What do you make of the returns sofar in 2023?
SHERAK: I think that our business always has been a snowball and…all the cliches, right?
A rising tide raises all ships.
(L-R) Project X principals Paul Neinstein, James Vanderbilt and William SherakParamount+,Project X Entertainment
And you put all of those things in a group and you end up with momentum.
I have not had a chance to see it, but I hear its really good.
And thenJohn Wicklooks awesome.
Lions Gate/courtesy Everett Collection
So, you feel it, right?
These machines that have been idle get their hands on something and they go, Oh, cool.
We talk about it all the time.
It is such a thing we all love.
It can actually be, What are we doing Friday night?
Lets check out whats playing.'
I feel like that is coming back in such a wonderful way.
NEINSTEIN: I think pullback is a different way of looking at it.
Theyre not doing the traditional…
I mean, theyre doing a lot of that, right?
We did have a pre-Super Bowl spot.
DEADLINE:Getting Ghostface out on the town across the U.S. has certainly been one effective marketing tool.
But tell us a bit, James, about the genesis of this films story.
VANDERBILT: The way we build these things is, we kind of do them one at a time.
Were sort of anti, Hey, were going to set this up here.
What would we do different?
What have we learned?
What do we love?
Now, were writing for certain actors, as opposed to with5, that whole new cast.
So, a lot of it came from that.
It was a little bit like getting shot out out of a cannon, even though we started beforehand.
Going 14 months between movies is probably the fastest Ive ever done something like this.
So, there was an interesting parallel there.
DEADLINE:How did you arrive at the decision to takeScreamto New York?
VANDERBILT: New York was something we latched onto very early.
We thought it was very exciting.
We thought Lets do the opposite of Woodsboro.
And we wanted to do the opposite with this.
Im claustrophobic, so being on a subway car with 150 people anyways is intense for me.
So, a lot of it was just, its the sixth installment.
How do we keep this interesting and fresh?
How do we keep it scary in a different way?
How does this Ghostface feel different than all the Ghostfaces that came before?
All of that was top of mind as we were building the movie.
But how nervous were you about the prospect of takingScreamforward without her?
SHERAK: Look, she is an amazing person.
This story is amazing in the way it lived, and everybody in it is spectacular.
Obviously, the quality of the creative is key.
But do you think theres a ceiling to horror films success in the theatrical space?
How do you see the genres future?
VANDERBILT: I think its incredibly exciting because horror, first of all, is such a broad term.
Theres so many different types, whatever you want to call them, from slashers to elevated.
I use air quotes because its not my favorite term.
But you see tiny movies likeDeadstream, which is just incredible.
You have bigger movies like ours; youve got stuff in the middle.
Youve gotThe Black Phoneperforming the way it did, just based on a Joe Hill short story.
Its just a wonderful thing to go do, as a human being.
Its the thing that opened the door for, I think, the horror of today.
What do you think about that?
Youre not trying to figure out how to keep one specific character alive.
Its always somebody new, so you have the ability to keep going.
I will tell you, if they let us, we would love to.
I think thats kind of the answer.
SHERAK: Hes joining the Zoom in a little bit.
VANDERBILT: Oh good, okay.
So, we have that going for us that a lot of companies dont.
Its an in-house thing we get to build with Spyglass that I think gives us a leg up.
Its all sitting here, should the opportunities arise.
SHERAK: Thats the idea.
Theyre theatrical, they come out, they feel big, they feel special.
DEADLINE:Weve talked about the upside of whats happening in the industry.
But obviously, were also less than two months out from a potential writers strike.
Any thoughts to share about that prospect?
SHERAK: Not at this point.
Were going to keep our heads down and keep making content until they tell us were not allowed to.
And it goes back to the same thing, which is everybody should be paid fairly.
Well figure it out.
VANDERBILT: Im a proud member of the Writers Guild…
I feel a lot of unity from the film writers.
Talk a bit about breaking into that space and why you wanted this series to serve as your introduction.
VANDERBILT: Its been a great experience.
Is there something we can figure out?
And it was the last in-person lunch I had before the pandemic.
But, if I can mix the two, there might be a story there.
Do you mind if I take a look at it?
And we said, We do not mind if you write this on spec.
And thats sort of whereThe Night Agentcame from.
He just took it and ran with it.
I think its his first streaming show I dont want to be wrong about that.
But hes been in connection for a while.
DEADLINE: Whats next for you?
What can you tell us about the direction youre taking your slate in?
NEINSTEIN: We actually havea number of [projects]that we havent announced yet.
And were not just a place that makes horror stuff.
Were not just the place that makes action stuff.
