What if a movie trailer had a filter and giant neon text and was set to, say, a Dua Lipa song? What if it was made by teenagers in the Philippines or Brazil using pirated material? What if the movie’s plot was completely unrelated?
If you’ve spent any time on TikTok, you’ve probably seen fan edits, elaborate montages of movie, TV, and other clips set to popular music. Some are like highlight reels, others like memes, and even fantasy-based interpretations of popular media that deviate significantly from the tone and text of the source material. For example, the hashtag #SydCarmy offers hundreds of edits projecting a romantic relationship between the two platonic protagonists of “The Bear.”
These compilations have racked up millions of views and fueled fan communities around titles ranging from “The Summer I Turned Pretty” to “Barry Lyndon.” Brianna McElroy, director of worldwide digital marketing for Lionsgate Films, calls it a “love letter from the fans.” Ironically, they are also free advertising.
Hollywood studios like Hulu and Paramount+ have noticed the immense viral impact of these TikTok videos and have begun incorporating fan edits into their official marketing campaigns. Lionsgate is fully committed to the format, posting new titles like “The Long Walk” and edits of older titles like “Divergent” every few days.
“Within our digital marketing team, we operate like fans,” McElroy says. “If you’re going to talk to your fans online, you need to be able to speak their language.” McElroy said Lionsgate is working with “traditional agencies” to create a more “sophisticated” voice on Facebook and Instagram, while creating content on TikTok that feels “native to the platform.”
Of course, any company that tries to engage with internet culture runs the risk of becoming a desperate “cool mom” who ruins the fun. So instead of copying the viral fan editors, Lionsgate decided to hire them. Felipe Mendez, who manages the Lionsgate account, contacted about 250 TikTok editors and came up with a list of about 15. “I’m going to go to artists that my fans are already into and say, ‘I want you to make something that I’m already doing. I just want to work with you,'” said Mendes, 26.
A member of UTA’s Next Gen team, Mendez has helped brands like Ax and PBS reach younger audiences. He says he’s pushing company leaders to understand what they don’t understand about Gen Z. “To do well on TikTok, your videos need to be fairly divorced from the essence of your brand,” he says. In other words, brands have to be okay with making fun of themselves. (The Hunger Games edit posted by Lionsgate combines Katniss Everdeen’s bird calls with Flo Rida’s subdued ode to oral sex, “Whistle.”)
Mendes said he realized the potential for fan editing a few years ago when his “Suits” videos were racking up hundreds of millions of views on TikTok. He believes these clips helped the 2010s legal drama become the most streamed show in 2023 and spawned spinoffs.
It’s difficult to measure the conversion rate of people who view fan edits and watch the movie or show they’re based on, but the proof is in the comments section, Mendez said. He pointed to the “Creed” edit by user Areq, which has garnered 195 million views and 19 million likes since July. A sample of 300,000 comments: “I think I’m watching ‘Creed’ today.” “Okay, today we’re going to watch Creed 1, 2, and 3.” “At this point, let the editor make a trailer for the movie.” Viewers of the 2015 boxing drama on Amazon Prime increased by 29% the week Alec’s edit was posted, according to Luminate data.
Can fan edits drive offline engagement? Lionsgate’s first big test was the upcoming Twilight re-release, prompted in part by the response to its fan edit campaign. The studio has posted about 40 edits since last summer, and believes the entire community of TikTokers that sprung up after the release of “Twilight” will show up in theaters for the vampire romance.
In fact, McElroy says the purpose of marketing is much bigger than just one theatrical event. “When we started posting Twilight content on TikTok, it wasn’t about making money or getting the movie back into theaters,” she says. “Our goal was just to build a community and maintain it.”
