YouTuber Markiplier's movie made over $50 million. Here's his advice for creators looking to level up.
YouTube creator Markiplier, whose real name is Mark Fischbach.
Natasha Campos/Getty Images for Mark 'Markiplier' Fischbach YouTuber Markiplier independently released a box-office hit, "Iron Lung," earlier this year.
He hopes more content creators will try to take on Hollywood projects without ceding control.
He said YouTubers are a "powerful entity that hold sway and a lot of eyeballs." YouTuber Markiplier thinks more creators can break into Hollywood without giving up control.
The 37-year-old put it to the test earlier this year, when he wrote, directed, and starred in the film "Iron Lung." He funded the movie's low 7-figure budget himself, and it became a box-office hit that grossed over $50 million worldwide.
His takeaway was that more creators should try to enter traditional media on their own, so long as they're ready to learn and wear many hats — and take on their own financial risk.
"In Hollywood, it is kind of like a foregone conclusion that you'll have to give up all control to be able to do anything," the YouTuber, whose real name is Mark Fischbach, told Business Insider.
"I'm like, 'No, I don't think that should be.'" A decade ago, when social media was still an emergent format, many influencers viewed a TV show deal or a movie role as a sign they'd made it.
Content creators like Liza Koshy and Bretman Rock signed on to do TV shows, but YouTube success didn't always translate to TV ratings, and the results were mixed.
For every web series that became a TV darling, like Comedy Central's "Broad City," there was a project that stalled out and was canceled, such as NBC's late-night show from YouTuber Lilly Singh.
YouTube's gains in recent years have flipped the creator-to-TV pipeline.
YouTube has become the top destination on US TV screens, reaching over 14% market share and crushing competitors like Netflix and Disney, according to Nielsen.
Former TV stars like Don Lemon, Alton Brown, and Tucker Carlson are building large audiences as independent creators on YouTube and other platforms.
The shift in audience to YouTube has given its top creators more power relative to Hollywood, said Fischbach, who has nearly 40 million subscribers.
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