In an era where digital content has overtaken traditional TV and film, MrBeast, one of YouTube’s biggest stars, is leading the charge. But unlike Hollywood, MrBeast’s approach to production is radically different. It’s fast, data-driven, and hyper-focused on what actually works for YouTube—leaving the old-school entertainment industry in the dust.
When you think about Hollywood, you probably imagine big budgets, polished sets, and long production times. Traditional movies and TV shows can take months, sometimes years, to hit the screen, with huge teams working behind the scenes to perfect every detail. But MrBeast’s production philosophy doesn’t care about the “Hollywood standard”—in fact, he outright rejects it.
In a recently leaked internal document, MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) outlined his playbook for succeeding in YouTube production. It’s a striking contrast to the traditional media world. His number one goal? Make the best YouTube videos possible—not the best produced or the most polished, but the ones that capture and keep the audience’s attention. And the best part? He doesn’t care how Hollywood does things.
“Pardon the bluntness but this is not Hollywood and I do not want to be Hollywood,” the document states. It’s clear from the beginning that MrBeast’s content model is built for speed, flexibility, and, most of all, virality. In fact, the core principles he lays out revolve around three key metrics: Click-Through Rate (CTR), Average View Duration (AVD), and Average View Percentage (AVP).
Hollywood’s Slow Burn vs. MrBeast’s Rapid Fire
Traditional media companies—think Netflix, HBO, or Disney—are designed to invest heavily in long-term projects. A movie can take years to develop, fine-tune, and promote before anyone even sees it. On the contrary, MrBeast’s team churns out high-stakes, adrenaline-packed videos every week. His approach to production is lightning-fast, which gives him the ability to respond to trends almost in real-time. When Hollywood is still figuring out casting decisions, MrBeast has already made and uploaded a viral video.
Hollywood thrives on big budget productions, but often these don’t perform well on YouTube. As MrBeast’s document points out, “99% of movies or TV shows would flop on YouTube.” Why? They’re too slow to grab people’s attention. People come to YouTube for fast-paced, engaging content. And while Hollywood productions aim for cinematic perfection, MrBeast’s videos often focus on simplicity and immediate impact, where titles and thumbnails are more important than camera angles or fancy effects.
Data-Driven Creativity
What really sets MrBeast apart from traditional production models is his obsession with data. In Hollywood, creativity often rules, but with MrBeast, it’s all about a balance between creativity and cold, hard numbers. The YouTube platform offers detailed analytics for every video, showing exactly when viewers click off, what thumbnails get the most clicks, and how long people watch. MrBeast and his team use this data obsessively to refine their content.
Take, for example, the focus on the first minute of a video. In MrBeast’s world, the first minute is everything. According to the document, if you lose too many viewers in the first 60 seconds, your video won’t perform. The team will often spend hours perfecting that crucial first minute because, as they say, “The first minute of each video is the most important minute of each video.”
Meanwhile, in Hollywood, creators don’t get this instant feedback loop. They spend months (or years) crafting their vision, but by the time they get feedback from audiences, it’s too late to make adjustments. MrBeast doesn’t have that problem. His team uses YouTube’s analytics to quickly iterate and improve on content, ensuring every video hits the mark.
Creativity on a Budget
Another way MrBeast differentiates himself is through his use of creativity to solve problems, especially when it comes to budgets. Unlike traditional productions where throwing money at a problem is often the default solution, MrBeast’s team is encouraged to come up with creative alternatives. One funny example from the document involves prizes for gaming videos. Instead of offering a $20,000 cash prize, MrBeast suggests giving away a year’s supply of Doritos, which is both more entertaining and way cheaper.
This approach is the opposite of how things are done in Hollywood. In the film industry, production budgets balloon quickly, often resulting in massive overspending. But at MrBeast Productions, creativity is the answer to budget constraints, and it’s seen as a key factor in making content stand out.
A Results-Based Culture
The company culture at MrBeast Productions is another massive departure from the traditional media world. While Hollywood is often known for its hierarchical, bureaucratic structure, MrBeast’s team runs on results, not titles. It’s all about how well you can perform, not how many hours you work. In fact, as the document puts it, “The Amount of hours you work is irrelevant”—what matters is whether you get things done.
Everyone is categorized into one of three buckets: A-Players, B-Players, or C-Players. If you’re an A-Player, you’re obsessive, coachable, and one of the best in the world at your job. B-Players are on their way to becoming A-Players, while C-Players are seen as “poisonous” to the team and are quickly let go.
This results-focused environment is a stark contrast to the traditional media industry, where seniority often matters more than results, and job security can sometimes outweigh actual performance.
MrBeast isn’t just creating viral content—he’s pioneering an entirely new way to think about production. His combination of data-driven decisions, relentless creativity, and a no-nonsense, results-based team culture is helping him beat Hollywood at its own game. Where traditional media can’t keep up with the speed and adaptability of YouTube, MrBeast is consistently setting the bar for what a modern content production company should look like.
Hollywood may have the legacy and the big budgets, but MrBeast has the future.
This article was based on this document.
Leave a Reply