Tayla Stevenson: Young woman flooded with offers from Hollywood after going viral on TikTok
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: A young woman shared a story about herself that went viral on the internet and led to job offers from Hollywood. Tayla Stevenson from Australia is a popular name on TikTok, where she’s followed by over 500k people. She is also quite famous on Instagram, where she boasts nearly 80k followers.
The 23-year-old reportedly got her popularity from her TikTok page when her second skit video amassed over two million likes and was watched 13.2 million times. With that post, she also got almost 600,000 followers on the video-sharing platform. The Daily Mail Australia reported that Stevenson made her TikTok profile during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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‘It is still my most popular video’
At the time, she was a student of film and digital media but due to the pandemic when everything was shut down, she began making videos to keep herself entertained. However, the step taken to keep herself entertained has paid well as she’s just not famous but making money as well, and now Hollywood executives are approaching her to sign acting contracts.
Stevenson told the publication, “Everyone really liked my first skit and they were like keep doing that so then I came up with this idea of an interaction between a bakery worker and a cute boy and added some humor and then it was like boom it really blew up. When that happened I was like I have to keep going with it and to date, it is still my most popular video but everything has gone from there.”
‘A person's platform, in my case TikTok, is being used as a showreel’
The social media star went on to continue, “I've definitely had a lot of important people in the industry reach out to me on TikTok or my Instagram wanting to befriend me or from producers and actors wanting to work with me and pitching potential roles and all sorts of things.”
The woman reportedly now lives in Los Angeles after she completed her final semester at the University of California after moving from Sydney University. She told the Daily Mail, “A person's platform, in my case TikTok, is being used as a showreel. People in the industry are using these clips, in my case skits, to cast for roles, so the whole industry is evolving and adapting to the modern social media world.”
‘You never know who will be watching’
Stevenson also stated that there is a high possibility that she will soon be under contract with a talent agency. She explained, “Most people in this industry now are coming right out of social media and so the execs are turning their attention to those who have made a platform themselves and shown they can engage an audience. While I can't say too much, I expect to have a role or two by the Aussie summer as I should have something signed off in the next week or two which is really exciting.”
“Hollywood executives are seeing the star power in the social media world based on their followers like Zendaya, The Rock, and Charli D’amelia as people wanting to see their favorite Tik Tokers and social media stars on the big screen. I want people to know about the potential there and to tell those wanting to get into this industry to put themselves out there on social media as it is how more and more aspiring actors are getting their big roles. You never know who will be watching,” she asserted.
Stevenson then added, “For me, I dream of producing films and writing my own scripts and I want to bring that back to Australia as the more we can learn from the US film industry the better. I know of so many Aussie entertainers on platforms like TikTok that are so talented and I see them and I know others in the industry see them and go ‘I want to work with them one day’, that is where the industry is continuing to go.”