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  "path": "/lessons-from-backrooms-obsession",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-01T14:31:02.000Z",
  "site": "https://nofilmschool.com",
  "tags": [
    "Obsession",
    "Backrooms",
    "Horror",
    "Gen z",
    "Studios",
    "Independent film",
    "viral short",
    "The Backrooms",
    "that's a bad idea.",
    "exit data",
    "challenges in bringing younger audiences to theaters",
    "spec script"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nThis past weekend at the box office, we saw an indie horror movie and an A24 horror movie, i.e., both beat a _Star Wars_ movie at the box office. Each of them was directed by a young up-and-comer, and each of them also got their start on YouTube.\n\nFor the first time since before COVID, it feels like there's a buzz across Los Angeles, as executives and studio heads log back on to look at the numbers after a long weekend and enter their Monday morning meetings.\n\nBut what lessons should these people in power have learned from this past weekend? And will they change the way we see the market in Hollywood right now?\n\nLet's dive in.\n\n* * *\n\n## 1. Traditional Gatekeeping is Dead\n\nFor decades, the standard advice given to aspiring filmmakers was to save up, move to Los Angeles, work as a production assistant, and pray that a mid-level producer reads your script or watches the short film you made and loves it.\n\nThis weekend proved that is pretty much the past.\n\nI still think you can break in that way; I think that way will never die, but this new generation is not necessarily dependent on it.\n\nKane Parsons was a 16-year-old middle schooler learning VFX via free online tutorials when he posted his viral short _The Backrooms _ to his YouTube channel, Kane Pixels.\n\nNow, at just 20 years old, his feature adaptation with A24 pulled in an astronomical $81.5 million opening weekend.\n\nMeanwhile, 26-year-old Curry Barker honed his hyper-specific blend of psychological tension and dark comedy on his sketch comedy channel that's a bad idea.\n\nWhen he couldn't get traditional distribution for his early work, he just kept uploading.\n\nHis micro-budget feature debut, _Obsession_ , was snapped up by Focus Features for $15 million at TIFF. In its third weekend, it didn't suffer the usual steep horror drop; instead, it climbed another 10% to pocket $26.4 million, officially crossing the $100 million domestic mark.\n\nThese are massive wins, and I know execs are taking notice.\n\nWhat aspiring filmmakers should take away is that if you are waiting around for someone to greenlight your career, you’re losing time.\n\nThe pipeline can be as simple as learning and finding your audience on YouTube.\n\nAs the old movie line goes, if you build it, the execs will come and will pay you for your brilliant work.\n\nSo get shooting.\n\n'Obsession' Credit: Focus Features\n\n## 2. Gen Z Desperately Wants Original Concepts\n\nIf you look at the executive freak-out over the last few years, the diagnosis was always that \"young people just don't go to the movies anymore.\"\n\nIt turns out they do.\n\nBut they don't want to see another IP sequel or something they've consumed elsewhere. They want unpredictable, original storytelling.\n\nAccording to exit data, a staggering 86% of Backrooms' audience was under 35.\n\nThey showed up because they were interested in a story that spoke to them and that started online, where they got invested in the kinds of worlds they knew Parsons could deliver.__\n\n__The industry is currently facing massive challenges in bringing younger audiences to theaters, but Barker and Parsons bypassed this by utilizing the exact spaces where Gen Z already lives.\n\nWhen you cultivate an online community, that fanbase operates with a sense of ownership. That word of mouth is carrying both film and filmmakers to unprecedented heights.\n\n## 3. High-Concept Hooks and Lean Budgets\n\nThis is where I think our audience can mimic the success and find their own voices in all of this chaos and industry change.\n\nBoth these successful movies proved you don't need a massive VFX house or an army of producers to scare people.\n\nYou just need a hook that draws people in and shows them something they find relatable.\n\nHorror has always been the ultimate Trojan Horse for independent filmmakers looking to break into the industry, but what we're seeing now is a complete structural shift.\n\nLow-budget filmmaking is a competitive advantage that allows for immense creative freedom and massive profit margins.\n\nIf you can prove your concept works and it's scary, you have the attention of all of Hollywood.\n\n'The Backrooms' Credit: A24\n\n## The Takeaway for Executives\n\nPlease do not read this and learn that just small horror works and you should pluck random people off YouTube to make it.\n\nLearn that people want originality and thinking outside the box. This is not just a horror play; it's a plea for audiences to make movies that feel relevant to them or feel totally new.\n\nThe success of _Backrooms_ and _Obsession_ came about from directors who spent years building their visual style, understanding pacing, editing their own footage, and learning how to hook an audience within the first five seconds of a video.\n\nIt may seem like they're overnight successes, but they're really just people who have been working hard and honing their craft.\n\n## Summing It All Up\n\nIf you're a filmmaker sitting at home wondering how to make the next leap, look at what Curry Barker and Kane Parsons did.\n\nPut the work in both on the spec script level and in proving your worth behind the camera.\n\nFind a high-concept hook, grab any camera, and make something so undeniably good that the industry has no choice but to hunt you down.\n\nLet me know what you think in the comments.",
  "title": "What Are The Lessons Hollywood Should Learn From The Success of 'Backrooms' and​ 'Obsession'?"
}