Could INFLUENCERS be the secret to saving Hollywood? How major studios are paying tens of thousands of dollars to online stars to promote their latest blockbusters in a desperate attempt to achieve box office success
- Some influencers can make between $3,000 and $10,000 in paid content deals
- Recent movies using such tactics include Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
- ‘Marketing has evolved to where people don’t want to be sold to, they want to discover,’ says Paramount Picture’s Marc Weinstock
Hollywood movie stars have long been seen as the perfect image of glitz, glamour, and wealth – but it seems even they need a helping hand these days when it comes to securing success for their latest projects in the form of a new wave of stars: the online influencer.
Amid waning box office sales, the movie industry has turned to some of the world’s biggest TikTok and Instagram stars in a desperate attempt to promote their blockbuster projects – and it seems no expense is spared when it comes to this clever tactic.
Most recently, films such as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One have enlisted the help of influencers in order to drive interest and encourage fans to flock to theaters.
One influencer has claimed she can make anywhere between ‘$3,000 to $10,000 in paid content deals with studios’, but it depends on the type of content and the number of posts that are involved.
Amanda Castrillo is one of those influencers, having created her TikTok account back in 2020 when she began posting videos and shared her thoughts on all things Marvel and Star Wars.
La La Land: Social media stars have taken their influencing talents to a whole new level, thanks to the help of Hollywood (stock image)
In the money: Amanda Castrillo claimed she can make anywhere between ‘$3,000 to $10,000 in paid content deals with studios’
Moving on up: Andrew Bachelor, known as King Bach, rose to internet fame during the Vine craze and now lands acting roles
These days, Castrillo has over 316,000 followers and is often invited to red carpet events and premieres, which allows her to create more interesting and unique content.
In December 2021, she couldn’t believe her luck when she landed her first invite to the world premiere of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
‘It was a weird sense of impostor syndrome,’ Castrillo told Insider.
‘I thought, “I’m actually breathing the same air that Zendaya is about to breathe!”‘
She confirmed that she wasn’t paid for that specific event but has been to plenty more since, and had no idea that her TikTok posts would lead to such opportunities.
‘I didn’t really know red carpets or events like that were even an option,’ she admitted.
The importance of building relationships with influencers, and actually collaborating with them, is not something the studios take lightly.
Marc Weinstock, who is the president of worldwide marketing and distribution at Paramount Pictures, spoke to the publication about how the industry has changed since Covid.
All the invites: Castrillo often attends premieres and red carpet events but it’s still a ‘side hustle’ for her
A-List pals: Reece Feldman recently got to interview Jennifer Lawrence and has 260k Instagram followers
Online presence: Reagan Yorke has 3.2 million TikTok followers and often gives her take on TV shows and movies
‘The devotion to this part of marketing is probably the biggest change during the COVID era,’ he said.
‘I think it was exacerbated by the fact that a lot of people were watching TikTok videos because they were stuck at home. So why wouldn’t you have creators have fun with your campaign and get the word out that way?’
For example, Paramount recently flew a hoard of influencers out to Singapore for the premiere of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and also hired freestyle sensation Harry Mack to perform his talents alongside the cast.
Castrillo confirmed that creating such content is still very much a ‘side hustle’ for her, but others have managed to turn it into a full-time job – and even started forging acting careers and businesses out of it.
Gabriella Gomez started out in marketing at various companies such as Beats by Dr. Dre and K-Swiss.
The 32-year-old has now branched out and started her own influencer marketing company, Department of Influence.
In a nutshell, Gomez is a go-between for influencers and studios and helps influencers ‘find their voice’ in the industry and suggests to the film companies how they can market them.
‘My first question when I sit down with an influencer is what do they want to do when they grow up – and that doesn’t matter what their age is,’ Gomez revealed to Insider.
Dream come true: Gabriella Gomez now has her own influencer marketing company and pitches to the major studios
Say cheese: Straw Hat Goofy is another influencer who is rising to the top and met Tom Cruise recently
‘It’s, “What do you want to do with the platform you’ve built?” And it’s different per person,’ she continued, before laying out an example.
‘I’ll have an idea for, say, the Barbie movie. I’ll pitch a couple ways how influencers can work into the release of the movie, and I take it to the studio. I’ll navigate and produce it all the way through.’
Elsewhere, King Bach – real name Andrew Bachelor – recently spent time in New Mexico on the set of a Gerard Butler movie.
The 35-year-old is no stranger to rubbing shoulders with A-listers and rose to internet fame during the Vine craze.
Bachelor actually holds the Guinness World Record for the most Vine followers with over 16 million, and turned the title into something pretty lucrative, bagging six-figure deals with brands and studios.
However, despite money coming in, he felt that such content wasn’t doing much to raise his own profile.
‘I started to tone it down a lot just because the fans, they were realizing I was promoting these movies and I wasn’t in them,’ Bachelor explained to Insider.
Back in 2015, he was approached to do paid content for the Zac Efron movie We Are Your Friends, so Bachelor began to negotiate.
It was such an honor to collaborate with the cast of “#Transformers#Rise of the Beasts” in LA. @anthonyramosofficial@domfishback@tobenwigwe@lizzza ⚡️⚡️⚡️ Hope y’all enjoy, and if you catch yourself smiling at any point while watching, do me a favor and share this video with your people so we can keep the good vibes flowing, and remember… POWER IS PRIMAL!!! 🦍🐆🦏 @transformersmovie @paramountpics IN THEATRES JUNE 9 #ParamountPartner
He says he declined to collaborate until the producers agreed to put him in the film.
‘They catered the script around me for a cameo, and it blossomed from there,’ he said.
‘Now what I’m doing is taking a role not as an influencer, but for real roles. You’re hiring me as an actor.’
Since We Are Your Friends, Bachelor has appeared in a few other movies including Meet the Blacks and When We First Met as well as the Gerard Butler movie Greenland.
Other well-known faces on the internet who look set to follow in his footsteps are people such as Straw Hat Goofy and Reece Feldman.
Not only has Feldman attended prestigious events such as the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards, he regularly interviews some of the industry’s biggest stars – most recently, Jennifer Lawrence and Harrison Ford.
Meanwhile, a quick look at Straw Hat Goofy’s Instagram page proves that he’s always rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous including John Boyega and Seth Rogen.
He also got to meet the one and only Tom Cruise at the Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One premiere in June.
Big night: Blogger Unique Miranda at the Youtube Shorts Creator Screening of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
VIP list: Ruba Wilson is a well-known face on TikTok and also attended a Mission Impossible screening
A week later, Paramount invited 450 influencers to a ‘Young Hollywood’ screening of the action movie at its studio lot in Hollywood.
Castrillo was among the attendees and made the most of the Instagram and TikTok-friendly activations available in order to create content for her feeds, such as a video of her posing next to the motorcycle Cruise rides in the movie.
So despite it looking like the era of influencing had come to an end, Hollywood has certainly turned things around.
Paramount’s Weinstock is confident that such marketing tactics will continue to have a positive effect on how upcoming movies are promoted, and influencers will continue to be key.
‘Marketing has evolved to where people don’t want to be sold to, they want to discover,” he said.
‘This allows for people to discover our marketing as opposed to it being poured down their throats.’
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