The Mail Cart: Friday, May. 15th

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👋 Welcome to The Mail Cart. This is Warner, founder of AvA. Connect with me here.

📰 YouTube claims “we are TV now” and I don’t disagree. More bets on microdramas that I don’t believe in. Everyone is hating AI music. It’s sunny in Florida’s production world.

🎙️ Today I sit down with Jen Malone who has my favorite pivot story in all of Entertainment. Click this… your future self will thank you.

🏙️ Are you an Assistant or Coordinator? Apply to join the AvA Group Chat, meet your peers, and grow your network (we think it’s pretty cool).

💼 Looking for open Entertainment jobs? Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter.

Plus Our Job Board now has 200+ early career Entertainment roles as well.

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⭐ YouTube told Hollywood: “We’re the TV networks now.”

At its upfront presentation, YouTube rolled out a slate of full-on programming from creators like Alex Cooper, Dude Perfect, Jesser, Kareem Rahma, Trevor Noah, Dwyane Wade, and Erling Haaland.

Trevor Noah summed it up pretty well: “Everything is on YouTube now.” Alex Cooper took it a step further: “Networks didn’t lose this audience. They never had her.”

The biggest shift: Legacy media spent decades deciding what audiences should watch.
Creators built their audiences first… then became the networks themselves.

All while in the background YouTube built the most powerful content discovery engine in the world

I’d argue that the line between creator, media company, and studio is nearing zero.

❝

“Welcome to the YouTube era. For decades, the entertainment industry was built on a series of bets, programming shows based on formulas and focus groups and guessing what would make an audience show up. At YouTube, we didn’t wait for a focus group. We built a stage and empowered anyone with a story to find an audience.”

— YouTube CEO Neal Mohan

⭐ BET is teaming with aTwist to bring microdramas to cable and mobile, because apparently everyone wants in on vertical video now. I am not bullish on the longevity of these deals, but maybe I’m wrong.

⭐ Everyone is hating AI-generated music more and more (yay)

Credit: Luminate

⭐ Shakira, Madonna, and BTS all will be performing at the FIFA World Cup halftime show in July

🧠 Today’s Big Brain Fact: The 2026 World Cup is projected to bring FOX and Telemundo close to $1 billion in US ad revenue

⭐ The Library of Congress announced the 25 recordings that they add to the National Recording Registry annually, and this year includes:

Single Ladies by Beyoncé
Self-Titled (Blue Album) by Weezer
Feliz Navidad by José Feliciano
and more

⭐ The Rolling Stones used AI to make themselves young again in their new music video thanks to Deep Voodoo, the AI company from the South Park creators.

Holy 2026 sentence.

⭐ Florida’s filming incentives are starting to pull in productions from Apple TV, Peacock, and HBO.

Broward County projects can qualify for a 20% rebate (capped at $500,000) by filming for a minimum of 5 days, spending $1.5 million locally and hiring a 20% local-resident crew.

Orange County launched a 5 year/$25 million production rebate program, which requires $400,000 in direct spend within the county.
Statewide Florida offers a sales tax exemption up to 7.5% on certain production-related rentals and purchases too.

Every week we drop our favorite podcast & book recs.

Today we have Ricki Lake on, On Par with Maury Povich. Lake is an actress known for projects like Hairspray and The King of Queens, and an iconic TV host of her own show Ricki Lake.

They discuss the '90s daytime television boom, what it was like behind the scenes running shows, and how the genre shaped culture today.

This is a great watch or listen for anyone who wants to understand how the modern TV landscape came to be, and go deep on the building blocks of the genre.

Another amazing conversation facilitated by the team at Central Talent Booking

The biggest risk you can take is not taking the risk at all. I sat down with Jen Malone on Wednesday on AvA LIVE who has a career that should inspire every single one of you.

Jen Malone was living in Boston and feeling completely burnt out after a 10 year career as a music publicist. One day after watching Iron Man, she noticed the credit for “music supervisor.” She decided on the spot that was the job she wanted.

So she bet on herself, packed up her car, moved to LA, and started at the bottom of the ladder as a “not-college-age intern." She spent as much time networking as she could, and tried to outwork everyone around her. There was no safety net.

Safe to say her bet paid off, as her résumé now includes a ridiculous slate of my favorite shows:
🎬 Beef
🎬 Euphoria
🎬 Wednesday
🎬 The Penguin
🎬 Love Story
🎬 Atlanta
🎬 Yellowjackets
🎬 John Wick: Chapter 4
🏆 Oh, 4-Emmy Nominations too..

Her advice to anyone early in their career:
"Hustle and know that nothing's gonna be handed to you. Always take the meeting, be resourceful and take initiative."

And for anyone looking to pivot:
"Be willing to start at the bottom, and stay focused. Keep your eye on the prize."