Caleb Hearon & Zooey Deschanel offer blunt advice for creators eyeing the jump to film

At TIFF this week, Caleb Hearon and Zooey Deschanel sat down for the "For You Feed to Feature Film" panel, moderated by TikTok's Global Entertainment Partnerships Lead Jenny Kim, to talk about making the leap from online content to the big screen.

The two star together in Trash Mountain, which Hearon also co-wrote with Ruby Caster. A clip of the panel from Mashable's Entertainment Editor, Kristy Puchko, offers a preview of the advice they gave to creators hoping to make the same jump.

Deschanel's message was simply to stop waiting for permission. She recalled being told early in her music career that she couldn't make it as a musician because she'd already built a name for herself as an actor, and her response was basically to ignore it. "How about you just be the person that does it first," she said, adding that she believes everyone on that path already has something worth putting into the world.

Hearon went further, discussing the instinct people have to box creators into a single identity. His advice was to "Get comfortable saying no very early" and not to let companies or institutions push you into things "just because you're convinced it's the only way to get ahead."

He was candid about the money, too, noting that most of his bills get paid by "reading ads on my gay little podcast," not acting, despite doing four movies last year. Creators now have real leverage, according to Hearon, even as institutions increasingly offload financial risk onto them because of the "DIY nature" of content creation. His takeaway is to "learn how to say no early and make your fucking thing."

Our entertainment editor, Kristy Puchko, is on the ground at the Toronto International Film Festival and will have a full recap of the panel soon. Until then, you can also check out her review of Caleb Hearon's Trash Mountain.