Hollywood Hires TikTok Fan Editors as Fan Edits Redefine Movie Marketing

On TikTok, fan edits are everywhere. People remix scenes from movies and TV shows, add popular music, and create fast-cut videos that grab attention in seconds. Some highlight emotional moments, others turn serious stories into memes, and a few imagine new storylines that never happened. Hashtags like #SydCarmy , inspired by the show The Bear, have gained millions of views by showing fictional relationships between characters.

Briana McElroy, head of worldwide digital marketing at Lionsgate Films, says these edits are more than just entertainment. “They’re love letters from fans,” she told reporters, adding that they also act as free promotion for the studios.

Streaming services and studios like Hulu, Paramount+, and Lionsgate have noticed how powerful these videos can be. Lionsgate has leaned into the trend more than most, sharing TikTok-style edits of its movies several times a week.

The studio mixes both new and older titles, such as The Long Walk and Divergent. McElroy said the goal is to create content that fits in naturally with what people already see on TikTok. “If we’re trying to have a conversation with fans online, we need to be able to speak their language,” she said.

Instead of trying to copy fan creators, Lionsgate decided to work with them directly. Felipe Mendez, who manages the studio’s TikTok account, contacted around 250 video editors from the app and built a group of about 15 to work with the company. “We’re going to the artists that fans are already obsessed with and saying: ‘We want you to create what you’re already doing; we just want to work together,’” Mendez said.

Mendez, who is also part of UTA’s Next Gen team, said he encourages studios to understand Gen Z audiences better. “To do well on TikTok, your videos have to be so divorced from what your brand is,” he explained. He believes companies have to be willing to laugh at themselves. One example of that mindset was a Hunger Games TikTok edit Lionsgate shared, which combined a scene of Katniss Everdeen’s bird call with Flo Rida’s song Whistle.

Now, Lionsgate is putting this strategy to the test with the rerelease of Twilight. The company says the decision was influenced by the growing excitement around Twilight fan edits on TikTok.

The studio has already shared dozens of related posts and hopes to attract younger fans who never saw the movies when they first came out. But according to McElroy, this campaign isn’t just about ticket sales. “When we started posting ‘Twilight’ content on TikTok, it wasn’t with the goal of driving revenue or bringing the film back to theaters,” she said. “Our goal was just to make sure we’re creating a community and sustaining it.”

This shift shows how much TikTok culture has changed the way Hollywood connects with fans. What once started as fan-made clips for fun is now shaping how major studios think about digital marketing.

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