Jason Blum

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Not to be confused with Jason Blume.

Jason Blum
Jason Blum by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Blum at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born
Jason Ferus Blum

(1969-02-20) February 20, 1969 (age 52)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma materVassar College
OccupationProducer
Years active1995–present
OrganizationBlumhouse Productions
Spouse(s)
Lauren A.E. Schuker
​
(m. 2012)​
Parents

Jason Ferus Blum (/blʌm/;[1] born February 20, 1969)[2] is an American film and television producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, which produced the horror franchises Paranormal Activity (2007–2015), Insidious (2010–2018), and The Purge (2013–2021). Blum also produced Sinister (2012), Oculus (2013), Whiplash (2014), The Gift (2015), Hush (2016), Split (2016), Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), Get Out (2017), Happy Death Day (2017), Upgrade (2018), Halloween (2018), Us (2019), The Invisible Man (2020), and Freaky (2020).

Blum received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing Whiplash (2014), Get Out (2017), and BlacKkKlansman (2018).[3] He received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie for producing the drama film The Normal Heart (2014). He also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series for the documentary miniseries The Jinx (2015).

Early life[]

Blum was born in Los Angeles, California,[4] the son of Shirley Neilsen Blum (née Neilsen) and Irving Blum. His mother was an art professor and his father was an independent art dealer and director of the Ferus Gallery.[5][6] His father was Jewish.[7][8][9][10]

Career[]

Blum worked for Bob and Harvey Weinstein as an executive at Miramax, and later as an independent producer for Paramount Pictures. Prior to his tenure at Miramax, Blum was a producing director at Ethan Hawke's Malaparte theater company.[11] Blum is a 1991 graduate of Vassar College.[12][13] He is a member of the board of trustees of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.[14]

He obtained financing for his first film as producer, Kicking and Screaming (1995), after receiving a letter from family acquaintance, entertainer Steve Martin, who endorsed the script.[citation needed] Blum attached the letter to copies of the script he sent around to Hollywood executives.[15]

Blumhouse Productions[]

In 2000, he founded Blumhouse Productions, which specializes in producing micro-budget movies that give directors full creative control over the projects.[11] Bloomberg News praised Blum for making "blockbusters for pennies",[16] including the horror film Paranormal Activity which cost $15,000 to make and then grossed nearly $200 million.[17] In addition, NPR's Planet Money did a special podcast about the company's methods.[18]

Blum also produced Insidious (2010), Sinister (2012), The Purge (2013), and Happy Death Day (2017), as well as their sequels.[19] In 2014, he served as executive producer for the television film The Normal Heart, which went on to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. In 2015, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series for HBO's The Jinx.[citation needed]

Blum's feature films BlacKkKlansman, Whiplash and Get Out were all nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.[3]

In 2018, Blum said in an interview that the reason no woman had ever directed one of his horror films was that "there are not a lot of female directors (...) and even less who are inclined to do horror."[20] After much criticism on social media, in which lists of such directors were circulated,[21] he apologized for what he called his "dumb comments".[22] In 2019, Sophia Takal directed and co-wrote the studio's horror remake Black Christmas, which opened on December 13, the studio's first wide, theatrically-released film by a female director.[23]

Other ventures[]

On August 14, 2020, Daily Front Row listed Blum as one of a group of high profile investors who purchased W magazine, a troubled fashion magazine.[citation needed]

Boards[]

Blum is on the Board of The Public Theater in New York, the Sundance Institute, Vassar College and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Awards and recognition[]

Blum has been recognized by TIME magazine’s 100 list of the world’s most influential people and has appeared several times on Vanity Fair’s “New Establishment List.” In 2016, he received the Producer of the Year Award at CinemaCon.

Personal life[]

On July 14, 2012, Blum married journalist Lauren A.E. Schuker in Los Angeles.[5]

In July 2019, he bought a Brooklyn Heights townhouse for $9.8 million.[24]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Producer

Executive Producer

Television[]

Executive producer

Year Title Notes
2002 Hysterical Blindness TV movie
2012 The River 8 episodes
2013 Stranded 6 episodes
2014 The Normal Heart TV movie
Ascension Miniseries
2015 Eye Candy 10 episodes
The Jinx Miniseries
South of Hell 8 episodes
Hellevator 12 episodes
2015–2016 #15SecondScare 14 episodes
2016 Judgment Day: Prison or Parole? 3 episodes
12 Deadly Days 12 episodes
2017 Election Day: Lens Across America TV movie
Cold Case Files 10 episodes
2018 Run for Your Life TV pilot
Ghoul Miniseries
Sharp Objects Miniseries
Sacred Lies 20 episodes
Tremors TV pilot
2019 Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt For Justice 6 episodes
No One Saw a Thing 6 episodes
Liberty: Mother of Exiles TV movie
2018–present Into the Dark 22 episodes
2018–2019 The Purge 20 episodes
2020 Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America's Elections TV movie
Betaal 4 episodes
A Wilderness of Error 5 episodes
The Good Lord Bird Miniseries
TBA The Horror of Dolores Roach In development
Wolves and Villagers In development
Upgrade In development

