. If you're one of them, why not take the opportunity to get out and see Austin when your work day is done? Here's a guide to some of Austin's hidden gems to help you unwind and turn your work trip into "workation."

Diverse creators are building incubators, their own production pipelines and venues where they can screen work and receive feedback and support each other. Of the 13,252 Oscar nominees since 1929, 6% are from underrepresented ethnicities, a USC Annenberg Inclusion at the Academy Awards report concludes. Located in Atlanta and Los Angeles, it creates collaborative spaces for diverse talent to support each other. As the most underrepresented group in the industry, Latino talent is also keen to change their narrative. There were 32 years without Latino nominees at the Academy Awards, with the most recent shutout in 2002.

☆ I quit my job as a nurse to house-sit — and I've now lived rent-free in LA, Portugal, Costa Rica, and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Claire Turrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Costa Rica and Mexico were the top two. We booked a trip to Costa Rica, but in March 2020, the pandemic hit and all our travel plans were put on hold. We checked out the site, and we typed in "Costa Rica" when it asked "Where do you want to go?" So far, we've stayed in 10 homes in landscapes as varied as the desert of Palm Springs and the jungle of Costa Rica. Our first house-sit was at a jungle casita in Costa Rica, where we looked after a little rescue dogIt proved to be one of our favorites.

☆ I built a 6-figure company designing sets for photoshoots and events. Here's how I turned my college hobby into a business.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Skylar Mitchell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Dotun Abeshinbioke is a set designer and the owner of Ábiké Studio in New York. She got into set design as a student and started making sets for friends, leading to paying clients. I initially started doing design work for T-shirts and flyers, then I started designing sets to showcase my photography. Ábiké Studio was inspired by my traditional Yoruba name, which means "born to treasure." As a creative studio, we do branding, web design, and experiential design for clients across creative fields.

☆ After splitting with Kanye West, British audio startup Kano asks for funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The two would go on to discuss the beginnings of what eventually became the Stem Player. It was originally named the "Donda Stem Player," a reference to West's 10th studio album, Donda. Faced with "worse" terms and news of Ye's antisemitic comments, Kano didn't accept, Klein said. Despite recent outcry over Ye's antisemitic remarks, he has frequently raised eyebrows. The Stem Player, along with West's dedicated fanbase, drove great commercial success for the small London startup.

See Insider's picks for the best tax software »Changing tax needs meant a new approach to filingLast year, I filed myself using tax prep software. Though I am a financial planner, I'm not an accountant, and my knowledge of the tax code is much lower than someone who lives and breathes taxes. My accountant was able to find deductions that I never knew existed, meaning I paid far less in taxes than expected. However, depending on the complexity of their finances and their understanding of the process, it may be advantageous to hire an accountant. To me, an accountant was the best money I've ever spent — and I plan to never file my taxes myself again.

☆ More than 200 books in Amazon's bookstore have ChatGPT listed as an author or coauthor
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A buzzy new author has become a familiar presence in Amazon's bookstore — OpenAI's ChatGPT. The chatbot is credited as an author or coauthor for more than 200 paperbacks and e-books. At the time of writing, the buzzy chatbot developed by OpenAI was credited as the author or coauthor on more than 200 paperbacks and e-books in Amazon's bookstore. One paperback where the bot is listed as a coauthor, "ChatGPT on ChatGPT: The AI Explains Itself," was described as having been "written entirely" by the AI bot. Reshi self-published "Alice and Sparkle" as a paperback on Amazon's bookstore for free via a service called KDP.

☆ 3% of people can't create a mental picture in their heads—this test will tell you if you're one of them
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

People who experience aphantasia account for 3% to 4% of the world's population, and Zeman has met and spoken to over 10,000 of them. And people with aphantasia usually aren't able to picture how characters look, or visualize the settings they're in, while reading books, Zeman tells CNBC Make It. Rate the visualizations above using the questionnaire's scale:No image at all Dim and vague/flat Moderately clear and lively Clear and lively Perfectly clear and lively, almost as real as seeing itHow do people get aphantasia? If you weren't able to see any of the images in your mind, then you likely have aphantasia. There are also incredible novelists who experience aphantasia as well, says Zeman.

☆ YouTubers and creator-economy insiders react to the sudden CEO shake-up, and describe the challenges that will define the future of the platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Amanda Perelli | Marta Biino | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down, and being replaced by chief product officer Neal Mohan. YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki's sudden announcement on Thursday that she is stepping down has sent shockwaves through the creator community. Wojcicki has been YouTube's CEO since 2014, and joined parent company Google in 1999 as its first marketing manager. Chief product officer Neal Mohan will be taking over her role, having previously been in charge of key products like the short-video platform YouTube Shorts and launched subscription services YouTube Premium and YouTube TV. "Susan understood from the beginning the importance of content creators on YouTube," said Alessandro Bogliari, CEO and cofounder of The Influencer Marketing Factory.

☆ Taylor Swift is the highest paid female entertainer in the world, earning $92 million in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Taylor Swift is the highest paid female entertainer in the world, earning a cool $92 million in 2022 following the success of her 10th studio album "Midnights," according to a new report from Forbes. To determine the ranking, Forbes considers entertainers' total 2022 pretax earnings, minus fees for representation (managers, lawyers, etc.) While 2022 was a strong year for Swift, her annual earnings were still less than half of what the highest paid entertainers in the world, the progressive rock band Genesis, made last year. Altogether, Genesis earned $230 million in 2022, thanks to a $300 million music rights sale to Concord Music Group in September. There wasn't a single woman on Forbes's list of the top 10 highest paid entertainers in 2022 — the highest paid female entertainer, Reese Witherspoon, ranked 12th for making $115 million in 2021.

☆ Read the 27-page deck a creator with 300K TikTok followers uses to pitch himself as a consultant for brands
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Here's the deck he uses to pitch services like content strategy, headhunting, and influencer marketing. Offering brands services beyond traditional influencer marketing can unlock many opportunities for creators, Barnett said. Like many creators and agencies alike, Barnett uses a deck to pitch potential clients and highlight case studies. While he often uses his website as an alternative, Barnett shared the latest version of the pitch deck he uses for BarnettX and CreatorX. Read the 27-page deck content creator and advisor JT Barnett uses to pitch consulting opportunities to brands:

☆ I asked ChatGPT to write a viral Super Bowl commercial. Here's what an advertising pro thought of the AI script.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The most generic beer commercial of all timeChatGPT writes a script for a beer commercial Screenshot/ChatGPTFor my first commercial, I told ChatGPT to "write me a beer commercial that would run during the Super Bowl." "This is the perfect beer for the Super Bowl," ChatGPT wrote as a line for one of the characters. The cast of 'Succession' sells a luxury SUVChatGPT writes a Lexus commercial ChatGPT/ScreenshotNext up, I asked ChatGPT to "write me a funny Super Bowl commercial for the newest Lexus SUV, starring the cast of Succession." Just like the beer commercial, Eastman told me this script seemed generic. A Skittles commercial that almost hits the markChatGPT writes a Skittles commercial ChatGPT/ScreenshotLast up, I asked ChatGPT to "write me a viral and crazy Super Bowl commercial for a candy of your choosing."

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