How the Co-Heads of Awesomeness Create Gen Z Hits
Apr 29, 2019
You know that rom-com you loved and that Hulu series you binged? Shelley Zimmerman and Rebecca Glashow are the executives to thank.
Our In the Office With ... series, gives Viacom executives the opportunity to reveal a little bit about who they are, how they lead, and what drives them in the day-to-day.
Rebecca Glashow is six hours into her day in New York when her Los Angeles counterpart, Shelley Zimmerman, calls for their daily debrief. Zimmerman is on her 45-minute commute into the office on California’s notoriously slow Route 10. Glashow drops everything for Zimmerman’s call—she’ll even dive for it in the middle of a meeting—because if she misses this window to speak to Zimmerman, it’ll be hours before they can touch base.
It’s a ritual they developed after being named co-heads of Awesomeness last September, two months after Viacom acquired the digital entertainment company. Both worked at Awesomeness when they were tapped to lead it; Glashow as chief strategy and information officer and Zimmerman as head of its TV studio.
Awesomeness might not be a household name, but many of its TV and movie productions are. If you’ve swooned over a recent romantic comedy—particularly one with heartthrob Noah Centineo—or binged a series with a strong female lead, chances are Awesomeness had a hand in producing it. There’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before on Netflix, Light as a Feather on Hulu and Pen15, also on Hulu. Netflix released The Perfect Date, about a high school student (Centineo) who develops a dating app to make money for college, on April 12.
"Gen Z moves seamlessly between an influencer-led, direct-to-camera experience and a premium television show. That didn't exist previously."
Awesomeness’ content is made for—and frequently by—its young audience. It was co-founded in 2012 by Joe Davola and Brian Robbins, now President of Nickelodeon, as a YouTube channel devoted to original, short-form, user-generated content. They saw an opportunity to program to teenagers on YouTube, SnapChat, and Instagram since that’s where they were watching. And traditional media wasn’t catering to them.
Awesomeness' YouTube channel now has more than 6.7 million subscribers who tune in to watch shows like My Dream Quinceanera and the AwesomenessTV Daily Report, news of the day from the entertainment world.
Some of its projects—and stars—have parlayed success into more deals and distribution channels. For example, the show T@gged moved from go90 to Hulu for its third season and T@gged star Centineo, who had a successful stint on the Freeform production The Fosters previously, has become something of a household heartthrob thanks to the runaway success of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Later this year, he’ll appear on the big screen as a star in the latest Charlie’s Angels sequel from Sony.
On a recent Friday morning, Glashow and Zimmerman, who was in New York for her monthly trip East, chatted with me about what makes an Awesomeness production, their favorite 90s shows, and the benefits of having a co-president.
Tara Weiss: How do you describe Awesomeness to adults?
Shelley Zimmerman: We are a digital-first media company dedicated to Gen Z. That means that we are providing scripted and unscripted content to them wherever they are.
TW: How is Gen Z as an audience different from other generations?
Rebecca Glashow: There's a massive difference for this generation of teens who have grown up without having to compromise. There’s a plethora of content for them to choose from, not just content from major studios. There’s a democratization of video creation through these platforms. What content means and who can produce it is entirely different for Gen Z. They move seamlessly between an influencer-led, direct-to-camera experience and a premium television show. That didn't exist previously.
SZ: We spend a lot of time thinking about the content that our viewers consume on different platforms. We're thinking about what the viewer is looking for on that specific platform and tailoring our content to that consumer behavior.
TW: Can you give me an example?
SZ: What we make for YouTube we don't just repurpose on SnapChat. On YouTube it may be that direct-to-camera. On Instagram it’s more lifestyle, beauty, or pop culture. When we create shows for Hulu and Netflix we think a lot about bingeability.
Small talk
Favorite show as a teen:
SZ: I always loved Beverly Hills, 90210.
RG: Felicity
Last (non-work-related) show you binged:
SZ: Killing Eve
RG: Luther
High school clique:
RG: I was a little goth, but I was a fastidious student. I didn't break the rules. I aspired to, but I did not break rules.
SZ: I was in student government. I worked really hard in school and was home to watch a lot of episodes of television. I did more research in television than I was out at parties.
TW: How is bingeability taken into account when creating a show?
SZ: If you’re delivering a show weekly, you have to refresh the viewer’s memory [about what happened the previous week]. Binging is a very different experience. You're thinking about cliffhangers and open questions that drive people into the next episode and wanting to promote that behavior.
TW: A hallmark of Awesomeness is its ability to get this to air quickly. How do you do that?
RG: We are a lean organization and don’t have a tremendous amount of decision-makers. We look for efficient budgets. Also, this audience is digital-first so how we market and promote is extremely different. We don't have a long lead time because we're not buying billboards. We don't tend to market until something is available to be consumed. Having streaming platforms as our first window has become the growth area and we’re seeing a lot of success in our business with it over the last couple of years.
TW: You’ve talked a lot about the importance of engaging fans on social media. Who are the people behind Awesomeness’ social presence?
RG: The team that works for us create as much as they consume, and work on both sides of the camera. A lot of the writers and editors are also potentially on-camera. Social media is the language that they speak in. That's part of the extraordinary benefits of social platforms, the one-to-one connection.
TW: How do fans’ reactions influence what gets made?
SZ: Fans aren’t suggesting shows in the comment sections that then go and get made. But fan feedback and what they respond to on a daily basis is impacting what will get made moving forward. An example is one of our big hits on YouTube, My Dream Quinceanera. We saw that the audience was responding to the individual characters, and we used that type of information to create subsequent spin-off shows, including Shany in the City, that are giving the fans more of what they loved in that first show.
TW: How do you traverse the bumps that come up as a result of being co-leaders? Or are you the ying to the other’s yang?
RG: I'm the mother of identical twins and until I had them, I didn't understand how lucky in life you are to have a partner who you can work things out with, who is coming from the perspective of being on the same team, even when you're going through challenging times. I find us incredibly lucky that we get to run this company together. Working and growing a business is about pushing yourself and pushing other individuals on the team and thinking bigger. I feel really lucky to be able to do it with somebody who I respect so much.
SZ: One of the great parts of making content is collaborating. And collaborating with Rebecca is one of the best parts of the day. We do come from different perspectives and she's in New York and I'm in Los Angeles, but that all just makes the decision-making that much better.
Top photo: (L to R) Shelley Zimmerman and Rebecca Glashow.
All photos credit: David Williams.