Producer

Year Title Notes
2009 Washingtonienne TV pilot
2019 The Loudest Voice Miniseries

Awards and nominations[]

Year Association Category Work Result
2010 25th Independent Spirit Awards Best First Feature Paranormal Activity Nominated
2014 66th Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Television Movie The Normal Heart Won
2015 72nd Golden Globe Awards Best Miniseries or Television Film Nominated
26th Producers Guild of America Awards Best Long-Form Television Nominated
Best Theatrical Motion Picture Whiplash Nominated
4th AACTA International Awards Best Film Nominated
30th Independent Spirit Awards Best Film Nominated
87th Academy Awards Best Picture Nominated
67th Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series The Jinx Won
2016 27th Producers Guild of America Awards Best Non-Fiction Television Won
2017 Gotham Independent Film Awards 2017 Best Feature Get Out Nominated
2018 75th Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Nominated
29th Producers Guild of America Awards Best Theatrical Motion Picture Nominated
33rd Independent Spirit Awards Best Film Won
90th Academy Awards Best Picture Nominated
Gotham Independent Film Awards 2018 Breakthrough Series – Long Form Sharp Objects Nominated
2019 76th Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Drama BlackKklansman Nominated
Best Miniseries or Television Film Sharp Objects Nominated
30th Producers Guild of America Awards Best Limited Series Television Nominated
Best Theatrical Motion Picture BlackKklansman Nominated
72nd British Academy Film Awards Best Film Nominated
91st Academy Awards Best Picture Nominated
71st Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Limited Series Sharp Objects Nominated
2020 77th Golden Globe Awards Best Miniseries or Television Film The Loudest Voice Nominated
2021 41st Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Picture Fantasy Island Nominated

References[]

  1. ^ "Five Favorite Horror Films: Jason Blum". Rotten Tomatoes. October 15, 2018. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  2. ^ "Interview Jason Blum". Dorkshelf. February 20, 2013. Archived from the original on January 15, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Oscar Nominations: 'Grand Budapest Hotel' & 'Birdman' Lead Way With 9 Noms; 'Imitation Game' Scores 8". Deadline. January 15, 2015. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  4. ^ Bhattacharji, Alex (July 16, 2018). "How Producer Jason Blum is Disrupting Hollywood". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2018. closed access
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Weddings/Celebrations - Lauren Schuker and Jason Blum". The New York Times. July 15, 2012. Archived from the original on March 10, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  6. ^ "Blum, Shirley". Dictionary of Art Historians. Archived from the original on March 31, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2018. the couple (Hopps), along with the artist Edward Kienholz founded the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1957.
  7. ^ Stromberg, David (March 28, 2008). "The Forgotten Warhol". Haaretz. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2018. In fact, the first person to present Andy Warhol as a visual, as opposed to commercial, artist was a Jew named Irving Blum, who in 1962 exhibited - and then bought for himself - the entire original series of Warhol's Campbell's Soup can paintings.
  8. ^ Klug, Lisa (June 23, 2016). "Who said Jews run Hollywood? Inaugural list of 100 prominent players in Tinseltown shows a lack of diversity -- and a whole lot of MOT". Times of Israel. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  9. ^ "White Men Can't Paint! by Charlie Finch". Artnet Magazine. Archived from the original on January 15, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  10. ^ Drohojowska-Philp, Hunter (November 4, 2013). "Art Dealer Irving Blum on Andy Warhol and the 1960s L.A. Art Scene (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 30, 2018. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b "About Blumhouse Productions". Blumhouse.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2013.
  12. ^ Lynn Hirschberg. "Producer Jason Blum Is Taking Hollywood By Storm With Horror Movies". W. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  13. ^ "How I Made It: Jason Blum, film producer". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  14. ^ "Academy Museum Names New Board of Trustees | Hollywood Reporter". www.hollywoodreporter.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  15. ^ "I am Jason Blum, producer of Paranormal Activity, The Purge and Insidious: Chapter2". Reddit. June 18, 2013. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  16. ^ "Jason Blum, the Penny-Pinching Horror Movie Maestro". Bloomberg.com. April 25, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  17. ^ "Paranormal Activity (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on September 9, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  18. ^ "Episode 650: The Business Genius Behind Get Out". NPR.org. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  19. ^ "Q&A: Producer Jason Blum talks "OUIJA", "PURGE 3", "CURVE" & More…". Fangoria. February 4, 2015. Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  20. ^ Patches, Matt (October 18, 2018). "Blumhouse has never produced a theatrically released horror movie directed by a woman — but hopes to". Polygon. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  21. ^ Nyren, Erin (October 18, 2018). "Jason Blum Says He's Meeting With Women Directors After Claiming 'There Aren't a Lot'". Variety. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  22. ^ Lussier, Germain (October 19, 2018). "Halloween Producer Jason Blum Has Apologized for His Ridiculous Comments About Women Directors". io9. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  23. ^ Kohn, Eric (December 7, 2018). "Blumhouse Hires Another Woman Director: Sophia Takal's All-Female Horror Movie". Archived from the original on December 9, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  24. ^ Keil, Jennifer Gould (July 24, 2019). "Producer Jason Blum shells out $10M for Brooklyn townhouse". NY Post. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2019.

External links[]

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