Wednesday, December 7, 2022
A week had passed since Owen appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Honestly, nothing that happened over those seven days across his social media, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, was something Owen had anticipated. He knew the show had massive reach, of course, but he never imagined such a disproportionate effect.
Before the show, his YouTube channel had reached 1.7 million subscribers, still about 300,000 away from hitting two million. His personal Instagram hovered around 1,550,000 followers, and on Twitter he was less than two thousand followers short of 600,000.
But that reality changed completely in a matter of days.
The impact of The Tonight Show, combined with several factors that amplified his visibility, the viral clip of Jimmy playing rock, paper, scissors with him, the anecdote involving Jenna Ortega right as Wednesday was exploding worldwide, the news that two of his short films had been accepted into Sundance, among others, caused his public presence to double.
He was no longer seen simply as the guy who made Paranormal Activity, the movie with the highest ROI in history. Now he was being talked about as one of the most interesting young figures in independent cinema worldwide.
His YouTube channel crossed the two-million mark without him having to upload a single new video. It reached 2,120,000 subscribers, an increase of approximately 416,000 people in one week. Before the show, he was nearly 300,000 away from that number, something that normally would have taken far more than a week without new content. This time, nothing more than the right media exposure was needed.
His Instagram also exploded, jumping from 1.5M to 1.83M, more than 300,000 new followers.
And his Twitter reached 780,000, gaining over 180,000 followers in just seven days.
All of that in a single week.
To truly understand the impact of Owen's interview, it's enough to look at the performance on the show's official YouTube channel: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a giant with more than 28 million subscribers.
All of the show's interviews are published there, which means that dozens of different videos compete with each other every day. And yet, Owen's interview didn't just stand out, it dominated.
A snapshot of the usual landscape:
-Guillermo del Toro, one of the most respected filmmakers in the world, appeared on the show to promote Pinocchio, his major Netflix release. His interview, uploaded just three days before Owen's, accumulated around 650,000 views.
-Camila Cabello, an international pop star, reached 1.1 million views with her interview, which had been uploaded since early November.
-Wiz Khalifa, a well-known name in music, had a surprisingly low result: 120,000 views.
-Dwayne Johnson, The Rock himself, one of the most recognizable heavyweight actors in the world, promoting Black Adam in early November, reached 2.2 million views.
Interviews with very well-known celebrities usually fall within a wide range between 500,000 and 5 million views, depending on public interest, timing, and the clip's viral potential.
Most less media-driven names tend to land between 100,000 and 300,000 views. Some don't even reach 100,000.
That's why what happened with Owen was so striking. His interview was titled:
"Owen Ashford Shares How Getting Expelled Led to Creating the Most Profitable Horror Film Ever | The Tonight Show"
With a runtime of 11:05 minutes, longer than almost all traditional interviews, the video reached 3.6 million views in one week.
This was mainly because Owen didn't fit into any traditional guest category.
In addition to starring in and writing the film with the highest ROI in history, his personal story was deeply compelling. At twenty years old, he had been expelled from college and, after losing his parents' financial support, decided to finance his movie by selling his own car. That project, one that under any rational scenario would have ended as just another independent film failure, ended up grossing 143 million dollars.
That narrative: young, expelled, broke, forced to fend for himself and creating a cultural phenomenon, was far too powerful to ignore.
What Owen didn't tell on the show was the full, real version of what happened with his family.
His parents didn't simply stop spoiling him. They literally cut off all support and kicked him out of the house. But this wasn't because he had been expelled from college, it was because they found the house trashed after a party where there was alcohol and drugs.
That was the truth, but it wasn't the story Owen was willing to tell in front of millions of people.
Not out of fear of criticism. Owen knew, through the memories of the original Owen, that he hadn't committed any crime, he had simply been an irresponsible young adult struggling with an addiction. It could even have been interpreted as an even stronger redemption story.
But by revealing it, his family would inevitably be exposed on social media, receiving criticism for not having supported him emotionally during a difficult time. And Owen wasn't willing to allow that.
That's why he chose a softer, less invasive version: that his parents decided to stop paying his rent because they wanted him to take responsibility and move back home, and that he, out of pride and a desire for independence, chose to forge his own path.
It was the right story, one that protected his family while also showing his personal growth without reopening old wounds.
