Disney’s First ‘Created in LA’ Event Brings 350 Creators Inside Hollywood
LOS ANGELES — Disney brought more than 350 digital creators into two of Hollywood's most symbolic spaces for the company's first “Created in LA” event, a two-day program held September 17 and 18 at the El Capitan Theatre and the Walt Disney Studios lot. Developed with creator and interviewer Jon Youshaei, the gathering combined screenings, conversations and workshops designed to connect internet-native talent with the people and infrastructure behind traditional film and television.
The opening night gave creator-made videos a red-carpet premiere at the El Capitan, which organizers described as a first in the theater's century-long history. The symbolism was deliberate. A venue associated with studio premieres was used to present work built for online audiences, where a film may be vertical, brief and distributed by an individual rather than a company. Disney was not treating creator video as a side panel; it placed that work inside a room built to confer Hollywood legitimacy.
The second day moved to the studio lot for sessions involving creators including the Try Guys and Zach King, alongside executives and production professionals. ABC7, TechRadar and industry newsletter VP Land reported on the event from complementary angles. Together, their accounts show a company trying to move beyond one-off influencer campaigns toward a more durable relationship with creators who develop formats, own audiences and increasingly compete for the same viewing time as studio entertainment.
For creators, access is part of the attraction. Hollywood has equipment, intellectual property, distribution expertise and generations of production knowledge. Independent talent brings speed, direct audience feedback and an understanding of platform culture that large organizations can struggle to reproduce. A useful event has to offer more than photographs on a famous lot. It needs to create specific opportunities for collaboration, commissioning, licensing or skills that creators can carry into their own businesses.
Disney also has a strategic reason to listen. Younger viewers do not organize media into old categories. A feature film, fan edit, reaction video and creator interview can all appear in the same feed. The competition is not simply another studio release; it is everything a viewer could watch next. Inviting creators inside acknowledges that attention now moves across professional and personal media without respecting industry boundaries.
The moment follows TheiMedia's coverage of Christy Turlington's New York runway return and Phaedra Parks and CT Tamburello's confirmed relationship, stories where established celebrity and audience-driven culture overlap. “Created in LA” makes that overlap institutional. Creators are no longer invited only because they can promote a finished product. Some are writers, directors, performers, editors and entrepreneurs whose own intellectual property may become the product.
That possibility creates opportunities and risks. A studio partnership can give a creator scale, but it can also introduce approvals, exclusivity and ownership terms that weaken the independence audiences value. Creators should understand who owns a concept, how revenue is shared and whether a deal limits work on other platforms. Studios, in turn, need to avoid treating creator communities as inexpensive test audiences or sources of free publicity.
The event's emphasis on coexistence is more realistic than predictions that one side will replace the other. Hollywood remains capable of financing complex productions and distributing global franchises. Creators excel at building trust, testing ideas quickly and speaking to specific communities. The interesting future is collaborative: studio resources applied without erasing the voice that made a creator valuable in the first place.
There is also a diversity argument for opening the gates. Digital platforms have allowed performers and storytellers who lacked traditional access to prove demand in public. That does not make the creator economy automatically fair; algorithms and sponsorship markets have their own biases. But measurable audience response can challenge narrow assumptions about who deserves investment. A studio that pays attention may find talent and formats earlier than its conventional development process would.
“Created in LA” will matter only if it produces work and relationships after the event badges are gone. The premiere at the El Capitan was an important gesture, and the studio-lot access made a clear statement. The next measure is practical: commissions, transparent deals, repeat programs and creators moving between online and long-form production without surrendering control. Disney has opened a door between two media systems. The value will come from who is allowed to walk through it, and on what terms.
Comments