Entertainment’s New Era

Content creators are disrupting more than just how people consume media. They’re shaking up Hollywood too – with seismic impact. 

From Greenville, N.C., to the North Texas suburbs, these creators are building their own studios and production companies far from the media epicenters of Los Angeles and New York. 

Dude Perfect, the sports comedy group with a massively popular YouTube channel, is leading the way. The creator company, led by the five “Dudes” and CEO Andrew Yaffe, has built its own massive studio in Frisco, Texas, and is a model for other creators looking to do the same. 

Content consumption is rapidly trending away from traditional television toward social media, especially for younger generations. That phenomenon is what Dude Perfect and other creators are looking to capitalize on, while bringing the economic value of Hollywood to cities and small towns around the country. 

“In reality, we are producing content that is of the quality of Hollywood, just in a far more cost-efficient, direct-to-audience way, where we’re getting direct feedback,” Yaffe said.

And Congress is noticing, too. Reps. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) and Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) recently launched the bipartisan Congressional Creators Caucus to boost lawmakers’ understanding of the digital creator economy and look at potential ways to regulate it. 

“It’s a burgeoning industry,” Van Duyne said. “I don’t care what district you represent, you’ve got content creators in your district, and it’s business.”

The Impact

Dude Perfect is just one of many creators who have started opening up their own studios outside of Los Angeles and New York. MrBeast, a megapopular YouTube creator, has a headquarters, production studio and workforce training program in Greenville, N.C. 

Lawmakers, like Van Duyne, have praised the creator companies that are bringing jobs to their districts and are looking to help more content makers do the same.

“This is the American entrepreneurial spirit,” said Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), whose district houses the MrBeast empire. “If there’s a way in this day and age to use technology or social media to create a buzz and earn money, then more power to them.” 

In Frisco, Dude Perfect has thousands of square feet of production space as well as outdoor facilities. The company currently has 50 employees, with plans to expand to 75 by the end of this year, Yaffe said.

A key part of Dude Perfect’s ability to grow is that they control every part of content production, Yaffe said.

“Because we have everything on site, we can produce every piece of content incredibly cost-efficiently,” Yaffe said. “And, once you are a creator of a certain scale, and there are many who have reached that scale, this is an incredibly profitable way to create content.”

Not only has Dude Perfect been creating jobs in Frisco – Yaffe himself moved from New York to Texas for the gig – but they’re bringing more attention to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in particular. 

Dude Perfect’s location in Frisco is also a boost for the company. Dallas is home to both NBA and NFL teams and is one of the hosts of the World Cup in 2026. They also get more space. The company has two 40,000 square foot warehouses next to each other in Frisco, which isn’t something they could find in Manhattan. 

“And that’s just a massive economic benefit for the community,” Yaffe said. “We think our presence is a big part of that.” 

Creator Spotlight

The five “Dudes” – Tyler Toney, Cody Jones, Garrett Hilbert, Cory Cotton and Coby Cotton – launched Dude Perfect in 2009 with a viral video of a trick basketball shot. From there, the Texas A&M graduates went on to create a YouTube channel with more than 61 million subscribers, an e-commerce store and partnerships with companies including Chipotle and Dr Pepper. 

“We were just bored college roommates messing around with trick shots and happened to go viral after posting our first video. We never planned to build a company,” Coby Cotton said. “We just never stopped having fun.”

Yaffe joined the company in 2024, after spending nearly 15 years at the NBA. While with the professional basketball league, Yaffe launched the Creator Cup, where top YouTubers would come to big NBA events. Yaffe started to see how excited young people were to see the creators. It was clear to him then, Yaffe said, that content creation was the future of media consumption, and he wanted to be a part of it. 

“This form of media is the future,” Yaffe said.

Now at Dude Perfect, Yaffe said he was surprised to discover both the full reach of the brand and “how real the business is.” Top brands, sports leagues and other creators reach out to Yaffe to work with Dude Perfect. And on a daily basis, the company must deal with the challenges of e-commerce, managing real estate and regular content production.

“In many ways, the big media markets and the big brands come to us,” Yaffe said.

As the company continues to grow, Yaffe said new verticals and formats are on the horizon. Dude Perfect has launched a gaming channel, and they’re about to roll out their fifth live tour, traveling to 21 cities across the country. 

Policy Play

The challenge for Congress is how to bolster rather than stifle this new industry, Van Duyne said. 

Van Duyne said the first part of that is ensuring that lawmakers understand who content creators are and how their businesses work. Lawmakers need that base knowledge before they start legislating, she said. 

There’s a lack of understanding of how “real” these businesses are, Yaffe said. Content creators aren’t going away anytime soon, he added. 

“The more everyone can really understand the business and its impacts, the better we can plan for what the next 16 years of a different form of content creation is going to look like,” Yaffe said. 

Van Duyne, too, is already looking into specific policy areas to help creators. Some creators have talked to her about the tax implications of how creators are defined, she said. Currently, many creators are classified as self-employed for tax purposes. 

As the Congressional Creators Caucus is in its early stages, Van Duyne said lawmakers are just starting to talk about potential legislative solutions.

“We just want to make sure that it’s reflective of their contributions and how their business models work,” Van Duyne said. 

— Samantha Handler