Mixed messages are the new normal. Last week, the Sundance Institute unionized and thousands of layoffs at Paramount and YouTube. It also brought with it two events that point to the future: ZCON and Square Peg Social.
Cognitive dissonance has become an important 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 opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”) This week I choose to focus on the positive.
Now in its third year, ZCON is a two-day, invitation-only event in Los Angeles that focuses on (yes) Gen Z and the people who love them. That assortment of participants is included Creator (of course) as well as CEOs, CMOs and studio heads.
Sessions included “Rewriting the Rules of Branded Entertainment” and “The New Hollywood.” Auli’i Cravalho (“Moana”) highlighted his impatience with the old ways (“We’re told 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 ever,” reframing disability as a great way for brands to resonate with consumers.
Held at the LA Preserve (a lush oasis off Hollywood’s tacky St. Andrews, the street made famous by Jane’s Addiction), the space was buzzing with bright and shiny 20-somethings with energy and action. This generation is not intimidated by the attention of the big brands and is not necessarily impressed by it. They expect it.
For a long time, festivals were ground zero for young people who wanted to prove their worth as hot commodities. Seeing so many young creators (and the creator next door) echoed similar groups at Sundance Film Festivals 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 fueled by pick-me energy and SXSW by VC appetite, invite-only ZCON does something completely different. It’s not a tent pole 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’re going to do next, and development managers are on guard.
Overseeing it all is Olivia Frary, director of UTA Next Gen. She founded ZCON in 2023 as an extension of her Gen Z marketing company, JUV Consulting, which UTA acquired in 2024. (Note: She created JUV in 2016, while in high school.)
“For years, every single person on our team would end a conversation by simply saying, ‘If there’s anyone you want us to meet with, let us know,'” she said. “Even when we were superstar vibes, we would always stress that it was the best thing you could do for us, whether you wanted to hire a Gen Z consultant. A lot of (those connections) show up here who 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 arrives. And if history is any guide, nothing will be more offensive to that generation than being called an influencer.
At the moment, this group enjoys primacy, so much so that ZCON attendees eagerly embraced an afternoon “intermission” that featured a cavalcade of bubbles and dancing with a live DJ. Creep for someone else; here’s what happens before the final panel, “What Does a Happier Internet Look Like?”
I’ll close 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. Ultimately, 37 writers, directors and producers spent four days in direct mentorship with the creators behind not only Knudsen and Aster’s films (“Eddington,” “Midsummer,” “Beau Is Afraid”) but also “One Battle After Another,” “Iron Claw,” “Roofman,” “Rebel Ridge” and more.
Next week, I’ll share both the director and filmmaker lists (both are long and impressive; expect multiple stories). It would be snarky/lazy to contrast the differences between Square Peg and ZCON (Art! Commerce!), but in truth they had more in common than not. Both are community declarations, however self-selected.
Because no matter where you land in this brave new world, one thing is certain: no one will make it alone. (Bubbles remain optional.)
