A24's 'Backrooms' Director: YouTube Builds Horror Filmmaker Audiences for Hollywood
Director Kane Parsons discusses Hollywood's increasing trend of recruiting horror filmmakers from YouTube for feature film projects, citing his own experience with A24's "Backrooms." He notes that YouTube serves as a crucial platform for creators to gain visibility, build an audience, and develop their craft before transitioning to larger scale cinematic productions, with major studios recognizing the value of these established creator-audience relationships.
Key Takeaways
- A24's "Backrooms" director, Kane Parsons, got his start creating viral horror shorts based on the Backrooms internet legend on YouTube.
- Multiple YouTube-grown horror creators, including the Philippou brothers ("Talk to Me") and Zach Cregger ("Barbarian"), have recently been tapped by major studios.
- Parsons emphasizes YouTube's role in providing visibility, audience engagement, and creative development for filmmakers lacking larger budgets.
- Studios are starting to appreciate the established audience relationship and creative pulse that YouTube creators bring to cinematic projects.
Why It Matters
This trend highlights YouTube's evolving role beyond user-generated content into a significant talent pipeline for major studios, particularly in genres like horror where independent creation thrives. Studios are leveraging established creator-audience relationships built on platforms like YouTube to de-risk new projects and tap into pre-existing fanbases. This shifts traditional talent scouting models and emphasizes audience-first content development. Streaming and film executives should watch for further integration of social video platform creators into mainstream productions and how effectively these online audiences translate to theatrical or premium streaming viewership.
Read full article at msn.com
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