Warner Bros. Pictures Chief Mike De Luca knows exactly why A24’s “Backrooms” and Focus Features’ “Obsession” are breaking box office records — and it has everything to do with where their directors came from.
“They hone their craft online. Kane worked on ‘Backrooms’ for five years,” De Luca said Saturday at the Produced By Conference. “These filmmakers are in a dialogue with their audience from the word ‘go.’ Their subscribers have direct input in each iteration of these things.”
The success of both films, De Luca argued, comes down to access — the gatekeeping that once kept young filmmakers out of Hollywood has loosened.
“It was really expensive for a young writer-director to make a short film or make an actual full-length independent movie,” Du Luca added. “Now the tools of filmmaking have become cheaper. You can get something on YouTube seen by a producer, and you don’t have to go to film school.”
De Luca also credited producers for doing the work, singling out “Obsession” producer James Harris, who found Barker by watching shorts on YouTube.
“Good for him for getting to that guy first,” De Luca said. “But that’s available to all producers. YouTube and TikTok and Instagram are where oncoming talent is. Honing their craft and not having to go to film school, not having to get into some dance.”
De Luca’s comments echo those made earlier in the day by Blumhouse’s Jason Blum, who drew a parallel between today’s YouTube bred filmmakers and the 1970s film auteur movement.
“A little bit like the 70s, I would say the writer-director is the star again, which I think is fantastic,” he said.
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