Jessica Ryan

The scale of differentiation necessary to produce an MVIP has historically been determined based on the past behavior and preferences of demand.  People liked to consume IP via books, movies, TV shows and comic books, not via an outline, or a few chapters, or a single picture.

Now, however, the disruption of traditional IP distributors via streaming and social media networks allows IP owner to have more flexibility in terms of production and distribution.

Lil Nas X, for example, is able to distribute his music (his IP) instantly by publishing a song (‘Old Town Road’) on SoundCloud and have it explode in popularity via remixing and UGC on TikTok. Previously, he would have had to wait to be discovered by a record label, who then would decide when to release his music and in what form factor — most likely as an album rather than a single.

What was particularly fascinating, though, was that being in a live audience in the theatre (red line) led to higher highs and lower lows than watching in a small group (yellow line) in my lab. It was even more reduced when people watched the movie alone (brown line) in my lab. In fact, because of the scaling it looks like they flatlined but I can assure you, the peaks and troughs are present, they are simply greatly reduced in size.

Collective effervescence led to emotional enhancement, making the live performance with a big audience that much more impactful.

It’s not just that creators use the internet

It’s that they were raised by it.

Their feedback loop is instant

They understand internet culture

They publish, adapt, and evolve in real time.

They’re more attuned to thinking like product designers than studio executives

They test ideas, respond to feedback, and ship what connects.

They understand momentum.

They’ve already absorbed the logic of bottom-up SaaS, intuitively.

This is why the next great storytellers won’t come from film school.

They’ll come from YouTube, Discord, & Substack

All thats missing is proper infrastructure.