Land Lord, 1min visual test

The Story

If vampires can't come into your house without being invited, what happens if a vampire owns your housing? That's the premise of Land Lord, a fresh take on vampires that draws on my experiences growing up poor in apartment complexes like the one in the movie.

Growing up in poverty is all about survival, so it's natural that I would grow up loving a genre that's all about life & death scenarios. Horror movies are all about survival and I've long been a fan of its capability to reflect larger truths about our own world (Night of the Living Dead, Get Out). Land Lord bridges those personal experiences and my ongoing work as a filmmaker trying to provide a platform for underrepresented voices. For more on the story, style and tone, click here to download the full pitch deck.

Previous Films

Reviews

"A very clever, tightly-executed present-day cinematic twist on the classic vampire yarn, with some interesting socio-political subtext." - Slamdance Screenplay Competition, Land Lord

"This is a powerful, horrifying short film that utterly captured my attention over the eight or so minutes that it runs. It’s quiet, beautiful and haunting, all at once." - io9.com, The Woods

"The observational approach affords a depth of perspective that travels beyond the iconic imagery of thoroughbred horses and jocular patrons." - The Atlantic, The Derby

"It's a simple and effective cinematic journey that emphasizes a salient point about class without ever belaboring it." - Short of the Week, The Derby

The Plan

Audience for Scares & Diversity

• Horror is the most profitable film genre and the subgenre of scary movies with social commentary angles, "social thrillers", have proven equally profitable.
• Films with more diversity yield better returns and yet are still undervalued by Hollywood to the tune of $10 billion dollars.
• Even in the wake of the pandemic, horror movies are doing great at the box office. 2022 horror movies Barbarian, Smile & X earned 10x, 12x & 15x their budgets back respectively from theatrical ticket sales alone.

Timeline

• Production of Land Lord will take place in the summer of 2023. With our crew diversity goal, we are assembling a team of filmmakers that reflect the demographics of our city, which will also include my former film production students.
• Using our community ties, we can make our production budget go further than outside production companies. Much of the crew has already worked on movies shot here in Louisville, KY you may have seen - Nicolas Cage in Mom & Dad and Jesse Eisenberg in The Art of Self-Defense.
• Post-Production will follow in late summer of 2023 to finish sound and color. Work on the score with composer Joe Stockton is already in the works.

• Release of the film will be in 2024. We will target a world premiere at a high profile genre film festival like SXSW, Sitges, or Fantastic Fest.
• Distribution opportunities are plentiful in the genre market for social thrillers like ours: theatrical (A24, IFC Midnight, Blumhouse), subscription streamers (Shudder, Screambox), and ad supported streamers (Tubi, Freevee, Pluto TV) affirm there are both distribution channels and an audience for our film.

• Return on investment timeline is expected to be within 3-5 years, then splitting ongoing net proceeds 50/50 between filmmakers and investors for the rest of their lives. The filmmakers do not see a dime until the investors are paid back + their promised percentage.

Director's Statement

Click here to read.

Pitch Deck

Click here to read.

*Reference images solely for style & tone*