Move over casting agencies: Hollywood is following the lead of music industry A&R departments and scouring YouTube and Vine stars for a host of upcoming projects.
While many adults may not have heard of half of these young performers, chances are young adults in the coveted demographic are well aware of their videos — and that is what is setting Tinseltown talent seekers racing to snag these budding talents.
Ingrid Nilsen, aka Miss Glamorazzi, with 2.7 million subscribers to her YouTube channel, was just picked to be a judge on “Project Runway” spin-off, “Threads,” for Lifetime. The teen designer show got the go-ahead a few weeks ago.
“We knew we wanted a YouTube star like Ingrid Nilsen who clearly engages with millions of young, tech-savvy fans,” Desiree Gruber, executive producer of “Project,” told The Post. “The line between TV star and online star is blurring by the day.”
Benny Fine, 33, half of the pop-culture commentary duo The Fine Brothers, which has 8 million subscribers on YouTube, said he always had his eye on a career in traditional media.
Together with his brother, Rafi, the act is headed to Nickelodeon with a show called “React to That.” The network placed a 13-episode order in April.
Benny Fine is also making a series for the Sundance Channel.
“TV is important for what we’re trying to do,” Benny said. “The economics don’t finance the long form [online]. You have to go to TV or Netflix. We have a huge amount of traffic, but it’s not viewed in the same way as TV when it comes to advertising.”
Brent Weinstein, who runs the digital media unit at talent agency UTA, reels off a host of names already making the leap to the slightly bigger TV screen — but points out that TV isn’t a goal for all the digital talent since they’re just as invested in being entrepreneurs as TV hosts.
Shane Dawson, signed to UTA, already has 11 million online subscribers and just finished directing his first feature film. He’s also in a show, “Losin’ It,” being developed by Sony TV for NBC.
“When it came to new talent, in the past it was a crap shoot,” says WME’s digital agent, Avi Ghandi, describing the audition process for new leading characters.
“Now you have metrics. These people have engagement with their fans in social media. That’s a couple of million people who might tune in because they love this person.”
He described the reaction to the appearance of several YouTube stars at the recent VidCon event in LA to that of fans to The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
As for movies, YouTube stars have yet to hit the big time beyond a few cameos.
Weinstein cites Jimmy Tatro, a YouTube comedy star who appears in “22 Jump Street,” and was paid by Sony Pictures to create a marketing campaign in his style to help bring youngsters to the Jonah Hill movie.
But the leap to the TV screen seems well under way — and executives are hoping the eyeballs follow them.