Andrew Callaghan.Photo: Courtesy of HBO
Andrew Callaghan, director and star of the new political documentaryThis Place Rules,is generating quite a bit of buzz in Hollywood and around the internet.
The 25-year-old director, who started creating funny and irreverent content for the web in college, has been slowly building a loyal following since launching his two successful YouTube channels,All Gas No BrakesandChannel 5. And his new documentary, which focuses on the lead-up to theJan. 6, 2021, insurrectionat the U.S. Capitol, began streaming on HBO Max New Year’s Eve.
Callaghan might just be the most famous journalist you’ve never heard of. So who is this documentarian? Here’s everything you need to know about Andrew Callaghan.
He was born and raised in Philadelphia
Callaghan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 23, 1997. He was raised there until his family moved to Seattle, where he worked on his high school’s newspaper and covered events like ajuggalo gathering and Occupy Seattle.
After graduating from high school, Callaghanreceived a full scholarshipto Loyola University in New Orleans. It was while attending Loyola that he began creating his now-signature man-on-the-street content in 2018 with his show Quarter Confessions. The series focused on Callaghan asking New Orleans tourists about their deepest, darkest secrets.
Callaghan launched his successful YouTube seriesAll Gas No Brakesin 2019
Courtesy of HBO
He enlisted his friends Nic Mosher and Evan Gilbert-Katz to come along for the ride and help create content.
He was fired from his own show and lost all rights to his intellectual property
After a year traveling and making biweekly videos covering events — including a Flat Earth Conference, the parking lot outside of a Phish show, and an anti-vax rally in Hollywood — Callaghan decided he didn’t like the foundational premise of his contact with Doing Things Media.
Originally, his contract was focused oncapturing “party content,“but after a year traveling, Callaghan decided he wanted to focus more on issues that mattered to him. After a dispute over how Callaghan covered theGeorge Floydprotests in Minneapolis, he was fired.
“I still likeparty content,” Callaghan toldRolling Stoneearlier this year. “It’s tight. But it’s not tight when it’s like the middle of a summer of protests and some f—ing dude in suburban Atlanta is like: ‘The Portland video is dope, man, but can we like shift back towards party content?’ It’s like, ‘What f—ing party do you want me to go to?'”
Callaghan launched the YouTube seriesChannel 5in 2021
After leavingAll Gas No Brakes, Callaghan launched another YouTube series titledChannel 5. This series follows host Callaghan and his producers — Mosher and Gilbert-Katz fromAll Gas No Brakes—traveling the country in a RV doing interviews for their more than 1.5 million subscribers.
“I’ve been filming a f— ton,” Callaghan toldRolling Stonein September. “I went to the Lyrical Lemonade festival, did some shit on O Block. I went to a White Sox Game.” Callaghan and his producers create a mini-doc at each event for their subscribers. “It’s hard to measure months because I move around so much,” he said.
The filmmaker debuted his first feature-length documentary,This Place Rules,on HBO Max
Callaghan released his first full-length documentary onHBO Maxjust before the New Year. The film — which promises to help viewers “explore the perfect storm of chaos and division that led to theJanuary 6 Capitol Riot,” according to HBO — premiered on Dec. 30, 2022, and began streaming the following day.
This Place Rules, now streaming on HBO Max, has amassed high audience ratings since its debut.
source: people.com
