Permissionless Creation vs. Hollywood Gatekeepers
The Story
Trung spent years trying to make it in Hollywood. He wrote a screenplay, got it optioned by Fox, and then watched it die in production hell. The traditional entertainment industry requires permission at every step: studio approval, producer buy-in, network greenlight.
Twitter and newsletters gave him what he calls “permissionless creation.” He can write, publish, and reach millions without asking anyone. No studio executive, no publisher, no editor has veto power.
He now achieves his comedy and storytelling goals entirely through internet platforms. His newsletter, SatPost, reaches 64K+ subscribers. His Twitter reaches 725K followers. His podcast, “Not Investment Advice,” intentionally takes no sponsors to preserve creative freedom.
Lesson for Creators
If a gatekeeper is standing between you and your audience, go around them. The internet is the greatest permissionless platform in history. You don’t need a publisher for your book (Substack). You don’t need a studio for your show (YouTube). You don’t need a network for your podcast (Spotify). The gatekeepers still exist, but they’re now optional, not mandatory.
Related
- Fox Optioned His Script. It Never Got Made. — The specific gatekeepers who blocked Trung’s screenplay, the experience that made him value permissionless platforms
- Weed Review Site - First Startup at 18 — Building and shipping something real without asking anyone for permission, the same permissionless ethos applied to startups
- Building in Public - The Competitor Betrayal That Backfired — Permissionless growth through transparency, bypassing traditional business gatekeepers by sharing openly