There used to be a fantastic book store in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn, NY, called BookCourt. It was beloved by locals, and touring authors to NYC often made a stop for signing events and book talks. It was a bright, beautiful space tinged with old New York charm: creaky floors, book staff recommendations, and walls of shelves. It was in operation for over 30 years, until one day the family who owned and ran the store announced their closing. It was a shock to the neighborhood and the greater literary community.
Minutes after the announcement, New York Times bestselling author and Brooklyn resident Emma Straub announced that she and her husband would be opening a bookstore in Brooklyn, not far from the site of BookCourt. Having worked at BookCourt at one time, she felt a connection to the store and the gap it would be leaving for the community–a gap she filled by opening Books Are Magic.
Watching this all happen with my own eyes from working inside the book industry, I was charmed. Opening a bookstore (or any small brick and mortar business) is no easy feat; it takes massive amounts of capital and long hours of hard work. One thing authors say a lot is that they set out to write the books they themselves want to read, and opening a bookstore feels similar to that idea: write the kinds of books you’d imagine stocking at your own store. Straub used her literary success to usher in a similar business that would give back to the community that inspired her in the first place.
This is a solid use case of insider influence. Insiders in creative industries can often find opportunities to create something new using the insider knowledge, passion, and affection for the industry that shaped them–and pass all of it on to new folks. Whether it be giving back to communities, uplifting other creators, or designing products and spaces that serve fans, insiders are uniquely positioned to be culture ambassadors. Here are a few examples that I find really exciting.
Insiders who build for other creators
Ever since watching the mid-90s sitcom Third Rock From the Sun with my family religiously, and later falling in love with the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, one of my Hollywood crushes was Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I loosely followed his career, and in 2005 I noticed he, along with his brother, started a website for creativity: HitRecord. What started as a site where they could post their own videos and such would soon open up to other creators who could collaborate on art for art’s sake. It’s no secret that making a hit Hollywood movie or TV show is a tough thing to accomplish, but Gordon-Levitt stayed focused on the art. Later, HitRecord developed a production arm for films and TV shows and a learning arm of the company as well, where folks could learn skills from other creators–even Joseph himself. But as a creative outlet, folks are posting their own art, writings, videos and remixes with other creators at all hours of the day.
Former Gilmore Girls actor John Cabrera founded Remarkist with a similar vision, but for collaborative fandom. In a world where fandom is fragmented between social media, message boards, individual blogs and websites like Discord and Reddit, fans sometimes have trouble finding one another–or finding the communities that feel real, niche, and connective to them personally. Remarkist builds the kinds of tools fans need to celebrate their fandoms, find other enthusiasts, build their own works with others, and more–all in one place. In 2021, Cabrera hosted a watch party of the very show he was on, and over several months fans joined to watch and discuss Gilmore Girls while he built Folkic, a community app for watch parties and events across fandoms. Fans can now host their own events, display their own art and writing, and more is coming as the app prepares for a launch after its beta period.
Insiders who open the door
There are tons of Hollywood elites that lend their money and influence to back new projects, create their own production companies, and more. But some actually use their platform to physically open doors to new creatives through festivals, initiatives, and even book imprints at major publishers.
The timing is never more relevant than now to talk about the Tribeca Festival. Founded in 2002 by Robert De Niro along with Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, the film festival’s initial aim was to help revitalize lower Manhattan in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. The festival was to bring joy, community, culture–and an economic boost–to a part of the city that had been physically decimated and spiritually depressed as a result of the terrible destruction and tragedy. With independent films and panels, thousands of people came to the inaugural event. Many more attended the next year, and programming expanded to include comedy, music, family activities, sports and outdoor screenings on the Hudson River.
In a new Netflix documentary, TRIBECA 25, De Niro says, “To me, New York is the most cinematic city in the world.” The festival not only celebrates film in general, but helped reshape the economy at the site of disaster. The actor who is synonymous with New York for many roles, including Taxi Driver and The Godfather Part II, lent his particular passion for both the art and the city to a project that delivers every year.
Decades earlier in 1978, actor Robert Redford founded the Sundance Film Festival. Using the salaries he had acquired from starring in such movies as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, he bought a ski area in Utah, and named it Sundance after the iconic character. Redford felt connected to the area, having built a home there, and he was influenced by the 1972 movie he starred in, Jeremiah Johnson, about the American West. He created the festival, then called the Utah/US Film Festival, to highlight American-made films, and increase interest in making films on location in Utah. In 1981, Redford created the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit that discovers and supports independent artists. In 1991, the US Film Festival officially changed names to the Sundance Film Festival, and is the largest independent film festival in the country. Redford used his influence to bring together the location he thought had film potential with independent creators who could thrive in the industry.
