What started as an after-school pastime has morphed into a cross-platform career for Newcastle sisters Georgia and Lily Grace McCudden.
Georgia, 21, is the face behind Georgia Productions, a humorous skit-based channel on YouTube that has amassed 1.04M subscribers.
On Instagram, 285,000 followers keep up with Georgia’s fashion and lifestyle content.
Georgia’s younger sister, Lily Grace, is also making a splash on social media, attracting 147,000 YouTube subscribers over the past three years.
From primary school swimming carnivals, to reading old diaries, or going to Bunnings with your dad, Georgia finds the humour in everyday situations, producing YouTube skits where she acts as multiple characters.
Her If Santa Was Australian skit attracted more than 1.3M views and 41,000 likes, and is a testament to the Australian humour that has brought her success.
“Since I started, my audience has largely been Australian, which is actually pretty rare,” Georgia said.
“America is a huge country so usually you ‘pop off’ over there. I guess America doesn’t understand my Aussie sense of humour and I think that’s why I attract the national audience.”
Georgia said her foray into video making began with a Christmas present received in 2012.
“I was given a MacBook to do schoolwork on and I discovered an editing software on it called iMovie. I basically started fiddling around with that and thought it was really cool and it became a little hobby,” she said.
“I started off using my webcam on my computer to film and I would edit these stupid videos to show my friends. They wouldn’t be scripted or anything, I’d just muck around.
“I got addicted to the validation,” she joked. “And I kept upgrading my cameras and editing software as my humour matured over time. Now here we are with a successful YouTube channel.”
That success has led to Georgia meeting with silver-screen celebrities Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
She flew to Mexico in late 2019 as part of the press tour for the movie Jumanji: The Next Level, interviewing The Rock, Kevin Hart and Jack Black.
“They basically needed influencers or journalists from all around the world from certain countries they wanted to target. They picked me for Australia, which is really cool,” Georgia said.
“I would describe it as a very lucky opportunity, [and I was thrown] straight in the deep end because I’d never interviewed celebrities before, so I was very nervous and shaking.”
Following the release of that video, DreamWorks reached out to Georgia, allowing her to interview the stars of Trolls, an animated box-office smash.
Younger sister Lily Grace, 19, launched her YouTube channel in 2019 after a series of cameos in Georgia Productions videos.
“I obviously had a lot of help from my sister,” Lily said. “She started a YouTube channel before me, had been doing it for a while and I popped up in a few things and people asked, ‘when are you going to make a channel?’”
Lily launched an Instagram profile first, which now attracts 77,000 followers and endorsement deals from major brands like Kathmandu.
“As much as I do dedicate a lot of my followers to Georgia, for the past year or so Georgia hasn’t been involved in many of my videos and I think they have just accumulated over time,” she said.
Lily said it was important for content creators to be across multiple platforms to drive engagement, and while she did have her concerns about Instagram’s power regarding body image, she felt she did “have to be on it”.
“It’s my job to wear new clothes and show pretty pictures, but I never Facetune my face or body or anything like that,” she said.
“I use filters because who doesn’t? But I try to show the real side as well. If I am having a bad day, I post it.”
Georgia is also very open about the ups and downs of life, admitting to viewers she struggled a lot in school while managing attention deficit disorder (ADD) and auditory processing disorder (APD).
“I used to come home crying or even sometimes cry in the classroom just because I never felt understood,” she said.
“I felt like everyone thought I was making excuses.
“Saying ‘I can’t listen, or I can’t focus’ is pretty difficult for anyone who doesn’t have [ADD or APD] to understand. I tried my best but I struggled with any subject that wasn’t Art or Drama.
“The reading and writing tasks were always a struggle because I think I also have undiagnosed dyslexia. I was a very slow reader and always needed more time, but exams only go for so long.”
Georgia attended St Philip’s Christian College and thanks her Middle School Principal, Mr Evans, for recognising her talents.
“Mr Evans saw my potential. He was the one that persuaded me to start putting them on YouTube to see where it goes,” she said.
“He also knew I struggled with pretty much anything that wasn’t video making, and he could see I was good at that, so I thank him a lot for my career.”
Meanwhile, Lily encountered some disruptions to her schooling in 2020, with COVID-19 forcing her HSC preparations online.
“The hardest thing for me was not having the break and not having that social aspect to get you through the day,” she said.
“I think a lot of Year 12 students would relate when I say the social life with your friends and even just talking to teachers really does get you through.”
Lily is balancing her jobs as a YouTuber, Instagram influencer and podcaster with part-time study at the University of Newcastle.
“I see YouTube as a job right now and I hope it lasts as long as it can, but I know these things have a use-by date,” she said.
“I’m studying Psychology at uni so that when I am not relatable any more and people get sick of me, I have a backup.
“But I do hope this lasts as long as it can. I do really enjoy it and it is my job, it is my main source of income – I find brand deals, YouTube, Instagram, all of that provides me a source of income.”
Content creators can generate income from YouTube AdSense, the program that puts advertisements at the front, middle or end of videos.
Creators reap more revenue if consumers view an entire ad without skipping, and even more if a consumer engages with the advertised product.
“YouTube AdSense is still a good source of income, but brand deals definitely pay more,” Lily explained.
“A lot of influencers just do Instagram, and I follow a lot of those people, for instance I follow a lot of mum blogs. You will see them do a brand deal for formula, or you will see me do a brand deal with a type of shampoo.
“You can get an income solely off Instagram, but YouTube definitely brings in more money in terms of brand deals because if I am advertising on YouTube, I’m advertising to more people, therefore brands will pay me more.”
Lily said depending on the type of video, it could take hours to produce content. A vlog might take a day for filming plus six hours to edit. Despite the labour involved, Lily said vlogging was her favourite thing to do as it allowed her to capture special memories.
Georgia said her favourite video at the moment was a skit called Types of Women on The Bachelor.
The top comment reads: “You should go on The Bachelor and give that show some much-needed comedy.”
It’s just one example of Georgia’s loyal fan base, which only looks set to grow.
To check out the McCudden sisters’ content, head to: Gee Thanks (a Spotify podcast); @Georgia Productions and @Lily Grace on YouTube; and georgia_productions and liilygracee on Instagram.
Lauren Freemantle