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A trio of Dark Sky Films titles have made their way onto Screambox this Friday the 13th!

A young couple find themselves face to face with a terrifying evil when they venture into the heart of Bigfoot country in Willow Creek, director Bobcat Goldthwait’s unique spin on the horror genre.

“Looking to make a splash with his research videos into the existence of Bigfoot, Jim (Bryce Johnson) and his skeptical girlfriend Kelly (Alexie Gilmore) take a camping trip to the mountains surrounding Willow Creek, California, a small town where famous footage of the legendary Sasquatch was filmed decades earlier. Jim believes Bigfoot exists and is intent on finding the very spot where the huge, hairy, man-like creature supposedly strode.

But before long, Jim and Kelly are lost in the woods and discover that someone – or something – is stalking them. With each passing night bringing unknowable danger, the two must...

Two political consultants who advised on “Succession” were shocked by how “chilling” Sunday night’s episode was and how “eerily prescient” the writers of the HBO drama continue to be.

Season 4’s eighth episode, titled “America Decides,” sees the Roy siblings squabble with one another and put their thumb on the scale in Atn’s first election night coverage since the shocking death of their father, Logan (Brian Cox). The fictional network ends up calling the state of Wisconsin before all the votes can be counted in favor of Jeryd Mencken and later calls the entire election for the far-right presidential candidate.

In an interview segment reflecting on the episode Monday night, CNN’s Jake Tapper drew parallels between the show, the behind-the-scenes communications of Fox News that emerged in its legal battle with Dominion Voting Systems and the conservative channel’s now-infamous call that Joe Biden was projected to win Arizona in the 2020 election.

Much to the chagrin of many of the show’s characters, far-right Republican candidate Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) was elected president on the latest episode of “Succession,” a political ascent that started when Mencken was hand-picked as the Republican candidate by Logan Roy (Brian Cox) six months previously in the drama’s timeline (but back in Season 3 for viewers at home).

“America Decides,” the antepenultimate episode of “Succession” landed with a bang on Sunday night, with many viewers left drained by the intense hour that bore great similarities to election nights in 2016 and 2020. The eighth episode also marked Kirk’s first appearance of the season – although the guest actor was credited in the season’s seventh episode despite only appearing in a still photograph. It was the actor’s first time speaking on the show since Season 3.

“The very last shot of [Season 3, Episode 6, my first episode on ‘Succession’] is me staring at Brian Cox after taking a picture with him,...

Hakeem Jeffries (D-n.Y.), the soon-to-be House minority leader, has been telling his fellow Democratic lawmakers to think of the next two years this way: The White House is the client, House Democrats are the defense attorney. Indeed, the Biden administration has huddled a coterie of legal, legislative, and communications specialists to map out likely vectors of GOP oversight and will hire more into the effort. Ashley Etienne, who led House Democrats’ impeachment war room, has dispatched top protégés to communications posts at federal agencies Republicans have indicated they’re...

Having recently wrapped shooting in upstate New York, the producers of Jamie Sisley’s debut feature “Stay Awake,” a dramatic family comedy about opioid addiction, have revealed key cast details.

In the film, Emmy and two-time Golden Globe Award Nominee Chrissy Metz (“This is Us”) plays Michelle, a loving and well-meaning mother of two whose struggle with prescription drug addiction is adversely affecting her entire family. Wyatt Oleff plays Ethan, the quick-witted younger brother about to leave the nest, and Fin Argus (“Clouds”) plays Derek, the eldest sibling who’s desires to care for his family are keeping him from moving forward with his own life.

Set in a small community in Virginia, “Stay Awake” confronts a serious and common problem facing many rural families across the country without dwelling explicitly on the negatives, instead choosing to address them with a very human mix of humor and levity.

“There was...

MPI Media Group has acquired U.S. and international sales rights, outside the U.K. and Latin America, to award-winning sci-fi thriller “Minor Premise,” making its market debut at this year’s Cannes Marché du Film. MPI has already closed sales in three key territories: France to Koba Films, the Middle East to Phoenicia Pictures Intl. and in Taiwan with Moviecloud.

MPI VP of sales and acquisitions Nicola Goelzhaeuser handles sales of the company’s catalog, including “Minor Premise.”

