NBCUniversal wants to help BIPOC social media creators become TV stars. Their Creator Accelerator program will be working with eleven popular social media influencers including Erika Priscilla, Vijay Nazareth, and Sara Nahusenay for the next year on creator development. Each will be provided a mentor who will guide them through both scripted and non-scripted content for TikTok and move them through a greenlight process that helps them with pitches. The creators who have over 10M followers have already signed deals with Universal Studio Group and are going to make original series as a part of the program. NBCUniversal says that they are the first to be “expanding the traditional definition of creative storytellers to include young, up-and-coming diverse creators who are releasing original content on social media almost daily.” YPulse’s Celebrities and Influencers report data shows that 73% of BIPOC Gen Z and Millennials are interested in seeing online celebrities in more traditional content like TV and movies. (Deadline)