From Adolescence to Specs Gonzalez: Lab Talks

Insights from leading creatives who spoke at GrowthLab London

Joshua Barnett (After Party Studios) & Specs Gonzalez’s Lab Talk on YouTube & Creators at GrowthLab London 2025.

In today’s newsletter we’ve got tips and insights from three at the top of their game: Adolescence co-exec producer Emily Feller, leading creator/presenter Specs Gonzalez and After Party Studios’ CEO Joshua Barnett.

They appeared at GrowthLab London in two of the LabTalks sessions and shared their experiences and knowledge.

Interviewed by After Party Studios’ Joshua Barnett, Gonzalez gave analysis and predictions about YouTube and creators, while Feller discussed Warp Films’ evolution and the opportunities created by Adolescence.

Some of the highlights from their conversations include:

• playbooks for building successful companies

• where to focus your resources

• what’s coming down the track next year

• strategies for growth and resilience

• changes in the sector

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A successful playbook

When Adolescence became a global phenomenon for Netflix, it took things to another level for co-producer Warp Films, which launched in 2001.

The Sheffield-based company was already lauded for series such as This Is England and the Chris Morris film Four Lions, but Adolescence opened new doors.

Warp’s chief creative officer, Emily Feller, explained: “Some conversations with talent that you wanted to have last year, you’re now able to have immediately, so that’s brilliant [and it makes it] easier.”

The indie’s aim is to tell global stories with a British perspective, and Feller said a clear company vision has been imperative.

Interviewed by Derren Lawford, CEO and founder of DARE Pictures, she explained: “I think we’ve got a really clear brand. There’s hundreds of production companies out there and I’d like to think that we’ve got a very clear identity.

“We are very bold in our storytelling. We are very authored. We’re regional; it’s very important for us to have regional voices.”

Creator and presenter Specs Gonzalez said being authentic is key. The former PE teacher and huge football fan has created a large following across TikTok and YouTube with his comedy and Sky Sports’ social-first football match-day docu-series Scenes.

After Party Studios CEO Joshua Barnett, who works on Scenes with Gonzalez and his co-host Morf, said that when they started it, “we were sitting in a room with about 15 people going ‘tell us about what it is, beat by beat,’ but you can’t really script or showcase it beat by beat”.

He applauded Sky Sports for showing “a lot of faith”, coming from a more traditional world of sports production. “But to be fair, then they fully embraced it. And now... a lot of clubs embrace it [and] invite us down to shoot episodes of Scenes, which is great.”

Takeaways: have a clear identity and USP; understand the different pace and style of creators.

Lab Talk with Derren Lawford (DARE Pictures) & Emily Feller (Warp Films) on Adolescence at GrowthLab London 2025.

Where to focus your resources

Feller said that when she started at Warp she was keen to ensure money and time went into disseminating the company’s principles.

She explained: “One of the things I did was we pulled in our values and we made our purpose and values very clear... we trickled that into the company.”

She added that when Warp started shooting Adolescence, “We pushed our company values through production. [They] went out to all of the heads of department and all the staff”, which she felt worked well.

Also think about how else your project could make money in ancillary ways. Such is the impact of Adolescence that its scripts are being published, making it literally a successful playbook.

In the creator sphere, don’t focus your resources on scripting.

Gonzalez said the biggest problem when creators are hired by traditional broadcasters or streamers is “over-scripting. I think when it’s over-scripted, that’s where you kind of lose their personality. Because, as you know, most YouTubers come with their own audience.”

Barnett asked him if he ever felt pressured to “tone down to fit - when you’re coming into slightly more traditional worlds of production?”

Gonzalez responded: “For me personally, even when I speak to my YouTuber friends, I think adapting and being flexible is important, because there’s a difference between filming with Gary Neville and filming with Chunkz. I understand that.”

Takeaways: establish and share your company values; be mindful of over-scripting creators.

Joshua Barnett, MD at After Party Studios.

