The creator economy is no longer sitting outside Hollywood asking for a seat. Creators are building production companies, developing original shows and negotiating deals that look increasingly similar to traditional film and television agreements. Studios, talent agencies and streaming platforms have noticed. They are no longer treating online talent as a temporary source of promotional reach.
That shift is turning the creator economy in Hollywood into a serious commercial market, but the legal structures supporting it have not caught up. A Sheppard Mullin analysis published after VidCon 2026 argues that creators, brands and entertainment companies now face much bigger questions around ownership, representation, advertising disclosures, audience data and artificial intelligence.
The money involved helps explain the urgency. Goldman Sachs has estimated that the wider creator economy could grow from roughly $250 billion to $480 billion by 2027. This is not just influencer marketing with a larger budget. It is becoming an entertainment business of its own.
Creators Are Becoming Production Companies
For years, the standard creator deal was fairly simple. A brand paid for a video, a product mention or a set number of social media posts. That model still exists, but many established creators are now operating far beyond it.
Some have built teams for production, sales, merchandise, licensing and business development. Others are moving into feature films, microdramas, podcasts, live events and subscription products. Their channels increasingly serve as launchpads for companies rather than the entire business. Dhar Mann is one example highlighted by Sheppard Mullin. His operation has expanded from social video production into a vertically integrated studio structure capable of developing longer-form entertainment.
The attraction is obvious. Creators already know their audiences. They can test concepts quickly, measure reactions and bring an established fanbase into a new project. A traditional production company may spend heavily trying to discover whether an idea has an audience. A creator can often see the answer in their comments, viewing data and community response before a studio meeting even begins.
Hollywood Is Building Around Creator Talent
Traditional entertainment companies are moving closer to that ecosystem. Creative Artists Agency has developed a dedicated CAA Creators division to represent digital talent and support their expansion across entertainment and commercial projects. That is a strong signal that creator representation is becoming part of the mainstream agency business rather than a side department.
Streaming platforms are making similar moves. In March 2026, Tubi and TikTok announced the Creatorverse Incubator, a programme designed to help TikTok creators develop original long-form shows for Tubi. The partnership covers scripted and unscripted formats and gives selected creators a route from short social videos to streaming television.
It also gives Tubi something valuable: creators who arrive with existing audiences and an understanding of what those audiences watch. That does not guarantee that a TikTok following will transfer neatly to a 30-minute series. Still, the experiment shows where the entertainment market is heading. Platforms want talent that can create content and bring distribution power with them.
Creator Contracts Need More Than Post Counts
Older influencer agreements were usually written around campaign deliverables. They specified how many posts would be published, which hashtags were required, when content needed approval and how long the brand could use the material.
Those terms become inadequate once a creator is involved in a long-running partnership, original series or jointly developed entertainment property. A modern agreement may need to cover intellectual property ownership, sequel rights, revenue participation, exclusivity, creative approvals and distribution. It should also explain what happens when a project is sold, adapted or moved to another platform.
Usage rights are especially easy to underestimate. A creator may agree to let a brand repost a video without realising the same language could allow the content to appear in paid advertising, retail displays, connected television campaigns or international promotions.
“Use the content” is no longer precise enough. The contract needs to say where the material can appear, how long those rights last and whether the creator receives additional payment when the campaign expands.
AI Is Complicating Content Ownership
Artificial intelligence has added another layer of risk. Creator content can now be copied, altered, translated, trained on or used to generate new material at enormous speed. Contracts written before generative AI became a routine production tool may say little about any of that.
Creators need to know whether a brand can use their videos, voice or likeness to train an AI system. Brands need assurances that creators have cleared the music, images and other material included in a campaign. Collaborations create their own mess. When two creators develop a recurring format together, who owns the concept? Who can license it? Can one person continue the series after the partnership ends?
These questions matter more once a social media idea becomes a podcast, television programme, product line or franchise. The informal way many creator collaborations begin can become expensive later.
Brand Partnerships Are Starting to Resemble Co-Productions
Brands are also changing roles. They are not only sponsoring finished content. Some are financing, developing and distributing entertainment from the beginning.
That makes the relationship closer to a co-production than a conventional advertising placement. A deal of this kind needs clear rules around creative control, revenue sharing and brand integration. It should also address whether the brand remains attached to sequels, adaptations and derivative projects.
Consider a branded creator series that becomes unexpectedly successful. The creator may want to move it to a larger streaming service. The original sponsor may argue that its funding helped create the property and that it should remain involved. Without detailed rights language, both sides may believe they own more than they actually do.
Advertising Disclosures Still Apply
A polished series does not stop being advertising simply because it looks like entertainment. The US Federal Trade Commission requires creators to disclose material relationships with brands clearly and conspicuously. The guidance applies to social media endorsements, sponsored recommendations and other commercial connections that may affect how audiences interpret the content.
Long-term creator partnerships can make those disclosures harder to manage. A creator may work with the same company for months, receive products, hold equity or appear in content funded by the brand. Viewers may not understand that relationship unless it is explained where they can actually notice it.
A vague hashtag hidden after a long caption may not be enough. Contracts should state who is responsible for disclosures, what language must be used and how compliance will be checked across each platform.
Audience Data Is Becoming Part of the Deal
Creator partnerships now produce more than videos and impressions. They can generate email sign-ups, customer information, shopping behaviour, community data and detailed audience insights. That data may be valuable to the creator, the brand and the platform at the same time.
Ownership is rarely straightforward. A creator may believe the audience relationship belongs to them. A brand may argue that it paid for the campaign that collected the information. A platform may restrict what either side can export or reuse.
Agreements need to explain who can access the data, what it may be used for and what happens when the partnership ends. The rules become stricter when younger audiences are involved or when information moves across national borders.
Child Creators Bring a Growing Legal Risk
Young creators remain one of the least settled parts of the market. Traditional child performers have long been covered by employment and earnings protections in parts of the US. Children appearing in monetised family content have not always received the same treatment.
That gap is beginning to close. Illinois became the first US state to introduce specific compensation protections for children appearing in monetised online content. California and Minnesota later adopted their own measures, while other states have considered similar legislation.
These laws can require parents or account owners to preserve part of the revenue for the child. Brands working with minor creators cannot assume that responsibility sits entirely with the family. Contracts, payment structures, working conditions and consent procedures may all require closer review.
The Creator Economy Has Outgrown Informal Deals
Hollywood’s interest gives creators more routes into film, television and original entertainment. It also raises the stakes.
A casual collaboration can become valuable intellectual property. A sponsored video can turn into a long-running media franchise. A creator’s likeness may remain in advertising years after the original campaign has ended. The creator economy once moved faster because deals were informal and production was cheap. That flexibility helped it grow.
Now the same informality can create ownership fights, disclosure failures and arguments over money. Creators are becoming studios. Brands are becoming producers. Platforms are becoming development partners. The contracts will have to catch up.
Sources
- Sheppard Mullin – The Wild West: The Creator Economy Strikes Gold in Hollywood
- Goldman Sachs – The Creator Economy Could Approach Half a Trillion Dollars by 2027
- Tubi – Tubi Partners With TikTok on the Creatorverse Incubator
- Federal Trade Commission – Endorsements, Influencers and Reviews
- Council of State Governments South – Legal Protections for Child Influencers
