Sony Pictures Entertainment is turning Screen Gems into a creator-first studio. The horror label has named Fede Goldenberg, a former YouTube executive with 15 years in the creator economy, to lead the division, with a mandate to develop theatrical projects from digital-native storytellers. Goldenberg reports to Sanford Panitch, president of Sony’s Motion Picture Group. Ashley Brucks, Screen Gems president since 2023, moves to a producing role.
Why a YouTube executive
The hire is not a streaming play. Goldenberg’s resume spans YouTube Originals, work on YouTube’s Oscars effort, guiding channels past 50 million subscribers, and relationships with Maker Studios and Fullscreen. Sony insiders say creators differ from traditional talent: they are often director, writer, producer, marketer and star at once, and they guard IP and audience experience tightly.
That makes the appointment a structural response rather than a one-off acquisition. RJ Larese, president of creator agency Sixteenth, told TheWrap that creators were “never just a new category of talent for brand deals,” but “the next generation of Hollywood.”
The numbers behind the pivot
Creator-led theatrical returns are the pressure point:
- Obsession: $522 million global box office against a budget under $1 million.
- Backrooms: roughly $400 million.
- Iron Lung: $50 million, self-financed and self-released by Markiplier.
- Screen Gems’ own recent slate: $54 million to $170 million grosses on $15 million to $20 million budgets.
The contrast matters. Screen Gems has long been a modest-budget horror label — home to Resident Evil and Underworld — and recent IP bets have been singles, not home runs. Insidious: Out of the Further at $170 million became the label’s biggest hit since the previous Insidious, but that still trails a creator film made for less than a million dollars.
Theatrical, not streaming
Despite Sony’s Netflix deal, Screen Gems wants theater-first creator projects. Both short-form and long-form creators are in scope, as long as the storytelling idea is strong. That echoes the 1990s, when majors launched Sony Pictures Classics, Fox Searchlight and Gramercy to capture a new filmmaking wave.
The pipeline is already forming. Alanah Pearce and Jacksepticeye have announced Godmother, which was partly self-financed, and creator Savanah Moss is developing a Jeff the Killer project with Tongal. Pearce has warned that a wave of studio-funded creator features is coming, and quality may dip — making a dedicated label with real marketing muscle a defensive advantage.
Media planners should read this as a distribution shift, not a talent curiosity. The strategy assumes creator loyalty can do the job of expensive paid media — a useful test for release campaigns that pair a digital-native lead with traditional theater windows.
Source: TheWrap
