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The 25-year-old YouTuber who just sold a film for $10M

How Ashley Alexander made $2.8M with her Nami Matcha

Outlier Video of the Week

YouTuber Lands $10M Movie Deal After $800 "Test Video"

A year ago, Curry Barker was making YouTube movies on a $800 budget.

Now, his new film Obsession sold to Focus Features for a reported $10 million.

Oh, and did we mention he’s only 25?

YouTuber Turned Filmmaker

Barker built an audience with his sketch comedy channel That’s a Bad Idea and his micro-budget horror film Milk & Serial, shot for just $800.

Now, his horror film Obsession, about a young man who wishes his best friend would fall in love with him, is set for a global release through Focus.

The film cost under $1M to make, meaning it’s primed to earn a solid profit already.

The Bidding War

When Obsession premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, fans chanted Barker’s name before the film began.

Within hours, A24, Neon, and Focus were in a bidding war.

Focus won, reportedly thanks to its international distribution arm (and track record with horror hits like Nosferatu).

Hollywood Buying In

The Obsession deal follows a wave of YouTubers breaking into horror:

YouTubers Racka Racka sold Talk to Me to A24 and just released a trailer for their next film Bring Her Back.

20-year-old Kane Parsons (The Backrooms) is directing a big-screen adaptation for A24.

YouTube movie critic Chris Stuckmann sold his horror film, Shelby Oaks, to Neon.

A "Scary" Trend

There's a reason why so many YouTubers are making horror movies.

Since 1977, horror movies average the best ROI on production costs. It's a safer risk for studios, especially now when betting on new talent like YouTubers. Why?

Think about it. Horror movies usually have little to no CGI (sorry, Sci-Fi).

No need to pay A-listers (unlike RomComs).

And they're easier to market, especially around Halloween.

That's why, according to Bloomberg, 9 of the top 20 most profitable films since 1977 are horror flicks — more than any other genre.

The lesson for creators? You don’t need millions to break in. Sometimes, $800 is enough for proof of concept.

But picking the right genre helps. A lot.

Ashley Alexander's Matcha Brand Sells Over $2.8M

Ashley Alexander is re-writing the blueprint for creator products.

Last year, she launched Nami Matcha, a premium matcha brand sourced from Japan.

Recently, she announced that she's already sold over $2.8M of her product.

Why? Matcha has long been a fixture in her videos. So the product felt authentic and translated to sales in a big way.

It's Not Easy Being Green

We've seen the rise of creators selling CPG products for a while now: Prime, Feastables, Joyride, and more.

But what makes Alexander's story impressive isn't just how hard it is to sell matcha.

It's how hard it's become to source it.

This week, Alexander posted about how Nami is raising prices due to a global matcha shortage and 15% tariff from Japan.

“It’s been incredibly hard to even just secure matcha in general," she said.

"I want to keep it as manageable as possible, but it has to make sense for us as a business.”

The price increase is happening across many other matcha brands, too. But Alexander's transparency may be the secret ingredient to keep customers coming back.

Our Take

Ashley’s story highlights the trade-offs of physical products vs digital ones which many other creators opt to sell:

Digital products scale cleanly: low costs, no tariffs, no crop shortages.

Physical products build legacy, but come with real-world volatility.

The upside? Creator credibility and community can soften the blow when costs rise — if handled with transparency.

Ashley is betting that fans who bought into her brand story will stick around through higher prices. And it looks like they will.

Because selling out a launch is the easy part. Figuring it out when supply chains shift and costs spike? That’s where real brands are built.

🎯 Weekly Roundup: YouTube Thumbnails

Why we love these YouTube thumbnails:

Shocked face + $800 price tag on a tiny object makes you wonder what it is (The Try Guys)
Pajamas + “Hour 36” label while go-karting teases exhaustion and absurdity (Max Fosh)
Fist bump with a tiny spider? Is that even real? (Worcester Terrariums)
"Fake" text next to $10M painting creates instant intrigue (neo)

🚀 Weekly Outlier

This video by Disambi has 1.7M views, which is 2,300 times higher than the channel’s average. Here's why it took off:

Weird Hook: Writing an entire 50,000-word novel without the letter E instantly grabs curiosity.

Quirky Storytelling: Mixes history, mystery, and funny examples.

Cultural Afterlife: Shows how a failed, forgotten book became a cult classic, inspiring writers and even The Simpsons.

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