“Minor Premise” is the debut directorial feature of exciting up-and-coming filmmaker Eric Schultz, which impressed at Spain’s prestigious Sitges Festival for genre films and finished 2020 as the year’s second best-reviewed film on Rotten Tomatoes.

Starring Dana Ashbrook, a genre cult icon for his work as Bobby Briggs in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks,” and featuring a critically acclaimed performance by emerging actor Sathya Sridharan (“Bikini Moon”), “Minor Premise” is...

Social impact agency Propper Daley added three senior advisers to its team on Wednesday as it expands its Social Impact Reputation offering.

Eric Schultz, Adrienne Elrod, and Neelum Arya will support Propper Daley’s work with CEOs and brands as they navigate the new social issues landscape, define operating and governance principles, identify culture change opportunities and determine leadership approaches.

Propper Daley, founded in 2012 as one of the first social impact agencies, has strategized with more than 200 clients — including Activision, Ubs, Viacom, John Legend, Kerry Washington and Shawn Mendes — to build outcome-oriented social impact programs and leverage culture ...

Social impact agency Propper Daley added three senior advisers to its team on Wednesday as it expands its Social Impact Reputation offering.

Eric Schultz, Adrienne Elrod, and Neelum Arya will support Propper Daley’s work with CEOs and brands as they navigate the new social issues landscape, define operating and governance principles, identify culture change opportunities and determine leadership approaches.

Propper Daley, founded in 2012 as one of the first social impact agencies, has strategized with more than 200 clients — including Activision, Ubs, Viacom, John Legend, Kerry Washington and Shawn Mendes — to build outcome-oriented social impact programs and leverage culture ...

Exclusive: Frontières Platform, the genre-focused event run by Fantasia and Cannes’ Marche du Film, returns to the French fest for another edition this year, with 13 projects selected to take part in the showcase, running July 10-11. Scroll down for the full list.

The event is technically taking place physically, as per Cannes’ commitment to staging an in-person industry event in July, but Frontières has informed participants that it does not encourage them to travel during a pandemic and that all pitches will be screened online. If participants do wish to travel to Cannes, however, the event will allow them to do so, and a representative of Frontières will be in attendance, restrictions allowing.

Activities will include the Proof of Concept presentations for projects in the advanced stages of financing, and the Buyers Showcase for films that are in post-production or have recently been completed. Footage will be screened from seven projects,...

Company boards sales on Moments Like This Never Last, Shit & Champagne, Dilemma Of Desire

Robert Schwartzman’s US sales and distribution company Utopia has announced a raft of deals at EFM including 2020 SXSW, Toronto, and Outfest selection Shiva Baby.

Emma Seligman’s comedy has gone to HBO for the US, Pacific Northwest Pictures for Canada, Filmin for Spain, and Watcha for South Korea. As previously announced, Mubi has acquired the film for the UK, Germany, Latin America, India, and Turkey.

Rachel Sennott, Fred Melamed, Polly Draper, and Dianna Agron lead an ensemble cast in the story of secrets that erupt at a Jewish funeral.

Minor Premise plays out like a trippy dissection of the human psyche.

Writer/Director/Producer Eric Schultz admits to intrigue in this area, and with this film, he ensures many others will become equally as intrigued.

If you're a fan of sci-fi and issues surrounding the human state and why we are who we are, then you have to check out Minor Premise.

Science and the possibilities of understanding that lies just beyond our grasp make great topics for science fiction movies.

Sathya Sridharan takes the lead in Minor Premise as Ethan, a brilliant scientist battling demons that have led to him experimenting on himself. Ethan is the beating heart of this film, and if he's not in every scene, it's pretty darn close.

That means that if the weight of the film's success behind the scenes falls onto the triple threat that Schultz brings with his writing, directing, and producing,...

The tortured male scientist is a character that popular culture revisits endlessly, from Victor Frankenstein to Gregory House to Tony Stark. Burdened by greatness and destined for misanthropy, he will do whatever he must to realize his genius. He is often an addict, often attracts women who he should, in reality, repel. All of these conventions are at work in the sci-fi indie thriller “Minor Premise,” and yet director Eric Schultz has created a film inventive and engaging enough to stay afloat in a sea of tropes.

Continue reading Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Minor Premise’ Balances Lazy Writing With Fragmented Genius [Review] at The Playlist.

