Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in
Speaker 1: which we speak with some of the brightest minds working
Speaker 1: in the business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with variety. Debuting
Speaker 1: in theaters this weekend is the horror flick Abigail. One
Speaker 1: of the logos you'll see on screen before it begins
Speaker 1: belongs to an indie production label you've seen attached to
Speaker 1: one of the big success stories in the genre over
Speaker 1: the past few years, Project X Entertainment company behind the
Speaker 1: Scream franchise. On today's episode of Strictly Business, William Sherrick,
Speaker 1: one of the principles at Project X, discusses their distinctive
Speaker 1: approach to horror and what's next for the folks at X.
Speaker 1: We'll be back in just a moment, and we're back
Speaker 1: with William Sharrick, who is back on the Strictly Business
Speaker 1: podcast almost exactly two years after his first appearance when
Speaker 1: Project X released it's very first project, the Jake Gillenhall
Speaker 1: action movie Ambulance. Welcome back, William, Thanks for having me
Speaker 1: so staying with the vehicular metaphors, What has the ride
Speaker 1: been like for Project X the past two years.
Speaker 2: Look, we've had we've had a ton of fun with
Speaker 2: getting to make a bunch of movies and a TV show,
Speaker 2: and you know, it's for us, it's how do we
Speaker 2: just keep finding stories we love that people are letting
Speaker 2: us go tell.
Speaker 1: And let's talk about those movies and that TV show
Speaker 1: we talked about Ambulance Off the Top. What have been
Speaker 1: some of the others that you've produced over that time.
Speaker 2: So we were fortunate enough to get to make Scream
Speaker 2: five and six. We just finished this movie at the Gale,
Speaker 2: which comes out this weekend for Universal. We had Night Agent,
Speaker 2: which was a TV show that Sean Ryan created on Netflix.
Speaker 2: We had a little movie called Bedrest that STX and
Speaker 2: two B took out, which was a ton of fun.
Speaker 2: And now we just you know, keep trying to move
Speaker 2: forward and make more stuff.
Speaker 1: Sure, and we'll talk a bit about all those projects,
Speaker 1: but let's start with what's coming to theaters. Abigail, tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about this project, how it came together,
Speaker 1: and what drew you to put this one together.
Speaker 2: So in our quest to continue to find great stories
Speaker 2: to tell with radio silence.
Speaker 1: Tell us what about radio silence?
Speaker 2: So radio Silence the filmmakers behind Ready or Not that
Speaker 2: I produced five years ago, now, I guess. And then
Speaker 2: we put them on the screen franchise on five and six.
Speaker 2: We were looking for another movie to do with them,
Speaker 2: and I was talking to Peter Craig at Universal and
Speaker 2: they had this script that he loved that wasn't wasn't
Speaker 2: there yet, and he told me this idea about a
Speaker 2: bunch of criminals who kidnapped a kid and some craziness ensues,
Speaker 2: and they sent me. He sent me the script and
Speaker 2: I said, look, it's such a good idea. Here's what
Speaker 2: we would want to do to make it a story
Speaker 2: that we think works for us and radio silence. What
Speaker 2: do you think? And he said, if you can pull
Speaker 2: that off, we'll make the movie. And we went away
Speaker 2: and we brought in Guy Busick to work to work
Speaker 2: on the script and take it to where it became
Speaker 2: the draft that we shot, and we got it there
Speaker 2: and Universal came through and let us go make it.
Speaker 1: And I mean, no offense, What is it about that
Speaker 1: premise that was so irresistible? Because I mean, I don't know,
Speaker 1: doesn't doesn't scream to me, so to speak, pardon the pun,
Speaker 1: a project that that was such an irresistible premise.
Speaker 2: Look, I think for us, For me especially, I think
Speaker 2: in the genre space, getting to tell really fun stories
Speaker 2: inside horror is something that I just enjoy and I
Speaker 2: think as a group, our whole group enjoys doing. And
Speaker 2: that idea of kind of mashing up a horror movie
Speaker 2: and a kidnapping heist movie and what happens when those
Speaker 2: two meet was just a really fun idea. And then
Speaker 2: at the center of that, you put a thirteen year
Speaker 2: old ballerin a vampire who set the whole thing up.