Returning to the reasons why his interview was so successful, not only on YouTube, but also on television and social media, it was because Owen had just finished working alongside Jenna Ortega, the name of the moment, at the same time, he already had an extremely loyal YouTube community of 1.7 million subscribers, and, on top of that, it had been revealed that two of his short films had been accepted into the Sundance Film Festival, something practically unprecedented.
Sundance announced on November 28, just one day before the televised broadcast, the 64 short films selected for the January 2023 edition. That timing coincidence generated a wave of interest that added to everything else.
One of the most viral clips from the Tonight Show interview was the anecdote in which Owen explains that Jenna has a rock, paper, scissors "method."
The clip on X, formerly known as Twitter, reached 18.4 million views. The title on The Tonight Show's official account was: "Owen Ashford reveals Jenna Ortega's secret… or does he? 👀✂️🧻💎 #FallonTonight"
In the under-two-minute clip, Owen can be seen telling the story with a look of disbelief as he explains that Jenna told him she was good at rock, paper, scissors, followed by the duel against Jimmy, where Owen puts the method to the test and it actually works.
Comments on the clip:
@addamss_wednesday:
I don't know what excites me more:
1. That Jenna Ortega has a real rock, paper, scissors method
2.That Owen swore to protect the secret
3. That Jimmy now wants to challenge Jenna live and we'll see her on the show soon
All of this is cinema.
@WTbeard2boyyy:
THE JENNA ORTEGA METHOD IS REAL!
@erikatrehouse:
I'm crying at Jimmy saying "WHAT DARK MAGIC IS THIS?!" and Owen like: I told you.
@copslibrary007:
Jenna Ortega being good at rock paper scissors is EXACTLY the kind of absurd detail I needed to know. Thanks, Owen.
@jamesmurray31:
Me: play rock paper scissors without thinking.
Jenna Ortega: 14-step military strategy.
@MsSkmAle:
I can't get over Owen's face when he says "it's a secret, sorry." You can tell he took the NDA very seriously.
@Jenna17Armyleader:
The mental image of Jenna playing rock, paper, scissors with extreme seriousness to avoid a three-hour existential movie gives me life 😭
@Pee221:
I can literally picture Jenna throwing rock and winning with a full Wednesday Addams expression.
…
If the clip about Jenna's rock, paper, scissors method became the most shared one, the second viral clip of the night was the emotional, narrative one: the story of how Owen went from being expelled from USC to creating Paranormal Activity.
The clip was posted on the same @fallonTonight account with the following title: "Owen Ashford explains how getting expelled led him to create the most profitable film ever 👀🎥 #FallonTonight"
The clip reached nearly 16 million views on X and generated a huge number of comments:
@princeicyy:
The most profitable movie was born from getting expelled from college, is the universe sending me signs?
@wednesdayaddamsfanever21:
Is it just me, or does Owen have a very Wednesday Addams level of calm?
Not cold, but definitely from the same elegant deadpan lineage.
@queenrobert2:
Jimmy: "Your movie grossed almost one hundred forty-three million dollars! How does that make you feel when you hear that?"
Owen: "…happy, I guess."
This man has already achieved enlightenment.
@karlcinema:
Owen's calm while his life falls apart → creates a movie → breaks an ROI record and becomes a millionaire, is the definition of casual resilience.
@Bellbellaz:
USC every time Owen mentions he was expelled: 👁️👄👁️
@deathsky0_0:
The guy created his own movie and shorts to skip mediocre auditions… he literally speedran the industry.
@DemitriX.:
The calm way this guy talks about his failures is therapeutic.
@shining47:
Owen tells his life story like he's narrating a YouTube tutorial:
Step 1: fail
Step 2: write a script
Step 3: sell your car to finance the script
Step 4: break Hollywood
👍
…
Owen was walking down the street with a bag in his left hand and his phone in his right, scrolling through notifications, retweets, and clips from his interview. He read absentmindedly, not lingering on anything, until one extremely long thread caught his attention.
It was from a user called @mediacommentary, with 56.2K likes and 18.4K reposts.
(1/9)
I've watched Owen Ashford's interview on The Tonight Show several times, and I think there's an interesting phenomenon here.
It's not just that he's talented or that his story is compelling, it's his calm that makes him work so well on late-night TV.
(2/9)
Most guests come on the show in performance mode: lots of smiles, pronounced gestures, high energy, and constant jokes.
That's the norm, and there's nothing wrong with it. But when someone does the opposite, the contrast is immediate.
(3/9)
Owen, on the other hand, is the opposite. He doesn't compete for attention, raise his voice, make exaggerated gestures, or seek applause or validation from the audience. He simply answers the questions.