Dr. Jekyll had it easy. In Eric Schultz’s Minor Premise, a scientist who’s foolish enough to experiment on himself winds up with not one alter-ego but nine, all competing for control of his body. A mad-science thriller whose inventions spring from a point of actual scholarship (co-screenwriter Justin Moretto has degrees in neuroscience and biotech; Schultz studied psychology at Harvard), it asks us to suspend disbelief in order to work through some concepts about memory and identity that real scientists spend their lives on. Happily, it never feels like homework.

Sathya Sridharan plays Ethan Kochar, a brilliant neuroscientist who’...

Dr. Jekyll had it easy. In Eric Schultz’s Minor Premise, a scientist who’s foolish enough to experiment on himself winds up with not one alter-ego but nine, all competing for control of his body. A mad-science thriller whose inventions spring from a point of actual scholarship (co-screenwriter Justin Moretto has degrees in neuroscience and biotech; Schultz studied psychology at Harvard), it asks us to suspend disbelief in order to work through some concepts about memory and identity that real scientists spend their lives on. Happily, it never feels like homework.

Sathya Sridharan plays Ethan Kochar, a brilliant neuroscientist who’...

The most important memory for audiences to remember is the one Ethan (Sathya Sridharan) specifically tried to forget. His father (Nikolas Kontomanolis) is sitting at a desk telling him how things work in academia. Any idea, theory, or experiment that occurs in pursuit of a university-driven project belongs to said university. And since Paul is the head of the department, it all belongs to him. That’s not to say Ethan won’t get credit—scientific papers often have multiple authors and names listed below the person in charge. It merely confirms that he won’t receive all the acclaim. Nor should he. Whether Ethan cracked the case or not, the school has always been the catalyst. It’s their money that made it happen and the team that fulfilled its promise.

And let’s face it: the fact Ethan hasn’t forgotten that moment proves he hasn’t yet cracked anything.

One of the most interesting sci-fi thrillers I've seen this year is Eric Schultz feature film debut Minor Premise.

The film stars Sathya Sridharan as Ethan, a brilliant scientist living under the shadow of his famous father and trying to make a name of himself. In his efforts, he decides to test a hypothesis on himself and in the process, fractures his mind/consciousness/self. The result is that he blacks out for periods of time and when wakes up, he can't remember what happened. With the help of Alli (Paton Ashbrook), the pair discover what Ethan has done and devise a plan to re-connect the various parts of Ethan.

:::Bre...

Eric Schultz’s feature debut, the indie sci fi flick Minor Premise. lands on VOD platforms December 4th. The first teaser has arrived and everything looks great so far. Really great. From what we can gleam from it it looks like our lead character, Ethan, has carried out an experiment at home (the best kind of science always happens at home) and has ended dividing into ten individuals, each with one of his character traits? It's probably best not to ask much further after that and just let it happen. Attempting to surpass his father's legacy and pressured by an old colleague (Dana Ashbrook of Twin Peaks), a reclusive neuroscientist becomes entangled in his own risky experiment. Ethan (Sathya Sridharan) has now locked himself...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

"Wanna escalate this!?" Utopia has unveiled an official teaser trailer for a sci-fi psychological thriller titled Minor Premise, which already premiered at the Fantasia and Sitges Film Festivals this year. Marking the feature debut of producer Eric Schultz, this is a "brilliantly constructed science-fiction drama that resonates with particular poignancy in our quasi-quarantined times." Attempting to surpass his father's scientific legacy, a reclusive neuroscientist becomes entangled in his own experiment, pitting ten fragments of his consciousness against each other. Wha. "Schultz weaves a web of self-discovery with his characters revealing sincere and unvarnished portrait of a young man. Sathya Sridharan's acting prowess as Ethan makes this film a force to be reckoned with. He is dazzling, demonstrating his range and giving a unique twist to the sci-fi leading man. Unlock the puzzle that is Minor Premise and confront a plethora of fascinating questions of self and psyche." It stars Sathya Sridharan,...

After making its World Premiere at Fantasia, Minor Premise is heading to VOD on December 4th. We now have the first teaser trailer for this sci-fi stunner that Heather gave a 4/5 in her recent review!

