How Filming A Fork Turned Into A $500,000 Business | Grace Wells

Follow Forbes Top Creators From an unemployed linguistics student to running a commercial film agency, Grace Wells (@gracewellsphoto) turned pandemic boredom into a massive creator business. On this week's episode of the Forbes Top Creators Show, host Steven Bertoni sits down with Grace, a self-taught commercial filmmaker who built a massive audience creating "epic commercial content" for random household objects, and it all started with a simple fork. Grace breaks down how that viral fork video evolved into national broadcast ads and partnerships with brands like Celsius, Samsonite, and Maybelline. She details the evolution of her business, Product Film School, into Product Film Studio, a full-service agency where she represents her own students for brand deals. She also reveals her strategy of pairing high-production client ads with "lo-fi" behind-the-scenes content on social, the growing audience rebellion against "AI slop," and her belief that the industry’s future lies in bridging digital communities through real-life connection. 0:00 Meet Grace Wells, the "Random Objects" Icon 1:54 COVID Creativity: Turning Forks and Socks Into Epic Ads 4:47 The First Branded Deal 12:37 Inside Product Film School 14:33 Product Film Studio: Building a Student-Talent Agency 16:09 The Right Gear: Sony Mirrorless vs. iPhone 18:15 AI Slop vs. Analog 22:10 Building Community IRL 24:39 Building a Brand with Longevity Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more: Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes: http://forbes.com Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices