Charles Roven’s Atlas Entertainment has struck a development deal with Culture Genesis, a leading-edge representation firm that packages the content of creator economy stars for sale at scale to mainstream buyers.
The deal reflects crosscurrents in media and advertising, where all the heat is on social media creators and marketers’ demand for social video.
The pact calls for Atlas and Culture Genesis to jointly develop film, TV and short form titles drawn from Culture Genesis’ archive of talent and content. The company operates the CG Collective, billed as 190 of YouTube’s top creators including iShowSpeed, Kai Cenat, REACT, AMP, People vs Food and V10’s America’s Funniest Home Videos. Atlas will work with Culture Genesis to develop and package new properties from its archive in addition to other projects.
Roven is one of the industry’s most respected film producers, responsible for some of the biggest films of the past few decades, including “Oppenheimer,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Wonder Woman.” Culture Genesis represents the superstars of Gen Z including sports influencer IShowSpeed whose feed has been described as “ESPN for Gen Z.”
“Great film and television has always been driven by the best and brightest filmmakers and storytellers,” said Roven. “Today’s creators are visionaries in their own right and audiences have clearly taken notice. We’re excited to collaborate with Culture Genesis to redefine the path from digital to film and television and introduce audiences to the next generation of talent.”
Culture Genesis has grown rapidly as an exemplar of attention-economy representation firms that are reaping the rewards of social media and also forging new pathways for the most promising creators. Launched in 2018, the Santa Monica-based company is led by founder and CEO Shaun Newsum and Fred Coates, who is president.
“Culture isn’t a demographic to target. It’s where attention is born — and creators are its authors,” said Newsum, founder & CEO of Culture Genesis. “The most valuable attention in media now lives with creators, not channels. Through our collaboration with Atlas, we’re giving creators exposure to potential economics that have historically been closed to digital-native talent.”
Coates pointed out that traditional Hollywood and creators have more in common that it would seem on the surface.
“Atlas saw what Culture Genesis built — a collective of 190 creators with broadcast-scale, independently measured audiences — and understood immediately that this is infrastructure, not inventory,” Coates said. “We’re bringing two proven engines together: their ability to develop and sell world-class film and television, and our ability to reach an audience that already shows up. That’s real upside on both sides of the table.”
Culture Genesis says its portfolio reaches more than 43 million U.S. households each month with 9.5 billion monthly impressions and 60% of viewing on the living-room screen.
Atlas Entertainment is headed by Roven and producing partner Alex Gartner. The firm’s upcoming projects include Michael B. Jordan’s redo of “The Thomas Crown Affair” for Amazon MGM Studios and “Road House 2” for Amazon Prime Video. It’s also finishing up production on the Imax documentary “Frontier,” about the work of photographer Anouk Masson Krantz.
(Pictured: Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven, Culture Genesis’ Shaun Newsum)