(4/9)
His humor is something we don't usually see on television. A warm deadpan, not the classic kind.
In an environment where everything feels rehearsed, watching someone who isn't "putting on a show" feels refreshing.
It gives the impression that you're watching a real person, not a character built for press.
(5/9)
Another point in his favor: Owen doesn't self-promote.
He tells the story of being expelled, selling his car, and making a movie without drama or false modesty.
He doesn't play the victim, nor does he hype himself up. He just tells it in an engaging way.
(6/9)
Calm is also a sign of confidence.
When Jimmy congratulates him for breaking the ROI record, he doesn't hide behind a it was luck, but he also doesn't puff himself up.
(7/9)
That calm also amplifies the punchlines. With an expressive Jimmy and a loud audience, the contrast makes his lines even funnier. The humor emerges on its own.
(8/9)
Owen doesn't try to adjust his personality for television.
He doesn't speed up, overact, or try to imitate the show's rhythm.
I saw it in the vlog he uploaded to his YouTube channel, where he's with his friend, and he acts exactly the same.
…
Owen stopped before crossing the street, pocketing his phone almost immediately.
It wasn't wise to read the last tweet of the thread while cars were passing in front of him.
'Analyzing the interview this seriously?' Owen thought.
The thought pulled a brief smile from him, more curious than amused. He wasn't sure whether to feel praised, exposed, or simply surprised.
It seemed he had become a kind of case study. Strangely enough, he couldn't find much to argue against. The person who wrote the thread wasn't that wrong.
Most actors, directors, or public figures he had seen in interviews carried something rehearsed: a higher tone, amplified gestures, a ready-made witty remark, a polished version of themselves meant to be more entertaining.
Owen, by contrast, had shown himself as he truly was. He had only filtered out a couple of things, his darker humor and a few others, but beyond that, he had been himself. And if that authenticity worked better for him, so be it.
When the traffic light changed, he crossed the street at an easy pace.
The bag in his left hand swayed slightly. Inside were vegetables, pasta, chicken, and spices. Nothing particularly glamorous, but enough.
It was two in the afternoon. He had been holed up in his studio since eight in the morning, refining aspects of the pre-production for Good Will Hunting. He hadn't eaten since breakfast.
He could have ordered food, again.
But he was sick of delivery, and Sophie, as much as he adored her, was a public menace in the kitchen. So he decided to do something more productive: buy ingredients and cook for himself. He'd show off a bit of his cooking skills. They weren't chef-level, but they were decent.
When Owen turned the corner and saw the entrance to his building a few meters away, he noticed that a black car had just pulled up in front of the door.
The rear door opened, and Jenna stepped out.
She was wearing a slightly oversized black sweater, loose jeans, white sneakers, and dark sunglasses that covered half her expression. Her posture made her look a bit exhausted.
'Normal…' Owen thought.
With the Wednesday boom, it was normal for her to have press, photoshoots, interviews, more of everything, every day. There was no break for her, and an actor at a moment like that always wants to make the most of it.
Owen kept walking until he noticed movement off to the side. A boy, no more than sixteen, backpack slung over his shoulder, eyes wide with excitement, was heading straight toward Jenna. No hesitation. His phone was already raised, almost in front of his face, before he even greeted her.
"Jenna! Jenna! Can I get a photo?" he asked without really asking, stepping forward a bit too quickly.
"I never thought I'd run into you here!" the boy babbled, more to himself than to her, caught up in his own excitement.
Jenna stopped dead. She didn't step back, but she didn't move forward either. Her body tensed at that exact point between I want to be nice and this isn't okay anymore.
It was obvious: she was exhausted. Too exhausted to deal with someone lunging to within a foot of her face at the entrance of the building where she lived.
Owen raised an eyebrow and quickened his pace slightly. He didn't seem like a dangerous fan, just an enthusiastic teenager with no sense of boundaries, but still, this was where Jenna lived, and he was violating her privacy and personal space by getting that close.
He arrived just as the boy took another step forward.
"Hey. Easy. She's not going to disappear," Owen said, his tone calm, with a hint of humor.
The boy turned and blinked, instantly recognizing who was speaking to him. "Are you… Owen Ashford?"
"Yes," Owen replied casually. "Didn't know I'd be getting recognized too, alongside the world-famous Wednesday Addams."
