• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, October 18, 2022

NBCUniversal has launched a “Creator Accelerator” program to develop the next generation of premium content — meaning TV and streaming — talent. 

The "diverse" inaugural group of 11 are all popular TikTok creators who have signed development deals with Universal Studio Group to create original series “authentic” to their social content, according to NBCU. 

Between this year’s fourth quarter and Q3 2023, creators will have mentors assigned to help them develop scripted and unscripted content.

Each creator will go through a greenlight process that will include making pitches to business leaders from Universal Studio Group and Peacock. 

Creators whose pitches are greenlit will produce their own original content.

“Social media has opened up a world of new possibilities for premium video content, including expanding the traditional definition of creative storytellers to include young, up-and-coming diverse creators who are releasing original content on social media almost daily,” stated Kathy Kelly-Brown, senior vice president, strategic initiatives at NBCUniversal, who says NBCU is the first major media company to launch such an accelerator program. "Empowering the next generation of creative storytellers is a major part of our commitment to diverse representation. By amplifying their ideas on the biggest platform in entertainment, we are leading the industry in creating the future of premium video content for our fans.” 

The first 11 creators in the program (shown above) are Katie Florence, Daren Girdner, Emily Uribe, Gabriella Carter, Reece Feldman, Charlie Curtis-Beard, Erika Priscilla, Vijay Nazareth, Sara Nahusenay, Francesca Fiorentini and Serena Kerrigan.