As of November 26th, I’m stepping away from the site I’ve called home – my dark little haven to ramble about/analyze the horror genre – since early 2007.
To be honest, it feels weird writing that.
I’ve scrapped this “goodbye” a number of times the last few days only to return to it over and over again. But it’s time to face the fact that it’s time to move on.
I have to go.
I’m not leaving horror. No way, no how. Instead, my career path is switching gears – steering me back to where it all began when I moved out to Los Angeles in ’99.
As of December 1st, I begin my position as the Director of Development at Blumhouse Productions.
Jason Blum – a producer I respect and who has made an indelible mark on the contemporary horror scene – and his team there have built an impressive, remarkable company. And now I’m fortunate enough to say they’re welcoming me into the family. I’ve loved and enjoyed a lot of Blumhouse’s film output (from popular selections like Sinister, Oculus and the Insidious and Purge films to riskier titles like The Lords of Salem and The Town That Dreaded Sundown). I’ve also obviously been disappointed by a few of their films too but what I’ve always admired is the creative freedom Jason sets out to give the stable of directors he works with.
I’m very eager to dive into Blumhouse’s talent pool, find great scripts and do my part to bring some of them to life.
This is an exciting time, personally, as this position will allow me to fully put my creative cap back on. You see, when I came out to Los Angeles from film school in New York (I’m a School of Visual Arts grad), I had aspirations to write and direct. I stumbled into online journalism, grew quite quickly in that field, dabbled in print while I was at Fangoria, then circled back around to the online world again with Shock.
These last several years (14 years if you want to reach back to my Creature-Corner.com and DreadCentral.com days) have been incredible. The opportunities alone working at Shock…astounding. I was able to collaborate with stellar contributing writers; I’ve met some amazing talent in the horror field; and I’ve watched Shock grow significantly as a brand over the last few years (with special events, film distribution and more).
Then there were the side ventures like our Shock Waves podcast (with FEARnet’s Lawrence Raffel), The Bloodcast podcast with Clarke Wolfe, Dead Right Horror Trivia Night with Rebekah McKendry and Still Screaming – the Scream documentary I wrote and directed while on my regular schedule updating this site.
When I look at my history in the industry and the trajectory I’ve been on in horror…it’s all been leading to the opportunity Blumhouse has given me.
It’s time to evolve, get creative, take risks and take my undying affection for “the scary stuff” and apply it elsewhere. And I’ll be carrying with me a lot of great memories from my time here.
Shock Till You Drop will live on, of course, and will keep delivering awesome, thoughtful content. Expect to hear news of a new managing editor soon.
A big thanks to Mirko Parlevliet – the head honcho at ComingSoon.net – who gave me the opportunity to sit at the helm of this site and a heartfelt thanks to the many writers who contributed their words under my term here. And, of course, a huge thanks – imagine this being accompanied by a fireworks salute with music and all, except substitute in a thousand exploding heads (Scanners-style) instead of actual fireworks – to Shock’s readers.
Your passion for the genre kept me going and kept me on my toes.
As always, you can find me on Facebook and Twitter. I’ll stay in touch there!
