Jason Blum

Responsible for several of the most profitable films in Hollywood history, Emmy-winning producer Jason Blum helped to revolutionize the horror genre with a low-budget but money-spinning formula which yielded hits such as "Paranormal Activity" (2007), "Insidious" (2010) and "The Purge" (2013). Born in Los Angeles, CA in 1969 to artistic parents, Blum graduated from Vassar College with a degree in Economics and Film before landing senior roles at Ethan Hawke's Malaparte Theater Company and Miramax Films' Acquisitions department. Blum managed to source the funding for his first production, Noah Baumbach's directorial debut "Kicking and Screaming" (1995), thanks to an endorsement letter from family friend Steve Martin, and went onto add Shakespeare adaptation "Hamlet" (2000), TV movie "Hysterical Blindness" (HBO, 2002) and summer camp documentary "Stagedoor" (2006) to his credits before hitting it big with "Paranormal Activity" (2007), a found-footage horror which cost just $15000 to make but made an astonishing $200 million at the box office. The film was also the first to be released by Blumhouse Productions, the company Blum had founded in 2000, spawned numerous hit sequels and provided the model for several other hit franchises including "Insidious" (2010), "Sinister" (2012) and "The Purge" (2013). Blum then moved into television with the likes of supernatural action adventure "The River" (ABC, 2012), paranormal reality series "Stranded" (Syfy, 2013) and sci-fi miniseries "Ascension" (Syfy, 2014), later winning Emmys for his production work on AIDS crisis drama "The Normal Heart" (HBO, 2014) and compelling crime documentary "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" (HBO, 2015). Blum also continued to diversify in his big-screen work, picking up an Oscar nomination for "Whiplash" (2014), and adding comedy "Stretch" (2014), thriller "The Gift" (2015) and musical fantasy "Jem and the Holograms" (2015) to his filmography, while still shaping the world of horror with hits such as "Ouija" (2015), "Unfriended" (2015) and "The Visit" (2015).