Jenna, still behind her dark sunglasses, rolled her eyes at the comment. 'Is he really cracking jokes right now…?' she thought.
The boy didn't know whether to laugh, apologize, or faint. His brain was clearly not prepared to process two celebrities at the same time.
Seeing that the boy was probably fourteen or fifteen, Owen softened his expression and shifted his tone, firmer, but not harsh.
"Look, I get being excited to see her. Really. But if you want a photo, you can't just rush at her with your phone in her face. You could ask, I don't know… in a more civilized way."
The teenager swallowed, processing everything at once: the building entrance, Jenna, Owen, and how he'd invaded her personal space. He turned red instantly.
"Oh… shit. Sorry. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to," he stammered, taking a step back, embarrassed.
"It's all good," Owen interrupted. "You just have to respect personal space a bit. Actors, musicians, whatever, they're still normal people."
Jenna let out a long breath, not out of annoyance, but because now that she really looked at him, he was just a nervous kid, not a stalker.
She slowly took off her sunglasses, revealing tired but kind eyes. "If you want a photo… it's okay," she said, "Just ask more calmly next time."
The boy's eyes went wide, as if he'd just been told he won the lottery. "Really? Really yes? Thank you! I'm sorry, seriously. I didn't mean to… it's just… I didn't think—" He tripped over his words with each sentence.
"Take a breath and pose," Owen said, taking the phone from the kid's hand and motioning for him to stand next to Jenna.
Owen didn't have much patience, he wanted to get inside, cook, and eat something.
The teenager complied and nervously stood beside her, this time making sure to leave a respectful amount of space.
Owen took several photos and handed the phone back.
"Thanks. Seriously. Sorry again," the boy said, slipping his phone away as if it were a relic.
"It's fine," Jenna said, putting her sunglasses back on.
"Go easy," Owen said, lifting the grocery bag in a half-wave, "but don't tell anyone where you ran into us. Not your friends, not the internet, not even your dog…"
He said it half joking, half serious.
The kid raised both hands as if swearing before a judge. "I promise! I won't say anything!"
After that, he left. When he disappeared around the corner, Owen and Jenna headed for the door.
As they walked through the apartment lobby toward the elevators, Jenna glanced at Owen. "Thanks, though I didn't need a bodyguard."
"You're welcome," Owen replied, shrugging. "And I didn't do it as a bodyguard. I just helped a friend."
Jenna turned her head, surprised by how naturally he said it. "A friend?" she repeated, as if making sure she'd heard him correctly.
"Yeah," Owen nodded, watching the elevator panel that still hadn't opened. "Unless I'm overstepping, of course."
Jenna studied him for a few seconds, and her mind drifted back to everything they'd shared during the filming of The Spectacular Now: the rehearsals, the jokes, each scene turning into a quiet competition over who messed up less, how professional they both were, the comments Owen had made that had made her laugh more than she'd ever admit, and the afternoon they all went to see Black Panther with the crew.
And after that, since she'd been the one to recommend this building to him, they'd run into each other more than once, talking, staying in touch. They hadn't lost contact.
Out of all the projects she'd done, very few co-stars had crossed into her personal life.
On Scream, Melissa Barrera and Jack Quaid. On Wednesday, maybe Emma Myers. The rest were colleagues she cared about, yes, but not close friends.
And yet Owen, someone she'd only worked with for four weeks, had slipped effortlessly into that category. And he treated her exactly the same now as he had before the Wednesday boom. Nothing had changed.
Jenna finally shook her head slowly, a small smile she didn't bother to hide. "You're not overstepping. It's fine. We're friends."
Owen smiled faintly, and at that moment the elevator let out a ding and the doors opened.
"Besides, you could say I rescued you because you rescued me first," Owen said as he stepped inside.
"Madison?" Jenna said, remembering Owen's disguised call for help.
Owen nodded as he pressed his floor, then Jenna's. "We're even."
The elevator began to rise with a soft hum. Suddenly, Owen frowned, as if something had just occurred to him.
"What is it?" Jenna asked, noticing the expression.
"That guy recognized me… but didn't ask for a photo," Owen said, slightly puzzled.
Jenna let out a soft laugh. "Are you bothered by that? I didn't think you cared about those things."
"No, no," Owen replied. "I just found it curious. When he said my name, he sounded excited and recognized me instantly. It would've been logical for him to ask me for a photo too."
Jenna tilted her head, adopting an exaggeratedly thoughtful tone. "I suppose…" she said, pausing deliberately and looking at him, "you've been eclipsed by Wednesday Addams."
