Hawke Talks Instagram’s Influence On Casting

“Stranger Things” actress Maya Hawke has spoken about one of the things Hollywood seems very reluctant to talk about publicly – how social media has impacted movie and TV casting.

Marketability of an actor has always played a part in casting, but how that marketability is achieved changes over the years. In the past decade or so, social media reach of its cast members has become a major factor in not just the selling of a movie but also regarding who will star in said projects.

That impact on actual casting, which makes popularity and good social metrics more important than actual talent or suitability for a role, may have contributed to why algorithm-obsessed modern filmmaking has seen a decline in quality as emerging talent can be sidelined in favor of those who aren’t so good but have large followings.

Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, Hawke explains the exasperation she feels in that she can’t delete her Instagram due to how it impacts not just her choice of roles but also others in a production – including actors who opt to not be a part of social media platforms:

“The line between actor and celebrity has gotten extremely blurry. What I always wanted to be is an actor where the work is what the draw is, not the personhood. But the industry keeps changing, and you have to change with it and understand that all of these things are getting blurred.

Where it’s like ‘I don’t care about Instagram, Instagram sucks right’ but just so you know, if you have over this many followers you can get the movie funded. Well, I want to make the movie, so you know like it’s BLERGH…It’s a really confusing line to walk.

I’ve talked to so many smart directors about how I’m gonna delete my Instagram, and they’re 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 of the cast that I cast so if you delete your Instagram, and I lose those followers, understand that these are the kinds of people I need to cast around you.”

The comments follow on from similar sentiments by actress Elle Fanning who confirmed in 2023 she had lost film roles because she didn’t have enough followers.

The new comments have generated a lot of discussion on social media, plenty pointing out how social media influence doesn’t necessarily translate to ticket sales. Others pointing out how often it’s numbers people who control the purse strings for financing, and those are the ones who like quick and easily digestible numbers like follower counts – even if said numbers aren’t particularly reliable.

Social media itself which, more than ever, has become a marketing tool with the algorithms of each service requiring a lot of work and attention to gain any traction at all these days. Instagram is tied with WhatsApp as the third most used social media platform these days, behind Facebook and YouTube but above TikTok.

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