It only takes two movie watchers and a 0 dollar budget to make $25,000.
Eric Tabach and film maker Chris Nilsson used Zoom to shoot a 29 minute horror film that became a box office win recognized by Box Office Mojo and IBD. These creatives used the world’s pandemic to maximize on their talents with few resources. Eric shared his inspiration in an interview with BBC describing his shock in the decline of box office numbers that motivated their movie move.
“I noticed that the box office figures were absurd; $9,000, $15,000 for each movie. Nothing big was coming out. Blockbuster films were on hold. I wanted to find a way to get the biggest number.”
The key technique that won them their spot as top one-day revenue total nationwide is called “four walling”. Eric explained
“Four-walling is when distributors rent out a movie theatre and buy all the seats.”So they pay a flat fee to the theatre, and any money they make off seats goes straight into their pockets. The moment we realised that was an option of distribution, we went for it.”
Eric Tabach’s previous work experience contributed to the success of this horror film as he used to work at Buzzfeed making videos go viral. Team work definitely made this dream work. Nilsson wrote the script, friends of theirs agreed to be the starring cast, two well-known YouTubers- Yes Theory’s Thomas Brag and Zach Kornfeld from comedy group The Try Guys and an independent theater in Westhampton Beach hosted the sold out film.
Unsubscribe tells the story of five YouTubers who join an online video-call and find themselves haunted and hunted by a mysterious internet troll. You can watch it here and read more of their experience on BBC.
