Horror Producer Blogs Slamdance Film Festival

One of the sponsors of the Slamdance Horror Competition blogs under the nom de net "Grumpy O. Selznick":

"I’m here as a production executive on something called 'The Ten,' which the Hollywood reporter would have you believe is one of the two biggest buzz movies of Sundance. Look it up. I am also here for the Slamdance Horror Script Competition, which I am sponsoring and from which, I will be producing a horror movie this year."

Today he gives an interesting recap of the evolution of Sundance and Slamdance, and the rise of the horror genre in both festivals:

"In a weird way, though, Slamdance, because of the interest of the programmers in the horror genre and in documentaries, has been successful to some degree in breeding a commercial outlet for the films it shows as well (Mad Hot Ballroom was a big sale at Slamdance in recent years). As some of you may know, Hollywood is a little bit interested in horror (like a new one every other weekend in wide theatrical release) but hasn’t necessarily had the best luck in coming up with new franchises (see, e.g. remakes of every seventies and eighties horror film currently in release or being remade). So its always looking to buy.

"Anyhoo, as the horror craze continued, Sundance, which had focused on drama, saw that it was missing out on something (i.e. press from big popcorn deals), and started to program midnight screenings of horror films. Independently-made but highly commercial movies like Saw and Wolf Creek debuted at Sundance, where they were acquired (Lions Gate and Harvey, respectively) and released to good financial success (great, in the case of Saw). So Sundance had jumped in on the territory that Slamdance had monopolized in the Park City events of each January."

The entire post is worth a click. You can read it at donttellmehowitends.