Mixed messages are the new normal. Last week saw the Sundance Institute form a union and thousands of layoffs at Paramount and YouTube. It also brought two events that point toward the future: ZCON and Square Peg Social.
Cognitive dissonance has become an essential skill set. (F. Scott Fitzgerald had a nicer way of putting it: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”) This week, I’m choosing to focus on the positive.
Now in its third year, ZCON is a two-day, invitation-only event in Los Angeles that centers on (yes) Gen Z and the people who love them. That assortment of attendees included creators (of course) as well as CEOs, CMOs, and studio executives.
Sessions included “Rewriting the Rules of Branded Entertainment” and “The New Hollywood.” Auli’i Cravalho (“Moana”) highlighted her impatience with the old ways (“We are told that we’re too young, to wait our turn”); Owen Thiele (“Adults”) premiered “Girl Room,” a show co-created with Amazon Prime for TikTok and for Instagram; and Paralympian Ezra Frech declared, “Gen Z is the most inclusive generation of all time,” reframing disability as a great way for brands to resonate with consumers.
Held at the LA Preserve (a lush oasis off Hollywood’s scrabbly St. Andrews, the street made famous by Jane’s Addiction), the space flowed with bright and shiny 20-somethings with energy and agency. This generation isn’t intimidated by the attention of major brands, nor necessarily impressed by it. They expect it.
For a long time, festivals were ground zero for young people who wanted to prove their value as hot commodities. Seeing so many young creators (and the creator adjacent) echoed similar groups at the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW. Of course, ZCON and Sundance are very different; brand partnerships are the lifeblood here, not distribution, and the event is owned by UTA.
If Sundance is powered by pick-me energy and SXSW by VC hustle, the invite-only ZCON is doing something else altogether. It isn’t a tentpole so much as an extension of an ongoing conversation between founders and brands. A Gen Z nonprofit already knows that, say, Amazon’s global creative director is dying to know what they’ll do next, and development execs are on watch.
Overseeing it all is Olivia Frary, a UTA Next Gen exec who came to the agency when it acquired Gen Z marketing company JUV Consulting in 2024.
“For years, every single person on our team would end a call by just saying, “If there’s someone that you would want us to meet, let us know,” she said. “Even when we were super startup vibes, we would always kind of stress that was the best thing you could do for us, regardless of if you wanted to hire a Gen Z consultancy. A lot of [those connections] are showing up here that knew us when we were those crazy kids.”
Now those same kids are shaping not only the culture, but also how it’s sold — at least until Gen A comes along. And if history is any guide, nothing will be more cringe to that generation than being called an influencer.
For now, this cohort is enjoying the primacy so much that ZCON participants eagerly embraced an afternoon “recess” that featured a cavalcade of bubbles and dancing with a live DJ. Cringe to anyone else; here, it’s what happens before the final panel, “What Does a Happier Internet Look Like?”
I’m going to wrap with a tease about digging into Square Peg Social, the inaugural, invite-only mentorship program created by Lars Knudsen and Ari Aster — a collaboration between established filmmakers and emerging voices.
We previewed it this summer; nearly 1,800 applied. In the end, 37 writers, directors, and producers spent four days in direct mentorship with the creators behind not just Knudsen and Aster’s films (“Eddington,” “Midsommar,” “Beau Is Afraid”), but also “One Battle After Another,” “Iron Claw,” “Roofman,” “Rebel Ridge,” and more.
Next week, I’ll share both the executive and filmmaker rosters (both are long and impressive; expect multiple stories). It would be the snarky/lazy thing to contrast the differences between Square Peg and ZCON (Art! Commerce!), but in truth they had more in common than not. Both are declarations of community, however self-selected.
Because no matter where you land in this brave new world, one thing’s certain: No one will make it alone. (Bubbles remain optional.)