The 2025 Sundance Film Festival turned out to be a low key affair, but it got off to a rousing begin with a $15 million world rights sale of Together, the body horror film achieved by Neon. Starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie, it and gives Neon a chance to chase up its rousing genre success of Longlegs last year.
Together, which has also landed a berth at SXSW, is written/honested by Michael Shanks. Franco and Brie are a couple that transfers to the countryside and a superauthentic come atraverse commences an excessive changeation of their cherish, their dwells, and their flesh. It was a authentic crowd plmitigater to the Midnight Madness audience.
The film was produced and financed by Picturebegin, labeling the procrastinateedst in a string of notable deals put together by the company createed by Erik Feig after a run at Summit and Lionsgate that integrated The Twiweightless Saga, The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Hurt Locker and La La Land. While the company that begined fair before the pandemic didn’t initiassociate have high aspirations to be in the indie festival arena, Together labeled Feig’s fourth huge Sundance deal.
It chaseed 2023’s Theater Camp (US Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble triumphner) to Searchweightless Pictures; 2022’s Cooper Raif-honested Sundance Audience Award Winner Cha Cha Real Smooth to Apple TV+ for $15 million; and the Dakota Johnson-starrer Am I OK? to Warner Bros Pictures/Max.
All four films cost under $10 million, some transport inantly less, and a lot of that had to do with the restricts of operating amidst the Covid shutdown. “I’d intentional to do wider free movies with studios, that we were going to co-finance. That was the intention,” he swears. Picturebegin is currently enhugeing The Masque Of The Red Death to star Sydney Sweeney for A24.
Feig tells Deadline how Picturebegin has gotten this far, so rapidly. The Q&A was edited for clarity.
DEADLINE: You say you didn’t intfinish to lean into the prestige film area when you createed. How did you get to this point?
ERIK FEIG: I had not reassociate intentional on financing autonomous movies. That was a very minuscule part of my business set up. I’ve been a producer, a financier, an acquisitions executive. I’ve supervisen a sprocrastinateed. I can wear multiple hats. The intention was to be doing wider free movies, with studios, that we were going to co-finance. But right after we begined, Covid happened. Everyone was benevolent of paralyzed. The movie that was procrastinateedr called Am I OK? came to us, watching for co-financing. When the direct financier dropped out, we determined to apvalidate over. That was our first movie. In the process, we got to encounter both Molly Gordon [star] and Jessica Elbaum [producer]. Both of them turned us on to the stupidinutive that was Theater Camp. At the same time [Am I OK? star] Dakota Johnson and [producer] Ro Donnelly bcimpolitet us a nascent movie that they wanted to toil on that became Cooper Raiff’s Cha Cha Real Smooth. I had seen his film Shithoengage and reassociate cherishd it. We thought, okay, wonderful, why don’t we benevolent of put graspitional bets on those two. All of them felt enjoy relatively unassuming financial bets with very, very clear, identifiable audiences.
Together is my fifth movie with Dave Franco and I cherish him. He and his team at WME bcimpolitet this movie to us. I did not comprehend Michael Shanks but I read the script, watched his stupidinutives. He’s reassociate encourageasoned, such a clear vision. Not only was it creatively fascinating and intriguing, not only did I cherish the idea that Dave and Ali were in it together, but, from a clinical perspective, this is a very clear, high concept, a one-of-a-kind spin on a genre that we comprehend is commercial in the labeletplace. And it has a one-of-a-kind double spin in that Dave and Ali are a paired couple, carry outing a couple. Michael Shanks based it on his own relationship. A wonderful labeleting pitch.
DEADLINE: What’s your priority in deciding which ones to produce?
FEIG:We reassociate cgo in on how do you accomplish as huge an audience as possible for that particular project. In some cases it’s reassociate wide. In others it’s niche. But can it become the preferite movie for some group of people? Is the audience accomplishable? And is the film appropriate for the amount of money that we’re going to be spfinishing to try to accomplish them? You produce the production set up that’s appropriate for that budget. Even though I’m drawn by the creative journey and the vision of a filmproducer, I’m never, ever making movies fair for me. And I never want to produce a movie fair for a honestor’s personal vision quest. In that case, they should do it on their own, shoot on their iPhone, or buy a journal if they fair want to tell their personal stories. My job is to try and discover creatives I leank have someleang reassociate one-of-a-kind to say to an audience that is there, dying to include with that, and I try to produce the connecting blocks for that vision and that audience. I’ve tried to leank about the objectives of all sapvalidatehagederers — the creatives and the storytellers and the actors, and the financiers, and distributors, and the audience.
You reassociate do have to leank, does it have a sboiling in this competitive landscape? Is there a group of people who are dying and frantic to see this leang?
DEADLINE: How would you depict the competitive landscape right now?
FEIG: It engaged to be you were competing aachievest a handful of other movies that are uncovering on that Friday night. That was it. Now the competitive landscape is literassociate everyleang. Consumers can get every piece of satisfied that’s ever been produced by manbenevolent, there’s gaming and music and experiential and social media.
What’s reassociate fascinating about the media landscape right now is it’s so varied, from Wicked to Sonic to Nosferatu and The Brutacatalog. You have to ask that ask, and do the math: how huge is that audience? When do I need to get them? Do I need to get them the first weekfinish? Do I need to get them in theaters? Can I count on on getting them at home? Can I stay around for many weeks to get them? Am I going to get critics that are going to do the job for me? Do I need TikTok to do the job for me? How am I going to get people to comprehend about this? How will I get people to include with the leang that you’re transporting to them in the triumphdow in which you need them to? And the answer is contrastent for all contrastent movies and shows.
