Former Disney and Discovery LatAm exec Carolina Lightcap has partnered with three other industry vets to launch ShowUp Studios, which will major in producing content for Gen Z on YouTube and TikTok.
Lightcap runs LightCubed Media having previously had roles including President of Disney Channels Worldwide and Chief Content Officer of Discovery Latin America/U.S. Hispanic. For ShowUp Studios she has teamed with Mariano Chihade, Demián Falestchi and Federico Lauría.
ShowUp has initiated a pre-seed funding round. In the second half of the year it plans to host upfront presentations to showcase its IP to advertisers before putting shows into production.
The newly-minted label will make Gen Z-focused content using, it said, a model focused on free programming for digital platforms, supported by advertising and brand integrations.
It has lofty ambitions, with a goal to produce over 4,500 episodes within its first five years. The content will span a variety of genres, formats, and runtimes and take in both vertical and horizontal video, as well as live-action and animation.
Lightcap is based in Madrid, Spain, and will run the new outfit. “ShowUp Studios was born with the ambition to build a studio and digital premium content ecosystem that is scalable and deeply centered on Gen Z —meeting this generation on the platforms where they already live; ensuring their voice is present at every stage of the process, and listening to their feedback as an audience day-by-day to deliver the content they are looking for,” she said.
Lightcap’s associates come from different parts of the entertainment world. Chihade is the founder of indie prodco Mandarina. Falestchi is founder of Kidscorp, an advertising technology company specialized in reaching young audiences in LatAm. Lauría, meanwhile, is the founder of Dale Play, which works across music, gaming, live events and management.