Owen widened his eyes in mock surprise. "Whoa. I didn't know you had that kind of ego. The things you learn…"
Jenna nudged him lightly with her shoulder, laughing. "Shut up."
"You might beat me in popularity, and by a lot, I'll admit it. But I'll remind you that in the acting competition, I won. Four to three," Owen said, looking at her with a faintly teasing smile.
"You wrote the script, it's obvious you'd mess up less than I did. And on top of that, the character was based on you. You had an advantage from day one," Jenna shot back in defense.
"Loser excuses," Owen replied calmly.
Jenna rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. She accepted the loss, even if it pained her competitive side to admit it.
"If we work together again, I'm going to beat you," Jenna added, her tone challenging.
Owen smiled to the side. "I'm looking forward to it."
There was a brief silence, almost a comfortable one, until Jenna said, "By the way… I'm going on The Tonight Show on the seventeenth."
At that moment, the elevator dinged and the doors opened. They both stepped into the hallway and stopped in the middle.
"They took their time inviting you," Owen remarked. "It's going to be one of the best episodes of the year."
Jenna nodded, more out of reflex than conviction. Something in her posture, looking at the floor, fiddling with the tip of her sweater, betrayed a hint of unease.
"Nervous?" Owen asked, raising an eyebrow. It was rare to see her nervous.
"A little," Jenna replied, lifting her gaze. Even if it didn't really show.
"Besides, I have to win a rock, paper, scissors duel or I'll look bad in front of everyone," she added in a serious tone, though clearly joking.
Owen let out a faint smile. "You've got your method, right? Everything will be fine."
"The method isn't infallible," Jenna said, crossing her arms. "And now everyone thinks it's some super complex formula… when it's actually simple. Couldn't you have told a different anecdote?" she asked, her reproach more playful than real.
Owen raised his hands slightly in mock defense. "What other anecdote was I supposed to tell? Those were literally the only two that were TV-friendly."
Owen and Jenna had taken the shoot very seriously. It wasn't until the final day that they even agreed to go see a movie together. They got along well, yes, but it wasn't a chaotic set full of hilarious stories you could tell on television.
After a second, Owen added with a half-smile, "Although… I could've told the story about how you saved me from Madison. That would've been the most famous one. Of course, without saying her name."
Jenna scoffed immediately. "Yeah, right. Just mentioning it would make the internet launch a full investigation, and we'd have a list of suspect actresses in ten minutes."
"True…" Owen conceded.
Even without naming anyone, all eyes would turn to the actresses, everyone except Jenna, who was the one who had actually saved Owen from that awkward situation.
It would be unfair, harmful, and a disaster for the public image of several women who had been in the movie and had nothing to do with Madison.
"I'm sure you'll win. And you'll prove your method is impossible to beat," Owen concluded.
Jenna smiled faintly, and a brief silence fell between them.
In the end, Owen was the one to break it. "Alright, see you."
"See you," Jenna replied, raising her hand in a small wave.
Owen headed down the hallway to the right. Jenna watched him for a few seconds, then let out a soft sigh and turned around, walking toward the other corridor.
'No… inviting him would be weird,' Jenna told herself.
She'd had the impulse, brief and unexpected, to say: Do you want to come to The Tonight Show with me as a guest?
You can invite whoever you want: family, friends, and so on. But in her case, her family wasn't exactly fond of media noise. They preferred to keep a low profile. No red carpets and no cameras, especially now that she'd become so famous.
Besides, what would people say if we showed up together again? Jenna thought as she opened the door to her apartment and stepped inside, dropping her keys on the counter.
Back in his own apartment, Owen started cooking, for the first time in days, with Sophie as an improvised helper.
The food turned out surprisingly well. A late lunch, almost an afternoon snack, but for the first time in weeks they didn't order pizza or anything like it.
After they finished eating, Sophie changed quickly, she had a photoshoot. Her mother, Margaret, came to pick her up and said goodbye to Owen.
As for Owen, he also had plans. He had to go to his parents' house to meet with his father and brother, not for a casual visit.
It was a formal meeting, where they were planning a negotiation for the sale of the Paranormal Activity IP.
He put on a jacket, grabbed his backpack and keys. He wouldn't be driving, he now lived just a five-minute walk from his parents' place.
'Let's get going,' Owen thought as he stepped out of the apartment and closed the door behind him.
-------------------------------------------------
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