Backrooms: Has YouTube Just Saved Hollywood?

Are Gen-Z filmmakers like Kane Parsons the new kings of Hollywood? Has Tom Hardy really been fired from the set of Mobland for upsetting Helen Mirren? And why is the author of the year’s biggest memoir facing a backlash from readers?

YouTube native Kane Parsons has smashed box office expectations with his A24 horror film, Backrooms - becoming the youngest filmmaker to open at No 1 in the US. Richard Osman and Marina Hyde discuss the success of low-budget horror and the YouTube-to-cinema pipeline.

Speculation is mounting that Tom Hardy has been axed from hit crime drama Mobland, after clashes with the creators and British acting royalty. But are the rumours true? And how often do stars actually get fired?

Belle Burden’s bestselling marriage memoir, Strangers, has drawn fierce criticism after claims she exaggerated her financial ruin. Has the publishing industry’s hunger for ‘true’ stories broken the modern memoir?


00:00 Intro: Backrooms, MobLand & Strangers
00:40 AD
01:39 How Backrooms smashed box office expectations
02:49 Kane Parsons: the 20-year-old YouTube filmmaker
03:26 The internet origins of The Backrooms
05:07 Why liminal spaces became so creepy online
06:16 How The Backrooms influenced Severance
07:11 Building the Backrooms for the big screen
07:50 Obsession and the rise of Gen-Z horror directors
09:19 Why young creators understand audiences better
11:38 Why Backrooms has divided fans
12:31 Is horror saving cinema?
14:43 Why Hollywood missed the YouTube generation
16:10 Is internet culture the new Hollywood IP?
18:25 Richard and Marina review Backrooms
20:17 Why we need more heist movies
20:28 AD
21:54 Has Tom Hardy been fired from MobLand?
22:35 The rumours behind the MobLand drama
24:40 Why the behind-the-scenes drama is so unusual
25:12 Too many men on the MobLand set?
26:41 How often do actors actually get fired?
27:23 Famous TV stars who were replaced
29:12 The surprising Backrooms and MobLand connection
30:39 Belle Burden, Strangers and the backlash
32:41 Did Strangers hide the full truth?
33:27 Belle Burden responds to the criticism
35:32 Is Strangers different from The Salt Path?
37:16 Why memoir publishing is facing scrutiny
38:41 Should memoirs be fact-checked?
41:51 The “my truth” era of publishing
43:58 Marina's Recommendations: Screen Time and microdramas
45:16 Why media has already changed
45:50 Richard's Recommendation: Amandaland series 2
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