The AvA Connection

1) Disney invested $1 billion into OpenAI.

They are the first major content partner for OpenAI’s Sora platform. Disney will be integrating their tools both internally at the company, and into their products like Disney+.

What does this all mean?

2) The landscape for marketing in entertainment is rapidly evolving. Here are 3 examples:

3) ‘Zootopia 2’ is on pace to become only the 2nd Hollywood film to reach $1 billion in gross earnings this year.

It currently sits at $955 million in just its third week, and the only US based film to have crossed the line so far is ‘Lilo & Stitch.’ The China-based project ‘Ne Zha 2’ is the only other movie to do so globally at the time of writing.

4) Turnstile is the first band in history to be nominated under the Rock, Metal, and Alternative categories at the Grammys.

They also did the first ever stage dive on an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. They ROCK & their fans go hard and are notably some of the kindest to each other in the pit (per lots of sources).

Bonus: We analyzed 1,500+ open jobs across Entertainment 💼

Here is what you need to know ⬇️

1. Social media is referenced in 78% of jobs. That means if you are digitally native, you have a step up on everyone my age and above. Please reference that knowledge as a core skill!!

2. Creative + Ops was referenced 68% of the time. If you can both generate ideas and help execute on them, that gives you a huge advantage as an applicant. Try and showcase both areas in your resume and in convos.

3. 81% of roles are collaborating with the marketing team. Everyone is chasing more eyeballs as almost everything in Entertainment becomes more saturated.

And if you want to apply this knowledge to any future job applications…

Our new job board features 160+ early career roles in Entertainment, including:

💼 Associate, Creator Manager - Influential - Apply Here

💼 Executive Assistant - Sony Music - Apply Here

💼 Creative Advertising Associate - Amazon MGM Studios - Apply Here

💼 Client Experience Manager (Sports) - IBM - Apply Here

💼 Puzzle Assistant (Digital) - New York Times - Apply Here

💼 Partnerships Assistant (Creators) - Wasserman - Apply Here

💼 Associate Director of Creator Management - Rockstar Games - Apply Here

💼 Events Coordinator - Paramount Skydance - Apply Here

💼 Senior Specialist Marketing Operations - The Walt Disney Company - Apply Here

💼 Account Executive (Sales) - AEG - Apply Here

💼 Senior Marketing Creative Director - Riot Games - Apply Here

💼 Merchandise & Content Marketing Strategist - Live Nation - Apply Here

💼 Global Brand & Audience Assistant - Warner Music Group - Apply Here

💼 Creative Coordinator (ESPN) - Disney - Apply Here

💼 Executive Assistant - Amazon MGM Studios - Apply Here

💼 US Content Strategy & Analysis Associate - Warner Bros. Discovery - Apply Here

Fallen Media is a leading short form video studio based in NY founded by Rowan Winch (Chief Social Officer) and Sol Betesh (CEO).

Rowan is a creator himself who the NYT profiled at age 15 for his clear-eyed outlook on where social attention was going. He then co-founded Fallen when he was 16 years old alongside Sol with the vision of creating the top social studio for short form content.

Now, they drive 75-100 million views per month across their shows including Street Hearts and What’s Poppin? featuring brand partners like Dunkin and Walmart.

Our conversation is below:

AvA: Rowan, you co-founded Fallen when you were 16. What gave you the confidence to build something that could rival Hollywood’s attention machine, and why was Sol the right partner for it?

Rowan: At the start, I wasn’t setting out to rival the Hollywood attention machine. I had been running meme pages on Instagram, and when a bunch of big pages got banned in 2019, I brought all the creators together on a Discord server I called “The Fallen.” That became the foundation for a our meme ad network in the early days - and that’s also where the name Fallen Media comes from.

As for confidence, a lot of it came from Sol. He had the business experience and the right connections to turn our idea into something real. That gave me the extra push I needed to take it seriously and believe it could become more than just a side project. Over time, it grew organically, from memes, to hit shows for TikTok, and into something that could actually compete with mainstream entertainment.

AvA: Sol, what did you see in Rowan that made you want to take a bet on him? 

Sol: Rowan stood out from our very first meeting. He was only 15 at the time and pretty quiet at first. I had written down a few high-level thought starters just before our first meeting, not really expecting much to come from it. When I shared an idea for an ad agency focused on meme pages, with the thought being that memes were the form of entertainment on social in 2019-- he lit up. He started throwing out idea after idea. I kid you not, he had a 20 page business plan written up a few weeks later, down to the number. Not bad for 15 years old. 

