Stock Watch: Flops

Icebreakers with... Cameo CEO Steven Galanis

Cameo

Social media completely changed how celebrities interact with their fans. But until recently, that relationship was still largely a one-way street. 

Enter Cameo. This four-year-old company lets fans commission videos from their favorite influencers. Now, Gilbert Gottfried can roast your bff. Kevin from The Office can wish your mom a happy birthday. Snoop Dogg can order your students to read their syllabus. 

The Brew interviewed Cameo cofounder Steven Galanis about his path to becoming the CEO of a billion dollar company and the new game of fame.

You started Cameo while still working at LinkedIn. What was the "aha" moment when you knew you were ready to go full-time?

I was sitting in a hot tub in Nicaragua New Year's Day of 2017. I was on the trip with a bunch of people I worked with at LinkedIn. I had spent the last three months telling everyone about the idea, and people were really excited (a lot of those people work for Cameo now). One of the guys goes, "Steven, this idea is too big. If you never leave LinkedIn and somebody else builds this and becomes a billionaire, could you live with yourself?" 

And the answer was no. My brain chemistry changed that day, and I just knew I had to go and pursue this. 

Could Cameo be a platform where someone gets their start, or will you always need an established presence first? 

I think people can blow up on Cameo and become sensations there. I don't think we can take you from zero to one, but I think we could take you from one to 10.

Who is your dream Cameo?

I grew up as a hockey player. I'm from Chicago, and my idol growing up was Eddie Belfour, who was the Blackhawks goalie when I was a kid. Eddie the Eagle would be my dream Cameo.

If you could live in the setting of any book or movie, what would it be?

I'm Greek, and when the Cameo funding got announced, the mayor of Sparta sent me an official proclamation inviting me to come back to my dad's hometown to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of Sparta's victory over Persia at the Battle of Thermopylae. So I would probably love to be one of the 300 Spartans that fought.

If you could collect any random object with no limit, what would you collect?

I love sports paraphernalia. I collect a lot now—this even predates Cameo and I think it's one of the reasons I got into it. I love things like, "This was the basketball that Michael Jordan shot the last time he played a game."

To hear about the biggest career mistake Galanis made, where NFTs fit into Cameo, and more, check out our full interview.

Freedom of Curls

Each week, Morning Brew's Head of People Ops Kate Noel answers reader-submitted questions about work in 2021. 

Hi Kate! I'm a Black woman and entrepreneur, but given the past year's difficulties, I'm contemplating going back to the workforce. I've been my own boss for years now, so my question is this...do I need to go back to "corporate friendly" hairstyles during my interview? I really don't want to give up my freedom of curls, but also know that it unfortunately matters upon first impressions. —Nia in Tampa Bay

Hell naw, Nia! Yes, I know that you reaaally want to land a job. But please remember that you are also "dating" these companies to see if they are worthy of landing you! If an employer cannot handle the hot fire that's on your head then they don't deserve you, sis. 

For the people in the back, that means a hairstyle that may be but is not limited to: natural curls, relaxed hair, colored hair, a buzz cut, gorgeous locks, a laid frontal with 24-inch middle part weave (iykyk), or the old faithful doobie. 

As a Black professional myself, I have had my own share of anxiety when looking for jobs. I felt this unspoken pressure to present my work aesthetic a certain way to seem "approachable" to future employers. But at some point in my career, I grew mentally tired of that and decided I will no longer try to appease employers based on what others may think is "professional." When I made that decision, I started interviewing and didn't land a job but THE job that fit me perfectly. I switch my hairstyle probably every two months and absolutely no one makes weird comments or makes it a point of discussion at the beginning of Zoom meetings. 

I am too handsome at work. How do I solve this? —Silly

Wear a mask.

Something bothering you at work? Ask Kate for advice here.

The $0 Blockbuster

Perhaps no image captures the preposterousness of the last year for movie theaters than the box office chart for June 10, 2020. 

Box Office Mojo

On that day, a Wednesday, a movie called Unsubscribe topped the US charts with $25,488 in gross earnings, beating out several other movies that were shown at drive-ins. 

Like dogecoin, Unsubscribe started out as a joke and eventually became a real thing. When theaters were shut down last spring, two former BuzzFeed employees, filmmaker Christian Nilsson and YouTuber Eric Tabach, looked at the box office charts and saw movies were making the leaderboard with miniscule ticket sales—$9,000 here, $15,000 there. 

