Maya Hawke says in some cases, the cast’s social media following plays a huge role in whether or not a film will be made.
“I don’t care about Instagram. Instagram sucks. Right, well just so you know, if you have over this many followers you can get the movie funded,” Hawke said on a recent episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. “It’s a really confusing line to walk.”
Hawke said she knows several “smart directors” who’ve encountered producers that demand a benchmark number of Instagram followers from their cast before moving forward with a project.
“I’m talking about deleting my Instagram and [some directors are] like, ‘Just so you know when I’m casting a movie with some producers, they hand me a sheet with the amount of collective followers I have to get from the cast,’” Hawke recalled. “‘So if you delete your Instagram and I lose those followers, understand these are the kinds of people I need to cast around you.’”
Hawke clarified that social media followers aren’t the end-all-be-all for every director, adding that about “10 of them” can get by on “reputation” alone.
“You can really focus and sit there and make a film with them,” Hawke said. “And I’ve been privileged enough to really work with three in my life. I got to work with three sets that were like this. I got to work with Quentin [Tarantino] (‘Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood’), I got to work with Bradley Cooper (‘Maestro’) and I got to work with Wes Anderson (‘Asteroid City’).”