HUSSLUP, currently in invite-only beta, is a job hunting and networking app for creative media and entertainment professionals to connect with studios and production companies looking for talent.
The company announced the web version of its mobile application today. It will be released widely next week.
Like LinkedIn, HUSSLUP allows users to post, connect with others and search for gigs.
However, rather than targeting the general public, the app aims to be a hub for creative professionals in the entertainment industry to collaborate on a project, upstream or downstream. , promote an upcoming movie/TV show, invite others to events, discover new talent and more. .
Other community tools include creating groups, sharing encrypted creative swatches, chatting via an in-app messenger, and the ability to create contact details for each project, movie or show.
Alongside the web launch, the company introduced new web features called “Pro Search” and “Serendipity Mode” where users can quickly connect with others. . Participants
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The new ProSearch tools allow employees to search for talent based on specific criteria such as credit rating, representation, gender/project type, availability, location, professional affiliation and more.
Users can be recruited to lists where they can add comments, tag people they’ve recruited, and share with others.
Specifically, this tool allows users to filter search results to find different jobs. According to HUSSLUP, 65% of members currently differ in at least one of the following categories: gender, race and LGBTQ+.
The industry has been criticized for being underrepresented, so the new HUSLUP feature is a valuable addition to the tool.
In the year Of the 200 top-grossing motion pictures in North America by 2022, people of color (POCs) make up 22% of lead actors, 17% of directors and 12% of screenwriters, according to UCLA. Hollywood Diversity Report 2023.
Internet users will also benefit from “srendipity mode,” a feature that lets you “swipe” — or in this case, click right or left — through member, company, and community profile tiles. The maps are randomized to give users a better chance of finding a wider group of people.
The company plans to release more web features in the future, HUSSLUP founder H. Schuster told TechCrunch. These include project rosters, which allow users to retrieve staff descriptions and create call lists, generate anonymous statistical reports for tax credits.
HUSSLUP wants to create a search tool for text, images and videos as well as recommendations based on artificial intelligence.
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Unlike most careers, there are no set rules for how to build a career in the entertainment industry. In most cases, or you have connections in the right places, luck is on your side this week, or if you are lucky, you are a child who can do nothing.
Hence Husloop’s tagline: “Turning Hollywood from cable to cable.”
Schuster founded HUSSLUP as a solution to this perennial cable problem: “the unusual phone game,” as he and his team call it.
Schuster, an executive with 20 years of Hollywood experience, has worked on reality shows like MasterChef and The Biggest Loser and knows firsthand how difficult it can be to find new talent.
“When I sit down at the recruiting desk, I get five or ten phone calls to a colleague, a friend, a manager, an agent, and five or ten names,” Schuster told TechCrunch. “You don’t know these people, so you try to find their IMDb credits and YouTube samples of their artwork… It’s very painful and isolating and it can take a long time for someone to find and then look at it.”
“There needs to be a better and more interesting way for creators to gather all their professional information and create a profile that allows them to tell their story and represent themselves. That’s what we want to see in the industry,” he said.
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H Shuster, founder and CEO of HUSLUP
All HUSLUP profiles are credit marked to ensure that everyone in the app has worked in the industry at one time or another. According to Schuster, 75% of HUSLUP users are at least mid-career, including directors, writers, producers, editors, animators, composers, music directors, art directors, and more.
However, after the app is out of beta, the company still plans to invite students and recent graduates who want to enter the industry. HUSSLUP currently collaborates with several universities, including New York University and the American Film Institute.
The company works with many production companies, studios and organizations including Universal Studios Group, Universal Pictures, Blumhouse, Westbrook founded by Will Smith, Russo Brothers AGBO, Tyra Banks Bankable Productions, Don Cheadle’s This Radical Act and Women in Film. , among others.
In December 2022, HUSSLUP raised a $2.5 million seed round led by f7 Ventures and Fuel Capital with additional funding from Ulu Ventures, Jingles and 360 Venture Collective.
HUSSLUP previously raised seed funding from Techstars Comcast-operated accelerator NBCUniversal LIFT Labs in 2021.
According to the company, HUSSLUP now has about 6,000 members.
HUSSLUP, entertainment company LinkedIn is rolling out a beta version of Lauren Forrestal’s web app, first reported by TechCrunch.