• "Nothing big was coming out. Blockbuster films were on hold. I wanted to find a way to get the biggest number," Tabach told the BBC.

Look...if you had one shot...or one opportunity….

With Christopher Nolan and Michael Bay mostly out of the picture because of the pandemic, Nilsson and Tabach devised a plan to conquer the box office. They shot the 30-minute horror movie on Zoom with an official budget of $0.

Then, for the movie to actually generate ticket sales, they rented out a local movie theater, the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center in Long Island, in a process known as "four-walling." Four-walling is essentially the self-publishing of the film world—you pay to rent out a theater but get to keep all the proceeds yourself.

No one attended the movie besides Nilsson and Tabach, but after three screenings of Unsubscribe, they managed to pay enough money to themselves for the movie to top the box office.

The big picture

Tonight, the Academy Awards will be held for the first time since February 2020, when Parasite director Bong Joon Ho stole the show with his pledge to drink "until the next morning." 

A lot has changed since then—none of it great for theaters. 

• Studios found success releasing films simultaneously in theaters and on streaming services. 
• The theatrical window, a Hollywood tradition that had allowed theaters to show movies for months before other platforms got their turn, is collapsing. 
• Up to a quarter of total screens in the US could go dark in the next few years, per some estimates.

Movie theater bears say the pandemic simply accelerated the demise of big screens by a few years. Hollywood bulls say to look at the recent box office success of Godzilla vs. Kong—nothing can replace the feeling of watching two monsters go at it with Dolby surround sound and 300 people gasping at the same time. 

One thing's for sure: As charming a story as it is, if a movie like Unsubscribe tops the box office again, something will have gone very, very wrong. 

Just Click It

1. The definitive rankings of every Game of Thrones episode. (The Ringer)
2. NFTs, IP, and what it really means to own a digital kitty. (Morning Brew)
3. "I wanted to buy a marine aquarium": Why people around the world are flocking to OnlyFans. (Rest of World)
4. How a smartphone chip powered NASA's historic flight to Mars. (Emerging Tech Brew)
5. Your favorite classic film could soon add...product placements? (BBC)
6. Need a graduation gift? We got you. (Sidekick)
7. Seth Rogen and the key to happiness. (NYT Magazine)
8. Inside Ibogaine, one of the most promising (and perilous) psychedelics for addiction. (Time)
9. 15 years of Spotify: How the streaming giant reinvented the music industry. (Variety)
10. How a brazen hack of the $69 million Beeple collage revealed the true vulnerability of the NFT market. (Artnet)

Personal finance, finally made personal. From financial tracking and budgeting tools to weekly quizzes and curated articles, Bankrate is here to guide you through every step of your financial journey. Create an account to unlock all of Bankrate’s premium tools and content, absolutely free. Get started here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content}

Open House

Welcome back to the Brew's version of Zillow surfing: Open House. This week, we're heading to a place where realtors consider everything "spacious" and crown molding is a replacement for a full-size oven—that's right, New York City. We'll give you a few facts about a listing and you'll try to guess the price. 

StreetEasy  

Today's apartment is a...spacious one bed, one bath in a pre-war 10-story Brooklyn Heights building. Some amenities include:

• A full-time doorman and a working elevator
• Original cork floors
• Updated kitchen with questionable backsplash
• A teeny-tiny little bathroom hallway to your toilet

How much for this apartment to live your big city dream? Answer's at the bottom.

Meme Battle

Welcome back to Morning Brew's Meme Battle, where we crown a single memelord every Sunday.

Today's memelord: Osbaldo in Westchester, NY, with a sign for the times. 

This week's challenge: You can find the new meme template here for next Sunday. Once you're done making your meme, submit it at this link. We'll pick a new memelord in next week's Sunday Edition and provide you with another meme template to meme-ify. 

$699,000

✢ A Note From Instacart

*$20 Off is valid through May 2, 2021 and is valid only in the United States for your first order of $35 or more with one retailer and purchased through Instacart.com, while supplies last. Discount will be applied to the total purchase price for all non-alcohol products, and excludes taxes, service fees, and/or special handling fees. Must be 21 and over for alcohol delivery, where available. Deliveries subject to availability. Only one offer per household. Instacart may not be available in all zip codes. Additional terms apply.