What’s on the horizon next year?

Both Barnett and Gonzalez are involved in Channel 4’s digital play, 4.0, and think it could have a “tipping point” in 2026.

Gonzalez applauded how they have embraced the creator mindset and for “putting their trust in us. They mix all the content creators together. It’s not too scripted.”

Barnett added: “I respect it. I think it’s a bold move from a broadcaster like C4 to invest heavily in 4.0.”

He said Channel 4 were “on a mission” with YouTube “for a two/three-year period, and went two feet in, fully committed. There’s a lot of questions you could ask about is it washing its own face? And I think it’s probably got a little way to go. But I think the premium ad revenue against it and branded content are coming in hot. I think they’ll start to see a tipping point in 2026, to really prove the model

Looking to the future he predicted more creator-led formats and “fully engaged content that could be commissioned by broadcasters [or] streamers; even brands are now becoming commissioners,” plus more “live creator events [and] live podcasting.”

Gonzalez also said: “I can see YouTubers presenting the news... I can see KSI and ITV News [and] these big platforms seeing a lot more younger YouTubers coming through”, with young people thinking, “This is going to be a career, I want to be a YouTuber.”

He also thinks that a million views will be nothing “we’re going to see billions of views being normal... a billion views is going to be the next thing.”

Takeaways: Channel 4’s 4.0 could show the way for others; creator-led formats are on the rise; a billion views could become normal.

Derren Lawford, founder and CEO at DARE Pictures with Emily Feller CCO at Warp Films.

Strategies for growth and resilience

The path to Adolescence being commissioned by Netflix was not straightforward, but some elements - and persistence - helped get it over the line.

A first draft was ready when Feller joined Warp in 2023, but the show was with a different streamer.

All the main brains behind the project - Warp founder Mark Herbert, Stephen Graham, director Philip Barantini and writer Jack Thorne - had, between them, worked together before on different projects.

Brad Pitt’s company Plan B was also involved, “because they had a conversation with Phil and a separate conversation with Stephen; so over that first sort of ten months, it was about putting it together. And then we got told it wasn’t going to go ahead with that streamer.”

However, “within three or four weeks, and it’s never happened before on anything I’ve worked on before... we were working with Netflix, so it was an incredible process.”

What helped, said Feller, was that “the package was very compelling. The story was very, very clear, and... we had built up so much momentum in our development phase that we were ready to go. And I think that was probably quite appealing to them as well.”

Feller also offered advice for those dealing with the stress of production, reminding the audience that when people get upset it usually “comes from a place of passion”. She believes part of her role as a producer “is to try and suck up that stress from other people so that they feel heard and listened to and then get on with their job. And I think you suck that up and try and get rid of that yourself.”

She does that by “remembering all the time why I’m doing this... because I still watch a screen, see something scripted up there, and I think that’s the best thing in the world to be involved in.”

Takeaways: ensure your package is compelling; during stressful times remember why you joined the industry.

Changes in the sector

When asked if she could change one thing about how UK broadcasters work, Feller said it would be “speed; hurry up and read something!”

She explained: “I had a really interesting experience, literally in the last month... we sent a project into an American broadcaster and within a week and a half, they had read it and set a pitch meeting, which admittedly didn’t happen for three weeks. But really, in the UK scheme of things, that’s nothing.

“In the UK, you’ll send something in and it just disappears in email inboxes. And then you do your polite check-in and every few weeks you check again. So I don’t know how you fix that; but just communication and speed... would be brilliant, to try and work out how to do it.”

Gonzalez said we’re seeing “a massive shift”, with creators entering the mainstream. He pointed to Niko Omilana’s appearance on Celebrity Traitors and Angry Ginge (real name Morgan Burtwistle), who made his name on Twitch and YouTube, appearing on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, with his Instagram likes rocketing up to 1 million.

Takeaways: understand the differences in different countries’ commissioning systems; creators are going mainstream.