He also had a real track record. He had already built meme pages with massive followings and had this natural growth hacker mindset. Even at that age, he had a clear sense of what worked, what didn’t, and how to move strategically. That combination of vision and instinct made it an easy bet.

AvA: Do you see yourselves as industry disruptors, or as building a totally new lane that never existed before?

Sol: We see ourselves as building a completely new lane. We're disrupting advertising, and we're disrupting media, but what we're creating doesn't fully fit into either. The business model is different, the way we distribute content is different, and the people making the creative and strategic decisions are different too. In many ways, we're building a new studio model from the ground up – one that reflects how audiences actually consume content today, and one that begins to bridge the gap between advertising and entertainment. 

AvA: Fallen now pulls 75–100M views a month. When did you first realize, “oh, this isn’t just viral clips… this is an actual media company”?

Rowan: It became clear we were building a real media company once we started launching original shows consistently and they kept working. One successful show is one thing, but when the second, third, fourth all started gaining real traction, and we were able to start securing deals with major brands like Dunkin, Amazon, and Samsung, it was proof that we could actually make this work.

Fans are now stopping the hosts of our shows on the street, showing up at the park to watch us film, and coming up to us at restaurants just to say they love what we do. Celebrities are making time to appear on our shows the same week they’re on late night TV. We’ve gone from chasing guests to having some of the biggest names pitched directly to us. All of that together really made us realize we had something bigger than we originally thought.

AvA: What does the future of brand integration into social studios and content look like? 

Sol: Right now, most brand deals on social media are still pretty campaign-driven. A company launches something big and works with a bunch of influencers at once to activate it. I think the real future is in longer-term partnerships, where brands align with shows or creators that actually speak to the audience they’re trying to reach. When brands commit like that, the content is better, the relationship is stronger, and the audience can feel that it’s more genuine.

The other big shift is the line between ads and entertainment starting to disappear. Gen Z, doesn’t want content that pauses to sell them something. They want the ad to be the content and worth watching on its own. The more brands lean into that, the better the results will be. I think we’re going to see a lot more of that over the next three years.

AvA: Your shows live in chaotic places like sidewalks, subways, random Central Park beds. Why does that kind of chaos resonate more with Gen Z and Gen Alpha than a polished studio backdrop?

Rowan: It comes down to relatability. When someone watches What’s Poppin? or Subway Oracle, there’s always this feeling of, “Oh, this could happen to me,” or “I could literally stumble into this on my way to class or work.” That kind of spontaneity makes the content feel more alive.

Also, the aesthetic just fits the platforms better. Social media is obviously full of user-generated content, so when you try to drop something super polished into that feed, it feels out of place. We don’t want to create content that looks like it was built for cable TV—we want it to feel like it belongs on the internet.

Sol: We avoid traditional studio spaces altogether. If a show’s meant to take place in an apartment, we’ll shoot in a real one. If it’s in a bathroom, we’ll film in an actual bathroom stall. It has to feel like it exists in the real world, not on a soundstage. That’s what makes people stop scrolling and actually watch.

AvA: If a young creator or entrepreneur wants to build the next Fallen, what’s the one lesson you wish you knew at the start that could save them years of trial and error?

Rowan: The biggest thing is talent, both the people you hire and the people you make shows with. Everyone you work with needs to believe in the vision and actually want to do the work. The right team and collaborators make all the difference.

Sol: My advice is to focus on the long-term relationship. It’s easy to get caught up in the little things, like pushing back on a brand over a small budget detail. If you obsess over the short-term stuff, you risk damaging relationships that could’ve lasted years.

Everything comes down to people. If you play the long game prioritizing trust, consistency, and shared goals, you’ll build something that lasts. Short-term thinking might get you a win today, but long-term relationships fuel growth and sustainability.

First concert?

Rowan: Weezer.

Sol: Tame Impala.

Show you are binging right now?

Rowan: I don’t watch enough TV.

Sol: Casey Neistat’s vlogs… never gets old.

Who was on your Spotify Wrapped last year? 

Rowan: Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Lana Del Rey, Lil Uzi Vert.

Sol: Leon Thomas, Remi Wolf, Olivia Dean.

Least favorite corporate buzzword?

Rowan: Viral.

Sol: Authenticity.

Whose career do you admire most?

Rowan: Dan Porter.

Sol: Barry Diller.

What would you be doing for a career if working in Entertainment wasn't an option?

Rowan: Graphic designer.

Sol: Literally nothing- every time i thought of an answer to this question I picked something entertainment adjacent. Guess it was meant to be.

👋 See you back here on Monday

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