In just over 20 years in Hollywood, producer Jason Blum has amassed an amazing résumé as a producer, and Blumhouse Productions, the company he founded a little over ten years ago now, has become a juggernaut multi-media force to be reckoned with during that time.
Most horror fans know Blum from his involvement with numerous hit franchises, including Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Sinister, The Purge, and Ouija as well as his hand in the soon-to-be newly minted franchises that have sequels on the way: Creep, The Gallows, Unfriended, and Split (with Glass). Oh, and there’s also the matter of the numerous one-off projects he’s produced as well (genre or otherwise), including Get Out, In A Valley of Violence, The Gift, The Lords of Salem, Oculus, as well as the 2015 Oscar winner Whiplash.
With the most recent Blumhouse production currently in theaters (Christopher Landon’s most excellent Happy Death Day), I thought it was the perfect time to ask Blum about what inspired him to become a producer for the next installment of our Deadly Dialogue series.
I think it comes from two things. The first thing was that my dad inspired me to have my own business. My dad had his own business, and I think that I saw that, and it just felt very possible to do. I really benefited from that because I think if he hadn't, I don’t know for sure if I would have been prepared to do it, too. I think it's very frightening to start your own business. When I started this business, who knew if it was going to ever work or not?
But the other thing was that I have always really loved movies. I really feel lucky that I still love movies, and I love television, too. I love watching a story, whether it's on TV or in a movie theater—I really, really love that experience. I feel very lucky because I feel like a lot of people who do what I do have stopped loving them, or don't love them the way they may have when they first started, or maybe they just look at them very cynically now. I'm still able to look at a movie or TV show objectively, and forget that I'm in the business. I think if that stopped, it would be very hard to continue what I've been doing.
[Photo Credit: Above photo courtesy of Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images.]
Next: Deadly Dialogue: A Conversation on Cinema with INSIDIOUS: THE LAST KEY’s Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, and Adam Robitel
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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