Good morning Spark Gang (do we say that now? should we never say it again?),
Welcome back to The Spark, your source for all things creative entrepreneurship.
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Paramount + just announced an upcoming two-part documentary, “How Music Got Free,” that details the Napster revolution and subsequent downfall of the music industry at the turn of the century.
According to Statista, 942 million CDs were sold during the format’s peak in 2000. But it's been all downhill for Big CD since then thanks to the internet and streaming. In 2023 just 36 million discs were sold.
In contrast, in 1999 there were approximately ZERO subscribers to The Spark. But today? There are literally hundreds of you in the Spark Gang reading this right now, ready to dive into their weekly dose of inspiration, education, and empowerment. So let's get to it.
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This week we've got an interview with the creator of “Hot Ones,” an a job opening at a legendary record label, and tips on how to create the best social videos.
💡Thank you for subscribing, or if you haven’t already, please smash the button below to officially get Sparked.
📬 Have questions for us? Feedback? Want to share your work? Email us at thespark@ideageneration.com
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HOW'D YOU THINK OF THAT?!
Chris Schonberger and the beloved web series “Hot Ones.”
Chris Schonberger is the founder and GM of First We Feast. Under his guidance, the brand has become a food culture juggernaut.
The wind beneath the brand’s wings (mangled pun intended) has of course been “Hot Ones,” one of the most popular shows of the digital era and a cultural behemoth in its own right.
We got with Chris to learn just how the show with hot questions and even hotter wings came to the table.
Do you remember where you were when the idea for “Hot Ones” first popped into your head?
I can't remember any specific "eureka" moment, more so a collection of circumstances meeting a collection of creative hunches. The circumstances were that we were desperate to create a video series for First We Feast that would break through on YouTube, we had almost no budget, and we worked in an office that constantly had celebrities cycling through to shoot with Complex. The hunches were that watching people eat spicy food is hilarious, and celebrity interviews are generally boring because they are too transactional and rarely break through the veneer. An interview over spicy wings felt like a gag worth throwing at the wall.
"The hunches were that watching people eat spicy food is hilarious, and celebrity interviews are generally boring."
What were some of the inspirations for the show?
It's always hard to pinpoint the specific moment of inspiration, but unpacking the influences that led to the idea is easier in the rearview. My dad was a big mail-order food guy, and he was always ordering prank-level salsas and hot sauces like Bailiff's Brutality and Dave's Insanity Sauce. When I went to college as a shy, gangly freshman, I found that sharing those things with people was a good ice-breaker.
On the interview side, I grew up spending a lot of time in England with my mom's side of the family, and loved the approach to celebrity interviews—they were so much cheekier, and tended to draw out a more playful version of the guests than the pre-canned late-night couch thing you see in the States. A show called “PopWorld” with Alexa Chung and Simon Amstell left a big impression on me, so it was awesome to eventually get Alexa on “Hot Ones” and give her her flowers.
"My dad was a big mail-order food guy, and he was always ordering prank-level salsas and hot sauces."
The show’s product line is especially robust. Was that something you had in mind from the start? Or when did that first enter the picture?
Product extensions were never part of the original blueprint. We launched the first hot sauce as a marketing stunt, thinking fans might buy it as a keepsake—we never thought it would grow into a whole product line, become a significant revenue driver of our business, and fuel collaborations with brands like Shake Shack, Pringles, and Hot Pockets.
That's been the big takeaway for me from the whole “Hot Ones” experience: an idea is just an idea without collaborators to mold it, care for it, and believe in it. Over time, a group of like-minded people came together and turned “Hot Ones” into something so much bigger than anyone could have imagined—the spark of an idea ultimately means nothing if there’s not a team to nurture and sustain it.
A lot of the most exciting things that have happened around “Hot Ones”—from partnerships with NFL teams, to Reebok sneaker collabs, to spinoff series like “Heat Eaters”—have come from doors opening and new ideas forming along the way. None of them would have happened if we didn't stay true to the original spark that made audiences love the format in the first place.
"That's been the big takeaway for me from the whole ‘Hot Ones’ experience: an idea is just an idea without collaborators to mold it, care for it, and believe in it."
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CHEAT CODES
The search you didn’t know you needed.
Are you interested in making videos for social media but don’t know where to start?
CapCut has become the go-to program for editing videos, both on mobile and desktop.
There’s a free version that includes all the basics and is a great place to start.
Now that you know what program to use, you might be thinking, “How do you use this?!” Well, here is the best CapCut tutorial on the Internet. No excuses now. Go get your Scorsese on.
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TAKE THIS JOB!
Cool job opportunities for creatives.
Rhymesayers, one of the most prolific and respected independent hip hop labels of the past 25 years, home to artists like Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, and Dilated Peoples, is looking for a Director of E-Commerce and Physical Distribution.
The label is based out of Minnesota, but the job is fully remote.
Responsibilities include leading the e-commerce D2C and physical distribution verticals for the business, fulfillment demand planning, product forecasting, production delivery timelines, inventory lifecycle, customer service, data/analytics and techstack platform management.
They’re looking for someone with 7+ years of e-commerce leadership experience and a strong understanding of the 3PL, D2C, sales, and inventory management landscape and tech infrastructures.
Sound like you? Apply here.
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SUBSCRIBER SPOTLIGHT
Projects The Spark readers are working on.
Squeeze Studios is a is a “self-funded and self-produced original content house” based out of Tuscon, Arizona.
Their flagship show, “The People I Know,” is an interview series that spotlights the local talent from Tuscon.
Hosted by Marquez Price, the show is inspired by “Blueprint,” and takes a deep dive into the process of all kinds of creatives, from writers to painters to tattoo artists.
“Tucson, AZ is a really small city that doesn't get so much shine but the abundance of creative talent that exists here is undeniable. The goal is to spotlight incredible local artists and give them a platform for their story.” - Sam Bartlett, Owner
Check out their YouTube channel here.
📬 Want to see your work featured in Subscriber Spotlight? Email us at thespark@ideageneration.com
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KEEP SHOOTING
Your weekly reminder not to stop creating.
The first episode of “Hot Ones,” featuring Tony Yayo, was just five minutes and 19 seconds long (it now typically clocks in at 22+ minutes every week), featured just four questions, and garnered just 2,100 views its first week out.
Whatever it is you’re putting out into the world, it likely won’t be an instant success. You’ve got to stay consistent and continue to get your reps in.
How’s “Hot Ones” doing now? The Season 22 finale with Conan O’Brien grabbed nearly 10 million views in its first month.