- Backrooms Director Kane Parsons is the latest YouTuber to direct a big screen project.
- The online video sharing platform has become a breeding ground for new horror filmmakers
- Parsons has offered his opinion on why that is.
The A24 filmmaker Backrooms The film has offered its take on why YouTube has become a breeding ground for a new golden generation of horror creators.
Kane Parsons, who makes his feature directorial debut with one of this year’s most exciting new films, is no stranger to the online video-sharing platform. In fact, the 20-year-old made a name for himself with a series of small-budget viral videos based on The Backrooms, aka the popular internet horror legend that this A24-produced film and his own YouTube series draw heavily on.
However, the burgeoning filmmaker is not the only YouTube graduate that Hollywood has recently bet on. From the Philippou brothers (talk to me, bring her back) and Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Arms), to Michael Shanks (Together) and Curry Barker (Obsession), the world’s largest studios are using the Google-owned social media platform to discover the next generation of nightmare-inducing storytellers.
They are not the only ones either. Let’s Players (collective term for content creators who record or livestream themselves playing video games) such as Markus ‘Markiplier’ Fishbach have also found success with their film adaptations of horror games, such as iron lung. Additionally, some YouTube movie critics, including Chris Stuckmann, have taken to making their own crowdfunded horror films, like Stuckmann’s. Shelby Robles.
With YouTube turning 20 later this year, you have to wonder why entertainment giants have slept on the platform as a place to find the next big group of talented creators. After all, it is not only the most popular online video sharing service, but many also consider it the only means to pursue your ideas and bring them to life.
So what does Parsons think about studios banking on horror-minded YouTubers, and why has it taken them so long to see YouTube as a hotbed of untapped talent?
“I haven’t gained the necessary industry knowledge to speak to the true depth of that conversation,” Parsons told me exclusively. “But I like to talk about YouTube as a medium in itself, rather than a means to an end.
“Creatively, I am very happy financially [on YouTube]but it must be appreciated that these [YouTube and the wider entertainment industry] They are separate entities. You can’t grow the same self-sustaining engine on YouTube as you can in Hollywood, especially if you want to make things with the kind of budget we had for this movie.
“If you don’t have those resources, the next best place to get exposure for a lot of people, including myself, has often been YouTube,” he continued. “It gives a very strong and immediate feeling of having your finger on the pulse, you can interact with your audience in real time as soon as you’ve put something online, and it’s been a really fun place to increase my understanding of my own art and build a relationship with my community.
“And I think the big studios are realizing that,” Parsons added. “A common trait shared by many of these YouTube filmmakers is having an established contract with their audience and treating the fans as if they are a little smarter and more aware than the average entertainment fan. So I can’t explain why the studios are finally taking notice of us, but I’m glad they are.”
Backrooms It is now available in theaters around the world. Before you watch it, take a look at our Backrooms Check out and see why Parsons believes some film and television adaptations have failed in their duty to fans of their source material.
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