James Wan, who co-produced “Backrooms” through his production company Atomic Monster, is one of the most prolific horror filmmakers ever. As the man behind the “Saw,” “Insidious,” “Conjuring” and “M3GAN” franchises, Wan knows a thing or two about what attracts audiences to the horror genre and shepherding up-and-coming talent, and he’s excited about this new generation of YouTuber-filmmakers.
“The YouTube generation has finally come of age. They grew up creating their own content with no money and just by being as creative as possible. This spirit ends up fostering a new wave of filmmakers and storytellers,” he tells Variety. “Every generation, we see young people shoot and experiment with short films, but the big advantage today’s generation has is technology right at their fingertips with platforms like YouTube where they can upload their work and get instant feedback from viewers. This allows them to react instantly to what works and what doesn’t work and therefore hone their skills. And platforms like YouTube are almost like a film festival for people to get their shorts/content seen instantaneously by everyone around the world.”