Opening the door also means recognizing who isn’t in the room and should be. Ryan Murphy, the powerful writer, director and producer of monumental TV shows like Glee, American Horror Story, American Crime Story, and many more, used his experience and his success to help diversify voices in directing. Murphy created the HALF Initiative, aimed at a more inclusive environment behind the camera. Murphy describes his early days in the industry working on shows like Popular: Hollywood was run by straight, white men over the age of 50, and he wasn’t one of them as an openly gay creator. He wanted to tell stories about women and the LGBTQ+ community, underserved demographics both in the marketplace and on creative teams.
Instead of joining the ranks of the Hollywood elite and gatekeeping success when he made it, he opened those proverbial gates to directors that would previously not have been given a chance. The HALF Initiative also has a mentorship program in which every director on one of Murphy’s projects mentors emerging directors. Under the initiative, at least 50% of directorial positions on his projects are filled by women and other underrepresented groups. The result is incredible storytelling that feels grounded. His TV show Pose, about the mid-80s underground ballroom culture in NYC, features many trans actors. But his writer’s room also included trans writer Janet Mock who directed as well, making her the first trans woman of color to direct a TV show episode.
Stand-up comedian, writer, and actress Phoebe Robinson, well-known for her podcast and HBO show 2 Dope Queens, is one creator that launched a book imprint to help uplift other marginalized voices. Tiny Reparations Books, an imprint housed under Penguin Random House’s Plume imprint, launched in 2020. A New York Times bestselling author herself with Plume, having written and published three books, Robinson is uniquely qualified to open that door to creators who might otherwise be lost in the shuffle of the publishing machine. In just over 5 years, the imprint has brought unique voices to the mainstream, producing honest, evocative fiction and nonfiction including the national bestseller Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by black trans activist Tourmaline.
Insiders who serve their community
Filmmaker and comic book lover Kevin Smith is well known for his movies Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma and more. His View Askewniverse movies feature the characters Jay (Jay Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) in some way. Smith began buying comics at a Red Bank, NJ, store called Comicology in the mid-1990s, around the time he made the movie Clerks. When the owners announced they’d be closing the store and moving abroad, he purchased it and its stock using the proceeds he had made from Clerks. He reinvented the store, decorating it with props from his works, and called it Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. Since taking over the original location, Smith moved the store a couple of times, each new iteration growing larger with more artwork, props and memorabilia from Smith’s View Askewniverse films on display.
For a fan of Jay and Silent Bob, the store is a real-life extension of the characters: they are heavily influenced by comic books (just like Smith), so visiting The Stash feels like stepping into the fictional world of the View Askewniverse. This is a classic example of a creator returning to his roots: comic books influenced his art, and so Kevin Smith used revenue from that art to keep the store that inspired him alive, both a destination for fans and a center of discovery for a new generation.
If you’re in Nashville and you’re a literary lover, you have to visit Parnassus Books. Not only is this space beautiful and charming–as are many independent bookstores–but what you may not know is that it is owned by an acclaimed, bestselling novelist and writer: Ann Patchett. As Patchett writes in her memoir, when the city’s local independent bookstore was bought by a chain, it was moved into a mall and began to sell more gifts and merchandise than actual books. The city had one other bookstore, a Borders, but the chain closed all stores in the early 2010s.
Patchett fondly remembered the bookstore she visited as a child: a space with a small footprint that carried books, no gifts. It only stocked what it could, hand-selected volumes from staff, but the joy of discovery was ever present. She wanted a store like that to exist in Nashville, but never actually wanted to work in one. Thankfully, she had friends who wanted to take on the hard work of starting and running a business–all they needed was backing. Patchett could finance a dream project: opening the kind of bookstore she desperately wanted to visit again. In 2011, Parnassus was born, and today the profitable store hosts scores of author events and serves the community every day.
Which brings me back to Books Are Magic in Brooklyn, in my own city, and Emma Straub. Straub’s latest novel, American Fantasy, is a story about a fandom cruise. Based loosely on the New Kids on the Block cruises that the band has put on over the years, and Straub’s own rabid fandom of the still-performing boy band, it’s a novel about insiders as much as it is about fans who form parasocial relationships to their idols. One character straddles the line between fan and producer, balancing her knowledge of the real men behind the personas with serving fans exactly what they want. As I read, I couldn’t help but think of Straub’s simultaneous positions as a bookstore owner and author. As a huge fan of New Kids on the Block, she managed to indulge in her own fangirlish obsession while telling a fully rounded story about the fandom machine that surrounds a boy band like it. Insiders can build spaces for fans using their influence, but they are uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between fans and creators precisely because they are fans themselves first.
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