When Curry Barker moved to Los Angeles a few years ago, he thought getting his short films on the festival circuit would be his path to making it as a director. But soon he discovered just uploading his films directly to YouTube was getting him attention. His 2023 horror short The Chair landed him Hollywood representation and a deal to direct a $1 million movie, Obsession. Then in August, he posted the $800 feature Milk & Serial, which he wrote, directed and starred in. It exploded online, attracting 1 million views.
“It just catapulted the amount of meetings I was taking,” says Barker, who notes he met with practically every studio and major horror producer in town.
Barker, also known for his comedy sketches on YouTube, is part of a new class of filmmakers who honed their chops on YouTube before breaking into Hollywood. The platform allows them to flex their creative muscles without having to deal with studio politics, and it lets them build a direct relationship with their audience.
Case in point: Comedy YouTubers Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou were one of the surprise box office success stories of 2023 when A24 released their horror feature Talk to Me to $92.8 million globally against a $4.5 million budget. Veteran producer Samantha Jennings guided the indie production and notes the twin brothers have an unusual understanding of their audience. “They can practically tell you who’s in the third row, what they’re wearing, when they’re paying attention, what they laugh at,” says Jennings, who is also producing Bring Her Back, the duo’s follow-up for A24.
Fellow Australian filmmaker Michael Shanks built a YouTube following more than a decade ago with a comedy channel featuring video game parodies. Along the way, he quietly worked on Time Trap, a time-bending short that he felt was too good to simply dump on YouTube. But when a Star Wars parody he posted blew up, he decided to piggyback off that momentum to drive views to his passion project, which showed off his humor and visual effects chops.
“The next day, I started getting calls from people in L.A. Agencies and production companies,” says Shanks, who is repped by WME. “It got me in the room.” One of those rooms was with Dave Franco, who agreed to read his horror script Together. He ultimately boarded as an actor, alongside wife Alison Brie. The film is currently in post, with Strays producer Picturestart among the backers.
James Harris, producer of the Mandy Moore sleeper hit 47 Meters Down, considers YouTube one place to look for untapped talent. “The upside for horror can be quite big,” he says. That’s how he discovered Barker, with whom he is working on Obsession. Harris believes the 25-year-old filmmaker could make the jump to bigger movies next, should he choose. “Once he’s got a $1 million movie under his belt, then you go make your $5 million movie. Then you go make the $10 million movie.”
This story appeared in the Oct. 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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