Speaker 2: Is just so insane that it felt like something we
Speaker 2: can have a ton of fun with. And the idea
Speaker 2: that a group of criminals who are in the real
Speaker 2: world find out they've kidnapped this specific person and that
Speaker 2: person then turns the tables. Watching that experience, for me
Speaker 2: is just crazy fun.
Speaker 1: You had me at Valerine a vampire, right, maybe that
Speaker 1: should have been the title of the movie.
Speaker 2: Well, it's definitely the marketing campaign.
Speaker 1: But fun and horror and that mashup. Talk to me
Speaker 1: about that, because you know, it's no secret that horror
Speaker 1: is one of the few genres that seems to be
Speaker 1: fairly reliable in theaters these days, and that's saying something.
Speaker 1: But what is it about that mashup of fun and horror.
Speaker 2: Well, I think for me going to a movie right,
Speaker 2: and to tie back into what you just said, which
Speaker 2: is it's one of the genres that really seems to
Speaker 2: be working theatrically. The communal experience of going to a
Speaker 2: movie for me is genre wise, the enjoyment of something,
Speaker 2: regardless of of the journey, is something I like when
Speaker 2: I leave a movie theater. So for the things that
Speaker 2: I want to develop, regardless of the journey I go on,
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, when I leave, I
Speaker 2: want to have had a really good time. That's not
Speaker 2: to say I don't enjoy movies that don't do that,
Speaker 2: the ones that I want to develop, and I want
Speaker 2: to develop stuff that I have fun with. So the
Speaker 2: mashup of those two genres for me is the ultimate
Speaker 2: experience when I leave a theater, which is I could
Speaker 2: be scared, I could be sad, I can be worried,
Speaker 2: but at the end of it, there's this cathartic experience
Speaker 2: where I had a great time. That's what the fun
Speaker 2: of the mashup is for me.
Speaker 1: Well, there's you and me, a bunch of middle aged guys.
Speaker 1: I would imagine that's not the target audience. I would
Speaker 1: imagine fun and horror is about attracting people who are
Speaker 1: our kids' ages, and that's really what appeals to universal
Speaker 1: and studios. It's about getting an audience that turns out that's,
Speaker 1: you know, half our age, that comes in groups that
Speaker 1: maybe wants to see it more than once. Is that
Speaker 1: really what's appealing about this genre and why it's a
Speaker 1: reliable draw.
Speaker 2: I don't know how to answer that. I think that
Speaker 2: from I think there's probably a couple of answers. I
Speaker 2: think on the development side, you have to develop the
Speaker 2: stories that you love, right, because you have to spend
Speaker 2: a lot of time with it, and you hope that
Speaker 2: that translates. I think that the fun of horror, even
Speaker 2: though you bring up a much younger demographic, which is true,
Speaker 2: I think that they work across demographics. Right. The question
Speaker 2: is is my generation going to the theater as much?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know those statistics. The younger
Speaker 2: generation is definitely the generation going opening weekend, right, That's
Speaker 2: that's what you're marketing, Toure. But I think horror, the
Speaker 2: genre of horror, spans all the age groups. So to
Speaker 2: pretend that I know what the kids want today. I
Speaker 2: just I don't know that I can answer that question honestly.
Speaker 2: As much as it is, I believe if you make
Speaker 2: a really great genre movie, all age groups can like
Speaker 2: it and all age groups can enjoy it. And that's
Speaker 2: when that's where casting comes in. If you look at
Speaker 2: our ensemble cast, I think that it appeals to multiple
Speaker 2: age groups. I think that having you know, a fourteen
Speaker 2: year old ballerina vampire is a very specific choice, and
Speaker 2: all those things tie back to why I believe it
Speaker 2: works theatrically right every one of those choices.
