Burbank’s Soundstages Find New Stars as YouTube Creators Expand

YouTube creators are expanding into Burbank’s production infrastructure as traditional film and television work across Los Angeles continues to contract. The shift is visible at Smosh Productions, which moved this spring from a smaller Burbank location into a 32,000-square-foot facility near Hollywood Burbank Airport. More than 100 employees work there producing sketch comedy, games and challenges across five channels, generating as much as 10 hours of internet programming each week.

Smosh, owned by YouTube pioneers Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla, is part of a broader cluster of creator-led businesses establishing larger production footprints in the city long associated with Disney and Warner Bros. Katelyn Hempstead, Smosh’s executive coordinator, described Burbank as still deserving its “Media City” identity, although the media now being produced increasingly includes programming built for YouTube and other digital platforms.

FilmLA data underscores the change. Digital-production shoot days increased 47% year over year during the second quarter, reaching 661, while total on-location shoot days fell 13%. FilmLA spokesperson Philip Sokoloski said creator and vertical-video productions still support equipment rentals, purchases and other activity at local suppliers. Burbank Community Development Director Patrick Prescott said the city has more than 1,000 media and entertainment companies supporting approximately 66,000 jobs, with many creator businesses occupying flexible industrial properties near the airport. (latimes.com)

Other creators are scaling alongside Smosh. Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal’s Mythical Entertainment has expanded in Burbank, while Alan Chikin Chow moved the 13-person operation behind the scripted high-school series “Alan’s Universe” into a 10,000-square-foot facility in 2024. Netflix reached July distribution agreements covering Mythical’s “Good Mythical Morning,” “Mythical Kitchen” and “Last Meals,” as well as “Alan’s Universe,” with the programs scheduled to stream alongside their YouTube releases.

Dhar Mann Studios, operating a 125,000-square-foot Burbank complex with roughly 220 employees, also secured a Disney agreement for 20 family-programming episodes after an earlier 40-title vertical-video deal with Fox Entertainment. The company has separately purchased a 108,000-square-foot Chatsworth campus and plans to relocate by 2027.

For video-commerce businesses, ConsumerEXP analysis is that this production expansion matters because creators increasingly possess the facilities, output capacity and major-platform relationships needed to support frequent product demonstrations, branded programming and measurable cross-platform campaigns. However, the employment transition remains uneven: much creator work is nonunion and generally pays less than traditional television production.