Jeremy Garelick wanted a real high school. So he bought one.
The American High founder has turned a campus in upstate New York into the hottest filming spot in town for coming-of-age comedies. His motto: put the funniest people in a room together and let them prove themselves. That approach just scored big with Netflix.
Variety exclusively reported in April that Garelick landed a 28-episode order for “Minimum Wage.” The first 14 episodes will premiere on Oct. 26. The show started life as a web series posted on YouTube back in May 2024, made for under $2,000.
From Web Series to Netflix Order
Garelick’s full-scale production outfit was founded in 2017. American High Shorts launched online in 2022. The model has been simple: find talent, give them a room, and watch what happens.
“It’s the same philosophy we have with film, but in the digital space,” American High president Will Phelps says. “If someone’s doing something cool, we’ll just amplify it without all the gatekeeping.”
Garelick directed the 2023 Adam Sandler movie “Murder Mystery 2” and the show “Best Worst Weekend Ever” for Netflix. Working with the streamer was a natural fit.
“This is the biggest opportunity we’ve had at American High in terms of getting our stuff to the broadest audience,” he says.
Cast Members Wrote and Directed Their Own Episodes
The showrunners kept the ethos intact even with a bigger budget. Cast members Grace Reiter, Aidan Micho, Hyde Healy, Julia Dicesare, Luke Burke, Ryan Micho and Tommy Armstrong all returned for the Netflix series.
Reiter says the move felt natural.
“What an amazing first experience in a writers’ room and directing your friends,” she says. “We already built such a language working with each other, it’s like second nature. It felt totally comfortable to pitch things in the room and to say not funny things and to get ideas turned down.”
The original “Minimum Wage” followed a group of overworked teenagers running a pizza shop. The new episodes keep that model, but with a larger canvas.
“It was very scrappy, very homemade,” Reiter says of the original web series.
The Digital Pipeline Feeds Everything
American High has its own built-in audience online. The American High Shorts TikTok account holds 2.6 million followers and a collective 248 million likes across all videos.
Head of digital Tristan Hall oversees all social accounts and marketing. He describes the online sketch videos as “a Gen Z version of ‘SNL.'”
A typical week runs like this: brainstorm on Monday, writers’ room on Tuesday, production on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
“The nice thing about social media is you do get that instant verification,” Hall says. “Within 24 hours, we’ll know if the idea is something we want to revisit.”
American High focuses on organic engagement over traditional advertising. After premiering at SXSW in March, “Pizza Movie” — led by “Stranger Things” star Gaten Matarazzo — was released on Hulu in April and became one of the company’s buzziest titles online.
“Whatever studio that we’re releasing with will often assist with more traditional marketing, and then we cover the social media side of things,” says Surina Belk-Gupta, American High’s social media manager.
“‘Pizza Movie’ was a game changer for us in how we can use our company brand in film marketing.”
The Academy Trains the Next Wave
The Academy program was established in 2018. It gives film students from Syracuse University, Ithaca College and Onondaga Community College the chance to intern and work on sets.
More than 1,500 students apply for internships each semester, according to Garelick.
The company likes to keep folks around. Matt Sacca started as Garelick’s first intern, worked his way up to head of development, and is now writing a comedy titled “Second First Date” for the company.
Phelps started out as Garelick’s first intern before moving into his current role.
What This Means for Comedy
Garelick and Phelps see all their sketches as possible IP to pitch to streamers. The “Minimum Wage” pickup shows that approach works.
“It’s the model that other people were too afraid to do. And now turn the page, everyone wants to give those creators $10 million to make the next ‘Obsession.’ I think we were probably just there five years earlier.”
American High has a pipeline from TikTok to feature films. The cast of “Minimum Wage” started as a YouTube channel, wrote their own sketches, and now they are directing their own episodes for Netflix.
The company has also attracted outside partners. Jon Hurwitz worked alongside American High as a producing partner on the 2021 high school comedy “Plan B.”
“What struck me was the youth, which is wonderful,” Hurwitz says of his time on set. “A bunch of young people who were passionate and hardworking, getting experience in the film business.”
The Pressure of Success
There is pressure attached to the Netflix order. Working with a larger budget means living up to the original series for a wider audience.
But the cast says the transition was smooth because the foundation was already laid.
“It was just maybe coordinating camera movements a little bit more because now we have two cameras,” Reiter says. “We were more used to, obviously, the vertical frame and cross-shooting, but we tried to carry over all the things that made our digital sketches and web series popular.”
Key Facts Box
- 28-episode Netflix order for “Minimum Wage”
- First 14 episodes premiere Oct. 26
- Web series launched on YouTube in May 2024 for under $2,000
- American High Shorts TikTok: 2.6 million followers, 248 million likes
- “Pizza Movie” premiered at SXSW in March
- “Plan B” released in 2021
- 1,500+ student applications for internships each semester
American High built its reputation by letting people prove themselves. The Netflix order is the payoff.
The company has a pipeline from TikTok to feature films, and it has shown that the talent it discovers can grow from YouTube sketches to Netflix orders.
Garelick’s plan was simple: buy a high school and fill it with comedy. It is working better than anyone expected.
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