IN THE MOVIE industry, there are two competing storylines. The darker one —call it old Hollywood—prevailed(占上风，盛行) on November 9th when Skydance, the newly formed combination of Paramount and Warner Bros, laid out plans to reduce its $87bn debt. Like other media giants, such as Netflix, its near future is one of attrition(人员自然损耗；消耗) and job cuts, glossed over(掩饰，轻描淡写) by promises of big hits to come. The other storyline—call it new Hollywood—is less well known and more upbeat(乐观的，积极的). It is made on YouTube.
电影行业存在两条相互竞争的叙事线。较阴暗的那条——不妨称之为旧好莱坞——在11月9日占了上风：派拉蒙与华纳兄弟新合并而成的天空之舞公布了削减870亿美元债务的计划。与Netflix等其他媒体巨头一样，它近期的前景是人员损耗与裁员，只是被“即将推出大片”的承诺所掩盖。另一条叙事线——不妨称之为新好莱坞——则鲜为人知，也更为乐观。它是在YouTube上缔造的。
To glimpse it, your correspondent travelled to an unmarked building in the Hollywood hinterland(腹地，内陆) of Burbank, home to the new 32,000 square-feet studio of Smosh, a YouTube comedy channel as old as the video platform itself. The precise whereabouts are kept secret to deter over-zealous fans. Suffice to say(无须多说，总之), it is not glitzy(浮华耀眼的，光鲜的). Similarly, Smosh’s comedy has less polish than prestige TV(高端电视节目). Yet it is a YouTube sensation(轰动一时的人或事). Smosh has more than 45m followers across its channels, revenue that has grown fivefold in the past three years and a headcount that has tripled to 100, says Alessandra Catanese, its boss.(Smosh的老板亚历山德拉·卡塔内塞表示，其各频道粉丝总数超过4500万，过去三年收入增长了五倍，员工人数翻了三倍达到100人。) “I’ve been making this joke lately, but I’m totally serious. Paramount, Disney and Netflix: their layoffs are our draft(他们的裁员是我们的选秀),” she says.
为了窥见一斑，本刊记者前往伯班克——好莱坞的腹地——一栋没有标记的建筑，那里是Smosh新近启用的32000平方英尺演播室所在地。Smosh是一个与YouTube平台本身同样资深的喜剧频道。其确切位置对外保密，以防过度狂热的粉丝。可以说，它并不光鲜。同样，Smosh的喜剧也没有高端电视那样的精致打磨。然而它却是YouTube上的现象级存在。Smosh的老板亚历山德拉·卡塔内塞表示，其各频道粉丝总数超过4500万，过去三年收入增长了五倍，员工人数翻了三倍达到100人。“我最近一直在开这个玩笑，但我是完全认真的。派拉蒙、迪士尼和Netflix：他们的裁员就是我们的选秀，”她说。
Burbank is home to much of this YouTube demi-monde(半上流社会，边缘世界). Its scruffy(不修边幅的，邋遢的) creators are not big enough to offset the malaise(萎靡不振，不安) of old Hollywood. But they have started to rattle(使不安，撼动) the incumbents(现有在位者， incumbent companies), which have been forced to battle YouTube for screen time in part by imitating its ways. Whether what some call “YouTube panic” is working is debatable.(一些人所说的“YouTube恐慌”是否奏效，尚无定论。) Yet it may be unavoidable. In the words of Mark Fischbach (aka Markiplier(知名YouTube游戏主播)), who earlier this year mobilised his 40m-odd YouTube followers to turn his self-financed horror film “Iron Lung” into a box-office hit, “YouTube is the thousand-pound monster(千斤巨兽，巨大威胁) lurking over everyone’s shoulder.”
伯班克是YouTube这个半隐秘世界的许多成员的所在地。其不修边幅的创作者们尚不足以抵消旧好莱坞的萎靡。但他们已开始撼动现有巨头，后者被迫与YouTube争夺屏幕时间，部分手段就是模仿其做法。一些人所说的“YouTube恐慌”是否奏效，尚无定论。但这或许不可避免。用马克·菲施巴赫（又名Markiplier）的话说：“YouTube是潜伏在每个人肩头的千斤巨兽。”今年早些时候，他动员自己4000多万YouTube粉丝，将自己出资拍摄的恐怖片《铁肺》推成了票房热门。