Speaker 1: Well, we're having this conversation a week after a Ghostbusters
Speaker 1: sequel opened up pretty strongly number one movie. There was
Speaker 1: some concerns that it wouldn't do as well as the
Speaker 1: previous film did, which didn't do as well as some
Speaker 1: might have hope. From the kind of ip that Ghostbusters was,
Speaker 1: I think it seemed to have been positioned more as
Speaker 1: a horror movie this time than as a comedy, and
Speaker 1: I think, to some degree, maybe you'll disagree, was also
Speaker 1: sort of like a mix of horror and comedy. So
Speaker 1: are you feeling good based on how Ghostbusters opened? Or
Speaker 1: am I making a false comparison.
Speaker 2: I don't think that's a false comparison at all. I
Speaker 2: think it's a I think it's a fair comparison about
Speaker 2: the state of the business. I don't know if it's
Speaker 2: a fair comparison movie to movie, right. Ghostbusters obviously a
Speaker 2: very very well recognized piece of IP right been around
Speaker 2: for a long time. It's hard to compare that to
Speaker 2: something that we're starting from scratch, and a marketing department
Speaker 2: has a much different hill to climb. I think Universal
Speaker 2: is crushing it in our campaign. It's they're the iconic image.
Speaker 2: They came up with it for me as spectacular, and
Speaker 2: I think they've done a great job. But I think
Speaker 2: it's hard to compare a movie to movie. But I
Speaker 2: think what you are hitting on is a what I'm
Speaker 2: hoping is a cultural feeling of I want to go
Speaker 2: back to movie theaters and I want to have a
Speaker 2: good time. I don't want to be I don't need to.
Speaker 2: I don't need everything to torture me. I don't need
Speaker 2: everything to be depressing. I don't need everything to be
Speaker 2: super dark. I think we're in this place where if
Speaker 2: you're going to spend the time and money to go
Speaker 2: out with groups of people. Let's go have fought, And
Speaker 2: I think that's where the two movies you can have
Speaker 2: a comparison to. I think past that, it's hard to
Speaker 2: compare those two as movies just because an IP alone,
Speaker 2: you know, Ghostbusters, feels like such a big Now, partly
Speaker 2: that might be because of my childhood, and I'm a massive
Speaker 2: fan of that franchise, and I thought they did an
Speaker 2: amazing job on this new one, so I'm just a
Speaker 2: fan of that. But it's hard to compare because when
Speaker 2: you're starting with zero from an IP standpoint, you're just
Speaker 2: a it's a different hill to.
Speaker 1: Climb, and here we are, I think starting from zero
Speaker 1: with IP in Abigail. I mean, look, you you rebooted
Speaker 1: the screen franchise so brilliantly, but you're not starting from
Speaker 1: zero there. You could conceivably just play it safer and
Speaker 1: reboot a bunch of old IP. Why even roll the
Speaker 1: dice with something new? Or is the whole point here
Speaker 1: that you do this right and you've got Abigail one, two, three, four,
Speaker 1: five coming out and that's the whole point.
Speaker 2: I don't know that I look at the world that way.
Speaker 2: I think that's it's a fair question. We we at
Speaker 2: Project X, and then especially when we're working with Radio Silence,
Speaker 2: you know, this was our fourth movie together. I think
Speaker 2: that the IP thing is a corporate strategy, right, or
Speaker 2: a business strategy versus just a creative strategy, and I
Speaker 2: think that they can coexist together, right. The idea when
Speaker 2: you see a piece of IP, if you have access
Speaker 2: to it or you can grab it or get involved
Speaker 2: in it, Absolutely, it's a great business strategy. And if
Speaker 2: you have a story to tell to relaunch something or
Speaker 2: you figure out a way in that you believe will work,
Speaker 2: great business strategy, great creative strategy. But that's for us
Speaker 2: at least at Project X. You can't just do that
Speaker 2: soly because there's not enough IP out there that everybody
Speaker 2: has equal access to. And then on the other side,
Speaker 2: producing is also opportunistic. When you hear an idea that
Speaker 2: you love, or you come up with something that you
Speaker 2: want to develop, you run with it and the hope
Speaker 2: is you can turn it into something. And this fell
Speaker 2: into that category, right. We heard an idea that there
Speaker 2: was a script that we thought was super cool, that
Speaker 2: could be something awesome, and then universal God loved them,
Speaker 2: gave us the chance to do it and here we are,
Speaker 2: so I think they can those two ideas can coexist.
