YouTube Stars Take Center Stage at Creative Artists Agency

At first glance, it was corporate Hollywood at its most forgettable.Sixteen people sat in rolly chairs around a white conference table.

Three more faces peered from a video screen.Cans of LaCroix awaited polite sips.But this was actually a pivotal moment in how Hollywood defines — and monetizes — stardom.The 90-minute meeting took place inside Creative Artists Agency in March.

It was an all-hands-on-deck strategy session for a nontraditional client: Dhar Mann, a digital creator with more than 170 million social media followers.His own agents were there from C.A.A.

Creators, a division formed a few months earlier.Other attendees included agents from the firm’s scripted television, film, consumer products, reality TV, publishing, and brand marketing departments, among others.The fact that Mr.

Mann, 42, had the full attention of Hollywood’s most powerful talent agency seemed to surprise even him.He signed with C.A.A.

in 2021, when digital stars peppered the agency’s talent roster but remained far from its center of gravity.In recent years, “the only way you’d see that many C.A.A.agents in a room was for an A-list director or A-list actor,” Mr.

Mann said.“That’s where all the resources were allocated.”The shift inside C.A.A.

is perhaps the strongest indication yet that creators have moved from the margins of Hollywood to its center.The agency has lately been in a sprint to expand its creator business, signing some of the biggest names, poaching creator-focused agents from smaller rivals and generally repositioning what was a growing but marginal division into one of its most urgent bets.New clients include the Stokes Twins, who have 140 million YouTube followers and specialize in elaborate pranks; the extreme-challenge-oriented Ben Azelart, who has 51 million; and Rebecca Zamolo, who has 23 million and makes zany, lightly scripted family videos.

New agents include Greg Goodfried, a former United Talent Agency executive, and Kendall Ostrow, ...