Insurge Pictures brings sub-$100,000 movies to Paramount

By Sarah Sluis

Was Paranormal Activity's huge success last year a fluke or a new business model? Using a viral campaign, slow expansion and a geographical emphasis on college towns, the $10,000 horror movie became last year's $100 million surprise hit. Now Paramount's created Insurge Pictures to create more movies using the same techniques that made Paranormal successful.

Whatever the outcome, Paramount doesn't have much to lose. With a planned $1 million budget for ten films made for $100,000 each, the investment is a drop in the bucket. Insurge plans to release the finished products theatrically or use them as templates to create higher-budget, more polished features (the original plan for Paranormal Activity). There isn't a planned focus on acquisitions--my guess is that not many good finished films can be sold for that amount.

This model will attract young, hungry filmmakers willing to work for almost nothing for the potential of hitting it big and launching a career. With a planned audience of 13-24's, Insurge will be creating films made by people within--or not much older--than that age bracket.

Filmmaking has become increasingly low-cost and democratic in recent years. Channels like YouTube show clips made by thirteen-year-olds and watched by thirteen-year-olds. Insurge seems like an attempt to scale up this viewing behavior by releasing these movies theatrically.

Nevertheless, the venture might fail as easily as it might succeed. Was Paranormal a one in a thousand movie, or a one in ten movie? One thing I am sure of: more low-budget movies will find ways to be distributed and make money, whether it's on the internet, at the local theatre, or through a major studio like Paramount.

Note: While IndieWire broke the story on March 11, supposedly pending an official announcement, we're still waiting for it a week later. The website and Facebook page mentioned in the article couldn't be readily found, and the Twitter account had protected tweets, leading me to believe they've been pulled until the studio is ready for a full-on launch.