I read that you began your career as the producing director of the Malaparte Theater Company (which was founded by Ethan Hawke). How was that for you and how does producing plays compare to producing movies?
Jason Blum: Well I didn’t find anything very similar between the two until we started doing these movies, and now there is a lot that’s similar. The feeling is very similar to the theater company which is kind of a down and dirty, getting it done for a price and working within a budget that, like you said, makes you more creative. Obviously we didn’t have a lot of money to put up these shows and we did three shows a year. Ethan and I are also on the board of a company in New York called The New Group which is a theater company, so I still have a hand in theater a little bit and I’d like to do more theater.
I think there are a lot of similarities between all these movies I’ve been doing that are low budget. It feels like a troupe and there are no trailers on the set, there’s no perks on the set, and you feel like a troupe of actors putting on a play or putting on a movie and the pace is fast. There’s actually a lot of crossover between the two.
Blumhouse Productions really seems dedicated to supporting the director in making the movie they want to make. How do you go about nurturing directors?
Jason Blum: We do less nurturing because we don’t work with first-time directors. We work with directors who have a lot of experience. I encourage them to take risks, we give a lot of suggestions, we give a lot of notes in the script and through production and on the cut, but the notes are voluntary. The notes are “if you think this makes the movie better do it, and if you don’t, don’t do it,” and I really believe that. And when you say that to a director they are more likely to do what you say (laughs). Because we work with experienced people, experienced people are more likely to listen.
How would you describe the role of a producer to someone who isn’t familiar with the duties of that position?
Jason Blum: The role of a producer is a cheerleader, a problem solver, and someone who remembers to put the movie first while being responsible for the budget. The producers the person who brings those two voices together, and no one else on the set is doing that. The DP doesn’t care about the budget but the line producer, that’s all they care about. There are always these two camps, this fighting camp for the budget and this fighting camp for the movie, and no one is really wearing both hats. That’s the biggest job of a producer when the movie’s actually happening is looking at both sides of every equation.
I understand that you worked at Miramax for a while. How would you say working there helped you in forming your own company?
Jason Blum: It helped me tremendously. I learned a lot about the movie business from working at Miramax and particularly from Harvey Weinstein. It was the greatest film school of all time. No one’s better than Harvey at doing what he does, but there are certain ways he gets things done that I couldn’t get them done that way. I remember working at Miramax thinking if I ever had my own company I would like try to do it this way.
Before that I worked at a company called Arrow Entertainment which taught me a lot too about the ins and outs of the distribution business. I don’t think you can be a good producer without understanding movie distribution. So I was lucky to spend the first ten years of my career on the other side of the desk as a distributor.
Most of the movies your company has produced have been from the genres of sci-fi and horror. Are there any other genres that you would like your company to explore in future movies?
Jason Blum: Sci-fi, horror, thriller, I’m into to all those genres. Blumhouse wouldn’t do a drama. We’re doing a movie now with Joe Carnahan which is an action comedy, but a straight comedy would be unlikely. Mostly I’m interested in dark genre movies.
That concludes our interview but we’d like to thank Jason for his time. Be sure to check out Insidious: Chapter 2 when it hits theatres this Friday!
