Hollywood has spent years chasing the next big thing, but some of the most interesting ideas right now aren’t necessarily coming from the traditional studio system. Films like Backrooms and Obsession have found huge audiences by feeling different – strange, ambitious and a little outside the usual Hollywood formula. They’ve tapped into something audiences seem to be craving: original ideas that don’t feel like they were designed by committee.
For Lightcraft co-founder and president Elijah Welch, that shift says a lot about where filmmaking is heading. “People look online, and you just see a lot of people going, ‘Where’s an original story? Where’s something I haven’t seen? Where’s something that feels fresh?’” he says.