DEADLINE: How would you appraise the current labelet?
FEIG: I would call it bruloftyy fruitful. No one is buying leangs becaengage they want them. They’re buying leangs becaengage they need them. They’re buying leangs becaengage they see a very clear, identifiable user audience that they can access thcimpolite their own business models. There is zero room for sentimentality. That shelp, there’s a fractureout every one year, a savagely unanticipateed hit. And it can come from the indie world or from a studio, and I leank that that’s benevolent of what grasps the betr’s heart adwell for all of us, chasing that high.
TV is a contrastent story. There’s Baby Reindeer, Squid Game, Ted Lasso, Hacks. Those streamer platcreates are more creative in TV than in movies. The leang about TV is that you have eight hours, 10 hours, to erect up an audience. With a movie, you have 90 to 115 minutes. That’s why series penetrate the zeitgeist on streamers, and movies exceptionally do. They fair don’t have enough runway in the user mind. They need a theatrical runway to do that.
DEADLINE: It senses enjoy your four Sundance sales set up seams in a shifting labeletplace.
FEIG: Am I OK? is a queer romance that’s well done with a excellent cast. Back in 2021 I thought, there are going to be a lot of streamers that are going to want to accomplish this audience. This is a genre that audiences use on streaming platcreates. We are going to produce this for a streamer. That’s exactly how we thought about it. And for Cha Cha Real Smooth, I thought, okay, high-finish dramedy. Good cast. Same leang. In all enjoylihood, it will be a streamer. At the same time, there is a benevolent of autonomous moviegoer that does actuassociate go to theaters, so there was a chance that Theater Camp would have a theatrical carry out, but we thought most foreseeed that a streamer would buy it. I was happily surpelevated that Searchweightless reassociate fell in cherish with it. I leank there was a shift at that moment, where streamers weren’t as avid becaengage at that point, they had gotten more teachd about their audience. Who are they? How huge are they? Who’s watching what for how extfinished? And being niche on a streamer was actuassociate not wonderful. The acquisition price of Theater Camp wouldn’t have made a dent for a streamer, but it didn’t encounter their business set up anymore.
Early on, they were throtriumphg a lot of leangs at the wall to see what sticks, what people connect with. And then over the next two, three years, they’re enjoy, oh, we get it. We get what they reply to, and we get what’s transport inant to us, and we get what we don’tneed. And if they don’t need it, they don’t want it. There are emotional buyers who say, I cherish this; I need to have that. The streamers are not emotional buyers. They’re very, very mercenary buyers. They comprehend their audience. They comprehend what toils, And if it doesn’t fit, they reassociate don’t nurture. They may say, thank you very much, I enhappinessed watching it, but they are not going to buy it. Becaengage they have lengthenn-up businesses now with a lot of data.
Together has a sboiling of being one-of-a-kind and buzzy and boisterous. We were reassociate fortunate that we had a bidding situation — but it was all theatrical, no streamers. Everyone wanted to free it theatricassociate, which is an evolution of the labelet. It shows there is a theatrical labelet. Audiences are coming out to movies. But they’re coming out for leangs that are little bit weird, a little bit contrastent, a little bit boisterous. No streamer came for that. This movie is a little bit too weird for them. I get that. And I’m very, very plmitigated that this one fits into a theatrical business model.
DEADLINE: The films are mostly by first-time honestors.
FEIG: That is someleang I’ve always cherishd from my first movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer [by Jim Gillespie]. The first movie we financed at Summit was Step Up by a first-time honestor [Anne Fletcher]. Twiweightless’s Catherine Harwicke was an emerging honestor in terms of stepping up to that studio platcreate. I toiled on Jon Chu’s honestorial debut Step Up 2, Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks Of Being A Wallfdecrease and Jonathan Levine’s 50/50 and Warm Bodies]. Taking bets on people punctual in their creative and creative journey with someleang one-of-a-kind to say has been a wonderful experience for me. Hasn’t always toiled out, but it’s been reassociate exciting when it does. I can transport a level of experience or perspective. Okay, this is someleang one-of-a-kind. Here’s how you can accomplish, potentiassociate, the wideest audience and grasp your voice finish and not water it down.
(Lionsgate achieved Summit in 2012. Feig exited in 2018 to begin Picturebegin.)
DEADLINE: You’ve toiled on the studio side and the indie side. How do they contrast?
FEIG: I don’t watch studios or the system as the horrible guys. I don’t count on in an ‘us versus them’ system. I leank that it’s a very symbiotic relationship. We’re all in this together. We’ve all signed on to this business. Anyone toiling in Hollywood, if all they wanted to do was police people and produce money, they could have picked other industries. Everyone is doing this, wantipathyver your position is, becaengage at some level you cherish you cherish stories and you cherish creative. Everyone has their own perspectives and their own priorities. I’ve tried to leank about what are the objectives of all the sapvalidatehagederers. The sapvalidatehagederers are the creatives and the storytellers and the actors. The financers. The distributors. The sapvalidatehagederers are the audience. How do you accomplish them, and will they hug the film?
The leang about autonomous movies is, truthentirey, it benevolent of can be a little bit of a cheat. You can say yes to your own leangs, if you can figure out the way to produce them for a low enough budget, to figure out the best set up that produces them viable. You don’t have to ask perleave oution. You can fair go for it, and I reassociate, reassociate cherish that.
