Screen Gems Shocker: Sony Brings in YouTube Exec Fede Goldenberg to Run Genre Label in Pivot to Digital Creators (Exclusive)

In a stunner of a move and a notable shift in strategy, Sony Pictures has hired veteran YouTube executive Fede Goldenberg to lead Screen Gems, its division specializing in genre movies such as Resident Evil and Underworld and comedies such as Easy A.

Under the new creative strategy, the film label will expand its longstanding focus on traditional genre films to include theatrical projects from the next generation of so called “digital-native storytellers,” meaning filmmakers who are making names — and gaining followers — in the digital content space a la Curry Barker and Kane Parsons.

Ashley Brucks, who has been running the label as president since 2023, will transition to a producing role.

Reporting to Sony Pictures motion picture group president Sanford Panitch, Goldenberg will, according to the studio, leverage his deep relationships with content creators to broaden the studio’s pipeline of filmmaker talent and develop theatrical movies from creators who have cultivated devoted audiences through original stories and immersive worlds online.

Digital filmmakers storming the Hollywood box office has been one of the biggest entertainment stories of the year. The outsized performance of movies such as Obsession and Backrooms sparked a rabid interest from studios in a generation of filmmakers who did not come up the traditional latter, but instead rose up making short-form content on digital platforms.

Goldenberg’s hiring marks the first time a studio division has reoriented itself toward this new talent pool.

“Some of the most exciting new filmmakers and ideas are emerging from creators outside of traditional Hollywood development pipelines,” said Panitch in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Screen Gems has long been a home for distinctive genre storytelling, and we see tremendous potential in expanding that vision to include a new generation of digital-native creators with theatrical ambitions.”

The studio is leaning into an already-built-in audience relationship these young filmmakers bring with them. Why expend so much money convincing an audience to trust what a studio is selling when a digital filmmaker has already established that trust with their millions of followers? And these filmmakers are adept at creating IP.

Regarding Goldenberg, Panitch added, “Fede has spent his career at the intersection of online creators and entertainment, and he is uniquely suited to build those relationships and help translate great storytelling from digital platforms to the big screen.”

Goldenberg, whose title at Google-owned YouTube was head of film and TV partnerships, is credited as a guiding hand in elevating the careers of Barker, Parsons and Markiplier into the coveted filmmakers they became this year. “It’s no exaggeration to call these guys the New Hollywood,” the executive said in a THR profile earlier this year.

“After 15 years at YouTube, the world’s biggest digital platform, I know firsthand that the next generation of great filmmakers is already building audiences on the platform. Expanding Screen Gems’ creative vision to include digital-native creators is the right move at the right moment, and I’m excited to join the incredible team at Sony to help lead that effort,” stated Goldenberg.

The Brazil-born Goldenberg brings more than 20 years of experience across entertainment, technology and digital media, including 15 years at YouTube, where he has held a series of senior content partnership roles. He has been head of TV & film content partnerships since 2017, working closely with major studios to scale their global footprints across the platform. He also drove major creator initiatives, among them Markiplier’s exclusive digital release of the theatrical hit Iron Lung on YouTube. And he was one of the executives responsible for the platform acquiring the rights to air the Oscars via a deal with the AMPAS.

Goldenberg’s early tenure at YouTube included managing partnerships with channels such as Maker Studios and Fullscreen. Prior to that, he held posts at Globosat, Terra Networks Brasil and FremantleMedia Latin America.

Brucks is a former Paramount exec with plenty of genre experience, known for bringing in the original Paranormal Activity, the found footage horror movie that begat a nearly $1 billion franchise, and overseeing the A Quiet Place and Scream franchises.

Under her three-year tenure, Screen Gems released the money-making horror movie Tarot and box office hit, Insidious: Out of the Further. The scope of her new producing deal is unclear.

“Ashley will continue her relationship with the studio as a producer on several films, bringing her expertise and distinctive genre taste to all the labels,” Panitch said.