Unexpected blockbuster ‘Backrooms’ originated from a 4chan thread—and it’s one reason why legacy media sees advantages to the death of monoculture
“We're helping elevate and support and make these worlds bigger for these creative people,” said Kathleen Grace, chief AI officer of Lionsgate.
In 1983, the two-and-a-half-hour finale of the television show M.A.S.H. captivated an estimated 125 million viewers, breaking the rating record for a single program and symbolizing the era of cultural monoculture. Today, however, media experts observe that such a dominant single show culture has vanished. Kathleen Grace, Lionsgate's chief AI officer, explained this shift at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara, California.
"While there's no single monoculture, there's lots of these little cultures," she stated, highlighting the rise of niche online communities. Grace further noted that her company is working to amplify these smaller communities, providing support to creative individuals who create content for them.
Last year, Lionsgate released the psychological thriller The Housemaid, adapted from author Freida McFadden's book. This film was discovered by Grace's colleague through BookTok, a rapidly growing reading community on TikTok. The filmmaker behind Backrooms, Kane Parsons, was inspired by online images of a bare conference room, which were initially posted on the 4chan forum site in 2019.
The film has already grossed over $400 million globally, securing A24's highest box office earnings to date. "Kane Parsons is a compelling filmmaker who then got elevated through 3 Arts, our talent agency, through this partnership with his manager and finding the right platform for his work," Grace explained.
Similar to Lionsgate's success, NBC News has also benefited from the breakdown of media monoculture. NBC News anchor and correspondent Savannah Sellers attributes this to the rapid evolution of social media platforms, which enable young people to effectively engage with audiences online. In response, NBC News has expanded its reach through platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram.
In 2018, the news organization launched the Snapchat show "Stay Tuned" with Sellers as a co-host, which has since migrated to TikTok and Instagram, garnering a total of 1.8 million followers. "NBC News is the total legacy organization to really get in the game," Sellers told the audience. "And now we're the No. 1 U.S. news organization for TikTok engagements."
Sellers highlighted that the traditional news authority model is no longer dominant. Instead, media outlets are increasingly hiring talent based on their ability to connect with audiences on decentralized platforms. "I don’t think that there's like this convened power anymore," she said. "But I think it makes it kind of an interesting time to do what we do." The story originally appeared on Fortune.com.
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