"Attempting to surpass his father's legacy and pressured by an old colleague (Dana Ashbrook of Twin Peaks), a reclusive neuroscientist becomes entangled in his own risky experiment. Ethan (Sathya Sridharan) has now locked himself in his home with his ex-girlfriend Allie (Paton Ashbrook) and the two navigate trauma, ambition, and missteps of the past. Diving headfirst into the uncharted equations of the brain, they realize that there is more at stake than just their relationship or Ethan’s reputation. With time quickly running out, he is forced to face off against the darker sides of himself while frantically attempting to solve an enigma that lies within his subconscious.

New York filmmaker Eric Schultz’s striking feature debut,...

With the 2020 Fantasia Film Festival wrapping up this week, here’s a look at the final three films this writer had the opportunity to screen during the virtual fest (and enjoyed immensely), including Natasha Kermani’s Lucky, Dinner in America from writer/director Adam Rehmeier, and Minor Premise, which was co-written and directed by Eric Schultz.

Lucky: If Natasha Kermani had been contemplating other titles for her latest film project, Gaslighting: The Movie would have been a wholly appropriate, albeit a very on-the-nose, choice as well. But Lucky works pretty damn well, too, as it is in reference to a moment in the film when the main character, May, is informed by her manager/agent that she should consider herself “lucky” after a professional opportunity works out to her advantage, instead of congratulating her for all of her hard work. Truth be told, that’s the moment Lucky totally clicked for me,...

Back in 2018, Barack and Michelle Obama joined forces with Netflix to help develop projects for the streaming service. "President and Mrs. Obama have always believed in the power of storytelling to inspire," said Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to the former president. "Throughout their lives, they have lifted up stories of people whose efforts to make a difference…...

Danny Huston, Rosemarie Dewitt, Zoey Deutch, Devon Terrell and Odessa Young also join cast.

The first image of Johnny Depp on the set of Richard Says Goodbye has been released (see above, full image below).

Shooting has started on location in Vancouver on the comedy drama, which is written and directed by Wayne Roberts (Katie Says Goodbye).

Danny Huston (Wonder Woman), Rosemarie DeWitt (La La Land), Zoey Deutch (Everybody Wants Some!!), Devon Terrell (Barry), and Odessa Young (Looking For Grace) have also joined the cast.

In the film Depp plays Richard, a world-weary college professor who is given a life-changing diagnosis and decides to abandon conventions and live his life as freely as possible.

Richard Says Goodbye is co-financed by Im Global and Cirrina Studios with additional financing from Leeding Media. Im Global is also handling international sales with CAA repping domestic rights.

Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Sinister, Midnight Special) of Automatik Entertainment and Im Global’s President of Production...

Exclusive: Sebastien Chesneau’s company will launch international sales in Toronto next week on Wayne Roberts’ highly regarded directorial debut starring Olivia Cooke.

Parallell Cinéma, Relic Pictures and Unknown Subject produced Katie Says Goodbye, which will receive its world premiere on September 11.

CAA represents Us rights to the story of a young waitress in the American Southwest who falls in love with an ex-convict.

The relationship throws her world into disarray as those close to her challenge her spirit and determination.

“Sebastien and his team at Cercamon provide the level of experience and curated taste that we were looking for,” said Roberts.

“Alongside the exceptional team at CAA, we hold no doubt that Cercamon will enable Katie Says Goodbye to find its home among distributors and audiences worldwide.”

Rounding out the key cast are Mireille Enos, Jim Belushi, Mary Steenburgen, and Christopher Abbott.

Eric Schultz of Relic Pictures, Carlo Sirtori, David Steiner and [link...

Exclusive: The sales company has added The Preppie Connection and We Don’t Belong Here to its roster of titles on the eve of the Efm.

Joseph Castelo wrote and directed The Preppie Connection (pictured) starring Thomas Mann from Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, Lucy Fry, Sam Page and Logan Huffman.

The story is inspired by the true story of students at the private Choate Rosemary Hall School in Connecticut who attempted to smuggle $300,000 of cocaine into the country. IFC will distribute in the Us on March 18.

Joseph Mensch, Adam Folk, Joseph Castelo, Billy Raftery, Charlie Bunting, Eric Schultz, and Carlo Sirtori produced.

Tony Piantedosi, director of development and acquisitions at Premiere Entertainment Group, brokered the deal with Schultz and ICM Partners.

Premiere Entertainment svp of sales and acquisitions, Jack Campbell, who brokered the deal, said: “This true account takes the viewer on a wild ride of building a drug empire as an outsider at a stuffy...