How A24 Revived Studio Loyalty

Welcome to The Queue — your daily distraction of curated video content sourced from across the web. Today, we’re watching a video essay that looks at A24’s rise to popularity.

I’d like to think (or, rather, I’d like to hope) that most folks are in the know that “generational” designations were invented as a marketing ploy. So, if you’re going to make generalizations about a given generation, make it in relation to marketing. I’ll go first: Millennials are especially brand loyal. For their part, Gen Z’s unique brand of chaos (never change) is its own can of worms. And there are anglers aplenty out there, looking to vie for their attention.

Back when Hollywood employed a studio system, each studio had a specific, different house style. United Artists were known for taking big creative risks and independent artists. There was a time when RKO was synonymous with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals. Warner Bros. was one of the first of the “big five” studios to adopt synchronized sound.

So what’s our equivalent today? We may not be in exactly the same conditions as the studio system. But streaming has certainly blurred the line between producing and distributing in a way that would likely make the folks who signed the t1948 Supreme Court anti-trust ruling roll over in their graves.

But then there’s A24, a producer and distributor who have carved out a space for themselves as a studio with name recognition and an in-house style. What’s the secret to their success? Is it burying their duds on DIRECTV? What’s their origin story? Why are folks shelling out hundreds of dollars for merch? Well, let’s have a look:

Watch “How A24 took over Hollywood”

Who made this?

This video essay on how A24 took over Hollywood is by Vox, an American news website owned by Vox Media, founded in 2014. Vox produces videos on news, culture, and everything in between. This video was produced and animated by Edward Vega, with art direction by Joey Sendaydiego and story editing by Bridgett Henwood. You can subscribe to Vox on YouTube here. You can follow them on Twitter here.

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Related Topics: A24, The Queue

Meg has been writing professionally about all things film-related since 2016. She is a Senior Contributor at Film School Rejects as well as a Curator for One Perfect Shot. She has attended international film festivals such as TIFF, Hot Docs, and the Nitrate Picture Show as a member of the press. In her day job as an archivist and records manager, she regularly works with physical media and is committed to ensuring ongoing physical media accessibility in the digital age. You can find more of Meg’s work at Cinema Scope, Dead Central, and Nonfics. She has also appeared on a number of film-related podcasts, including All the President’s Minutes, Zodiac: Chronicle, Cannes I Kick It?, and Junk Filter. Her work has been shared on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, Business Insider, and CherryPicks. Meg has a B.A. from the University of King’s College and a Master of Information degree from the University of Toronto.

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