Speaker 1: We'll be back in just a minute to talk more
Speaker 1: strategy with William Sharrick. And we are back with William
Speaker 1: Sharrick of Project X Entertainment. William, how are you feeling
Speaker 1: here in the as we close the first quarter of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four about the theatrical business in general? There's
Speaker 1: always concerns about the viability of this business. Yes, there's
Speaker 1: been the Barbenheimer's of the world, but we're still not
Speaker 1: quite where we were pre pandemic in terms of the
Speaker 1: viability of theatrical especially versus streaming and the like. And
Speaker 1: so I'm curious how you're feeling about the business.
Speaker 2: Look, I think that I'm an optimist by nature. I
Speaker 2: think you kind of have to be as a producer,
Speaker 2: because no movie gets made because it should, right, You're
Speaker 2: constantly trying to get stuff made. So I'm an optimist
Speaker 2: at my core. I will always think the theatrical experience
Speaker 2: is an experience that is not going to die. I
Speaker 2: just don't believe that. I wake up not thinking about
Speaker 2: the world that way. What I do feel as we
Speaker 2: develop the stuff we're developing, we're working with the studios
Speaker 2: and the different streamers and the different financiers that we
Speaker 2: have the pleasure of working with. You do feel that
Speaker 2: there is a sentiment right now that people inside the
Speaker 2: industry really want it to work, right, Like people really
Speaker 2: want theatrical to continue to work and grow again, which
Speaker 2: is great. The opportunity I think is sitting out there
Speaker 2: right now is how can you do things differently right?
Speaker 2: How can you come up with interesting models to build
Speaker 2: a movie, make a movie, finance a movie where theatrical
Speaker 2: is part of the equation from start, whether that's inside
Speaker 2: the system or outside the system, and then taking it
Speaker 2: into the system from there right whatever that is. I
Speaker 2: just feel like people are willing to be creative right
Speaker 2: now in the structure conversation, which to me is a
Speaker 2: really good sign. As you start talking to filmmakers, talent
Speaker 2: talent agents, filmmakers agents, everybody just feels like, Okay, how
Speaker 2: do we build this to make sure we go theatrical
Speaker 2: because that experience is just fun and I think we
Speaker 2: all want it to work. So I'm super positive and
Speaker 2: optimistic about it.
Speaker 1: And I would imagine that strategic philosophy animated your recent
Speaker 1: alliance between radio Silence and MRC Yes, that was.
Speaker 2: Born while we were on set for Scream five. Actually, me,
Speaker 2: Matt Tyler, Chad who Matt Tyler and Chad of three
Speaker 2: partners at Radio Silence. We're having a conversation about how
Speaker 2: cool it was that we were able to work with
Speaker 2: them on Ready or Not and then get them to
Speaker 2: be able to direct Scream and what that jump was
Speaker 2: and our access to the next generation of them, right,
Speaker 2: of these young, younger horror creators in that genre, and
Speaker 2: how much fun would it be if we could create
Speaker 2: a business that developed that talent at a fun price point.
Speaker 2: And MRC just they're unbelievable partners. They think about the
Speaker 2: world the same way we do in terms of making movies.
Speaker 2: And we went to them and said, what do you
Speaker 2: think about giving us a platform to be able to
Speaker 2: put a bunch of movies that kind of fit our
Speaker 2: DNA as we find new stories to tell in the
Speaker 2: genre with new filmmakers, And they were all in. So
Speaker 2: it just felt like the next evolution of how we
Speaker 2: all get to keep working together.
Speaker 1: Okay, speaking of evolution, you know, last time we talked
Speaker 1: two years ago, you seemed like you were out there
Speaker 1: looking for opportunities to grow the project X business. From
Speaker 1: an emin sorry, from an M and A perspective, you
Speaker 1: seem to be on the hunt for a content library
Speaker 1: as opposed to just being in the producer for higher business.
Speaker 1: Is that ambition still on the table?
