A short note on the future of entertainment. I was watching the Ed Gein story and realized Addison Rae was playing the babysitter — the monster’s first kill. I thought, “How did she get that role, with so little acting experience?” The obvious answer was that she was what the audience wanted. But why? The reason wasn’t just fame — it was proof of market demand, the kind that studios can now measure in likes and watch time. TikTok, YouTube, and other social platforms are changing how stars are born. What they are is a marketplace for your talent — a global, real-time audition tape — giving anyone who posts an equal chance at hitting virality if they can only crack the code of the algorithm. And isn’t that the perfect way for a studio to find new actors? Not to source who they think the audience may want based on some abstract demographic data or focus-grouped traits, but to actually let the audience decide who will rise out of the pits and onto the screen. think This model has the benefit of ensuring that future stars are already box-office draws by the time they make their debut. It’s brought the free market to the entertainment industry to a degree we’ve never seen — where attention itself has become the currency, and engagement metrics have replaced casting calls. Sure, there are still power brokers who make the final call. But Addison Rae became someone you can’t ignore through her TikToks. If a studio’s main goal is to make profitable content, then why wouldn’t they tap into this new resource? The algorithm has already done the scouting. It’s low risk, high reward. I expect the next generation of actors to make themselves before they make it to Netflix. Gone are the days of the Hollywood starlets whom the studios take a chance on. Today, you must pull yourself up to find success in entertainment — not through agents or auditions, but through algorithms and attention. Kudos to Rae for getting there. Hollywood is now playing catch-up to the algorithm.

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