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There was no red carpet, but a taxi cab photo-op was parked out front, with cameras ready to take guests’ pictures.
This week, I headed to a packed movie theater in downtown New York City for the world premiere of “Keep the Meter Running,” one of several shows YouTube announced at its star-studded Upfronts presentation.
YouTube, and its content creators, want their own prestige TV moment.
“It’s a streaming service. You go home, you sit on your couch, you open the YouTube app, and you watch this television show the same way that you would any other television show,” Kareem Rahma, the creator and host of “Keep the Meter Running,” told the packed theater.
Creators, like Rahma (of “Subway Takes” fame), are ready to see their content taken as seriously as a big network show.
“If this is a web series, then so is every show on Netflix and every show on HBO Max because it’s all the internet now,” said Adam Faze, who produced the show alongside Rahma.
“If I’m a digital creator, then so is Shonda Rhimes,” Rahma quipped in response.
Welcome to a YouTube premiere
Let me take you inside the night.
The show, in which Rahma tags along with New York City cab drivers to visit their favorite spots, premiered two episodes totaling about 36 minutes.
A few years ago, the same show was a short-form video series on TikTok and Instagram. Now, it’s grown up.
With show-branded merch and popcorn, as well as show-inspired cocktails served in classic New York bodega coffee cups, the premiere’s reception brought together New York creators, media, celebrities, and cab drivers all under one roof.
After the premiere, pre-paid yellow cabs were lined up outside, ready to ship the guests from the Metrograph theater uptown to the Standard Hotel’s swanky Boom bar. Actor Cole Sprouse smoked a cigarette while chatting with Nico Heller, the creator behind the famous New York Nico Instagram account.
I was ushered into a taxi, squeezed between one of Rahma’s cameramen and another journalist. In the front, another attendee listened to the driver’s life story — emulating the show we all just watched on the big screen.
When we got to the after-party at Boom, we were greeted with flutes of bubbly. The venue, formerly known as the Boom Boom Room, has hosted after-parties for Hollywood events, from the Met Gala to movie premieres.
The venue was filled with hundreds of people, including creator economy staples who spoke about Hollywood and the internet blurring more than ever — some more positively than others.
“It’s not short form vs. long form, creators vs. Hollywood, it’s all one ecosystem,” said Ziad Ahmed, who spearheads Gen Z marketing at talent agency UTA. “The scale of the work that we’re doing is much bigger.”
If you want to be relevant in culture today, whether you’re a creator or a Hollywood star, “you have to live on all of these screens,” Ahmed added.
The crowd at Boom was bridging the “gap between Hollywood and the creator economy,” Jon Henson, who works at Rahma’s talent management firm Underscore, told me.
The party recap
Here’s a quick run-down of what I saw:
- The menu: The premiere itself had popcorn and movie snacks, and, at the cocktail party reception, there were tiny chocolate chip cookies and hors d’oeuvres. At the after-party, slices of pizza were carried around on white paper plates. There were drinks upon arrival, a taxi-cab ice luge, and an open bar for part of the night.
- The crowd: After the two episodes aired, Rahma and Faze were interviewed by actor Ramy Youssef. In the crowd were Sprouse, comedian Eric Andre, rapper G-Eazy, UTA cofounder Jeremy Zimmer, and media figures like Feed Me’s Emily Sundberg and Byline’s Gutes Guterman. The various teams behind the show were also scattered throughout, including Another Normal Day (AND Media), the studio that bankrolled Rahma’s show. At the after-party, the crowd danced to a loud DJ set, but mostly mingled. Some filmed social media content. Creators like Delaney Rowe and Tinx arrived after attending other commitments that night (a Coach event and a Guggenheim function, respectively, per their Instagram stories). The party had stamina, too. By the time I called it quits a little past 1 a.m., it was still bumping.
- The takeaway: Creators want to be taken seriously. Grant Weintrob, who’s behind the account Life on Film (with millions of followers), told me creators like Rahma are setting the bar. They want bigger, they want better.
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