OVERVIEW  I  ABOUT THE PRODUCTION  I  ABOUT THE CAST  I  ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Oren Peli (Director/Writer/Producer/Editor) is a native of Israel who came to the U.S. at the age of 19. Back home, he had dropped out of high school at age 16 to write a highly commercial painting program, then became a full-time software designer, using his skills to create animation programs and, ultimately, game software. “Paranormal Activity” is his first film.

His next project, “Area 51,” which he also wrote, is produced by Jason Blum and executive-produced by Steven Schneider and begins production this fall in Utah.

Jason Blum (Producer) and his Blumhouse Productions signed a three-year first-look deal with Paramount Pictures in 2005.  Prior to that, Blum had a two-year producing deal with HBO Films and, before that, a two-year deal with Miramax Films.  From 1995 to 2000, he served as co-head of the acquisitions and co-productions department at Miramax Films in New York.  While there, he was instrumental in acquiring over 50 films, including “The Others,” “Smoke Signals,” “A Walk on the Moon,” “The Reader” and “The House of Yes.”

Since opening his own company in 2000, Blum has produced 12 feature films that demonstrate his unique taste and creative sensibilities. Blum served as co-executive producer of “The Reader” directed by Stephen Daldry, for which Kate Winslet won an Academy Award®.

Currently, Blum is in post-production on “Tooth Fairy,” for 20th Century Fox, starring Dwayne Johnson. The film is scheduled for wide release on January 22, 2010. Blum is also in pre-production on “Area 51,” to be directed by Oren Peli.

In addition, Blum has produced “The Accidental Husband” starring Uma Thurman, Colin Firth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan for Yari Film Group; “The Darwin Awards” starring Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes; “Griffin & Phoenix” starring Amanda Peet and Dermot Mulroney; “Hysterical Blindness” starring Uma Thurman, Gena Rowlands and Juliette Lewis, which aired on HBO and garnered Thurman a Golden Globe Award; “Hamlet” starring Ethan Hawke, Bill Murray, Sam Shepard and Kyle MacLachlan, released by Miramax; and Alexandra Shiva’s documentary “Stagedoor.”

Steven Schneider (Executive Producer) moved to Hollywood from New York in 2003, after completing MA degrees in Philosophy from Harvard and Cinema Studies from NYU and publishing a number of books on film, with a focus on foreign horror movies.

After being in a first-look deal at Gold Circle Films, where he helped find and develop the script that became the sequel to “White Noise,” Schneider entered into a first-look producing deal in 2006 at Paramount Pictures, where he remained for over two years. Over the course of that time, Schneider expanded his purview to include all kinds of ”dark genre” movies, from horror to thriller to sci-fi and everything in between. Shortly after entering his producing deal with Paramount, Schneider started working with Jason Blum, who was already on the lot, in a collaboration that proved so enjoyable and productive that he eventually segued into a partnership labeled Blumhouse.