How Reece Feldman Became the Movie Master on TikTok

Lina Portman3 days ago

0 5 minutes read

Tiana Michele*

When Reece Feldman posted the TikTok that changed his entire career, he knew he was breaking almost every rule imaginable.

A Queens native, Feldman spent the months after graduating from college moving from one production assistant job to another in New York. On the advice of a few career mentors, he downloaded TikTok, bringing a few hundred thousand followers with him to daily tasks like fetching coffee, driving team vehicles and taking out the trash. Eventually, he moved from reality TV sets and Mormon children's television to the big leagues: Amazon The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Greater responsibility also meant a legitimate confidentiality agreement, which would prevent him from making those insane videos of the past. But he still wanted to share his ideas with his audience. So he decided to break the rules.

“I like to talk about entertainment. I just want people to look at things and have the same respect for them that I do,” says Feldman. Rolling stone. “I was like, ‘You know what, I’m going to try something. If it doesn't work well, no harm, no foul. No one will ever know. And if it goes well, then it's a conversation.

It was a conversation, indeed. The video did so well, quickly racking up 1.2 million views on his @guywithamoviecamera account, that Amazon executives made a decision: Feldman could keep making videos, but they had to do so with the studio’s permission. Four years later, Feldman has gone from your average movie TikToker with a huge fan base to the not-so-secret weapon of major Hollywood studios. He’s graced the red carpets of the Met Gala, the Cannes Film Festival, and nearly every major awards show in the U.S. On a typical Tuesday, his followers aren’t surprised to see a silly movie meme followed by an in-depth interview with Christopher Nolan, or a prepare-me mode immediately overtaken by the stars of a summer blockbuster. With more than 2 million followers, Feldman has become the face of a filmmaking generation desperate to bring back behind-the-scenes access—and a one-of-a-kind creator redefining how studios can succeed online.

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Online, Feldman’s videos are easily recognizable, either by the plethora of celebrities and movie stars they feature or by the sight of his signature curly hair. When we meet up for coffee on a sweltering day in Williamsburg, he’s instantly recognizable, but I don’t get a glimpse of his much-popularized TikTok persona until he happily notes that our barista has a Avatar: The Last Airbender He continues to light up when talking about movies, a pattern that underscores how much Feldman is in this job—this job—for the love of cinema.

“When I was a kid, I was always obsessed with movies,” Feldman says. “Going up really late to stay awake and watch things was the easiest way for me to connect with people. I never really felt like I belonged anywhere. [That was] the easiest way for me to make sense of my surroundings. I was trying to look as much as possible because I just wanted to see what was there.

Feldman brought his love of film to Tulane University, where he studied communications, film and business (a combination he says became his life). But much of his desire to start creating TikToks came from the invaluable hands-on learning experiences he gained as a production assistant — none of which he could have gotten without being on set.

“APs are literally the backbone of the industry. Production was tough but I had so much fun,” he says with a laugh. “Like, for The Real Housewives of New Jersey, I was the one who picked up the charcuterie platter that was thrown at Teresa. It's a thankless job, but it's a great place to start. However, the goal of any personal assistant is to never be a personal assistant again. And it was me.

The success of Feldman's videos Maisel proved his hypothesis: Internet users are desperate to see the gist of how the things they watch are made. When contacted by director Quinn Shephard and actress Zoe Deutsch to create content during the filming of their 2022 satirical social media film Not goodFeldman dove in head first, becoming the go-to content creator filming with actors on sets like Last night in Soho, The Ballad of Songbirds and Serpents, The Summer I Became PrettyAnd Abigail under direct contract with the studios. Even today, his simple red carpet interviews often garner millions of views focusing on the intimate and technical details of making a film. There's often a striking tension between studios trying to connect their films to broader (read: younger) audiences and the professionals who make them up. Creative people can easily become burned out during a promotion process, especially when it seems antithetical – or downright demeaning – to their work. Feldman's work actively confronts this battle head-on by starting promotion well before the film is even ready and tailoring his videos to what his guests are most comfortable with.

“I want [creatives] to be able to feel like they're trying to reach a younger audience in a way that's natural for the platform, but also that they don't feel like they're selling themselves out,” he says. “You don't have to have Christopher Nolan be a fucking renegade to sell your movie. But we're able to do that [social media] in a way that suits them. It feels like the perfect coupling between old Hollywood cinema and this new kind of digital age.

Creating a whole new profession straddling marketing and production wasn't a daunting task for Feldman (although he still finds it amusing that studios have created entire marketing teams around social media but still don't know how to do it. 'call in the credits). What was difficult was reconciling the major impact he had on studio promotion with the fact that his work put him firmly in front of the camera. Because while fans can spot a @guywithamoviecamera video from a mile away, what makes or breaks a video's success is often Feldman's presence. Consistent on red carpets, Feldman also began dating two-time Tony Award-winning producer and actress Alyah Chanelle Scott, which took him from being an observer to someone often in the spotlight – something Feldman seems inherently uncomfortable with.

“I don’t think I’m a public figure, but I think there are a lot of movie fans who recognize me, which is good,” he says. “I can talk about movies and television, and I'm comfortable doing so. I don't think I would be able to be in front of the camera if it was for anything else.

While being photographed – or even interviewed – might make him shrug, what’s immediately clear is Feldman’s absolute, overwhelming love for all things cinema. The creator tells Rolling stone Her goal has always been to write her own coming-of-age stories. After all, he knows the power a project, big or small, can have on a kid from Queens or a recent college graduate desperate to find his place in the world. And he wants to soon be the one to achieve it.

“I want to create stories and worlds where others feel safe and feel challenged. That’s my goal: to create things that inspire people to question their surroundings and their beliefs,” says Feldman. “At the end of the day, everything I do may not be hugely life-changing. Like, no one dies. But if anyone can find their favorite comfort movie or show, I've done my job. And I am happy.