Speaker 2: Where are you with that one hundred percent? I think
Speaker 2: that the hardest part is there just aren't that many
Speaker 2: libraries available. You know, they've been gobbled up by different places.
Speaker 2: But from an M and A perspective, we're constantly looking
Speaker 2: at stuff. I think there are some really interesting service
Speaker 2: businesses that you could look at to create a pipeline
Speaker 2: to deliver movies better, faster, cheaper, smarter inside the system
Speaker 2: and outside the system. And you know, some of my
Speaker 2: resume in the past, having run parts of the Deluxe
Speaker 2: Entertainment Group in the service business, lends itself to looking
Speaker 2: at those opportunities. So for me, I we look at
Speaker 2: it and say, at any moment, what is the right
Speaker 2: opportunity to grow assets to be able to allow filmmakers
Speaker 2: and storytellers to tell their stories. So we will continue
Speaker 2: to look for those assets as they show themselves. You know,
Speaker 2: the pandemic was an interesting blip. The strike was an
Speaker 2: interesting blip, and as as we look to the future,
Speaker 2: will just continue to track these opportunities and hopefully, hopefully
Speaker 2: that M and A from an M and A perspective specifically,
Speaker 2: they'll continue to show themselves.
Speaker 1: You've also got some interesting projects coming up that don't
Speaker 1: feel like the typical genre stuff that I would consider
Speaker 1: the specialty of Project X. You've got things like the
Speaker 1: Nuremberg Project, a Fountain of Youth project with John Krasinski.
Speaker 1: Are you guys heading to oscar Land? Is this kind
Speaker 1: of a departure for Project X.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think it's a departure. I think it
Speaker 2: is evolution as you continue to grow and build a slate.
Speaker 2: Right when you look at how you start, right, we
Speaker 2: started from zero with no projects, as most companies do, right,
Speaker 2: unless you start with a library. So you build your slate.
Speaker 2: You start with your core friends and family for lack
Speaker 2: of a better term of you know, writers, directors and
Speaker 2: those scripts. And then as you grow your slate you
Speaker 2: start to round out with just stories that you love.
Speaker 2: And we have the benefit of a best in class
Speaker 2: screenwriter as a partner in Jamie Vanderbilt, that that brain
Speaker 2: never stops from an idea generation and putting words on
Speaker 2: a page in a ton of genres. So it automatically
Speaker 2: leads you into a bigger slate of diversification.
Speaker 1: And you know, we shouldn't allied too easily over what
Speaker 1: you've got going in the TV space. I remember two
Speaker 1: years or ago talking about The Night Agent, like it
Speaker 1: was like, oh, yeah, you're also in TV. The Night
Speaker 1: Agent is a massive hit on Netflix. And I said
Speaker 1: to you at the time, like, listen, isn't TV kind
Speaker 1: of a better business to be in the movies? And
Speaker 1: lo and behold, You've got this huge hit here. And
Speaker 1: so I kind of repeat the question I made to
Speaker 1: you two years ago. Why not just be focusing on TV.
Speaker 1: You could turn The Night Agent into a big franchise
Speaker 1: onto itself.
Speaker 2: Look, I think for us we love the TV space,
Speaker 2: we really do. But at the same time, on a
Speaker 2: producer level, we are non writing producers in television, so
Speaker 2: it requires great showrunners to come in and build it.
Speaker 2: And you know, Night Agent, for all the work we did,
Speaker 2: do it really is in Sean Ryan. We trust, and
Speaker 2: he is just a genius and the level of creative
Speaker 2: and operational expertise that he brings to it is why
Speaker 2: that show is what that is right, And so it's
Speaker 2: about finding the right ideas, the right properties, the right
Speaker 2: projects that we can take to our friends and colleagues
Speaker 2: like a Sean to create more of those, as opposed
Speaker 2: to just saying we're now one hundred percent focused on
Speaker 2: the television business. It's a very specific space for us
Speaker 2: and requires those partners.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a high class problem to have. I guess
Speaker 1: let's just focus on the short term. Good luck with
Speaker 1: Abigail this weekend, and appreciate you coming back on the Podwell.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, good luck, take care, Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2: Be sure to leave us a review at Apple Podcast
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