James Wan: YouTube Filmmakers Don't Need the System Anymore — SkimNews
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- James Wan said at Variety's Entertainment & Technology Summit that technology has made filmmaking accessible enough that 'you don't even need to be in the system anymore to get something made,' citing immediate online audience feedback as a key advantage for emerging creators.
- Atomic Monster's first production was 'Lights Out,' directed by YouTube creator David Sandberg, whose short film went viral before Wan recruited him — a template Wan says his studio has spent decades replicating.
- Wan launched his own directing career with the short film that became 'Saw' and recommends emerging filmmakers make 'small, intimate movies that have a high concept' to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
- Wan credits the surge of YouTube-to-feature talent to younger generations who grew up with horror and became filmmakers and critics themselves; he traces his own origin story to seeing 'Poltergeist' at age 7 or 8, noting almost all his work still includes a creepy doll figure.
- Atomic Monster is developing three films, with Wan set to direct a remake of the South Korean crime film 'The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil'; the studio's 'The Last Kiss' debuted on digital Sept. 15 and 'Other Mommy' hits theaters Oct. 9.
Why it matters: Wan — a director-producer with billion-dollar franchise credits ('Saw,' 'Insidious,' 'Conjuring') — is publicly endorsing a pipeline that bypasses traditional Hollywood gatekeepers, which could accelerate studios' reliance on viral-audience metrics over development-deal pedigrees. His own track record, from Sandberg to a three-film development slate, shows the model is already producing releases, not just theories.
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