Mike Gencarelli: Since working on ìThe Blair Witch Projectî how can you reflect on viral marketing for films today?
Eduardo Sanchez: What we did on ìThe Blair Witch Projectî was out of necessity. It was the only venue or way we had to get our movie out there. Luckily I knew how to build some websites. From there stuff just really caught on and when Artisan bought the movie the market people there were smart enough to continue with what we started. Right now I think whatís going on with viral marketing is that everyone is or wants to be doing it. ìBlair Witchî was the perfect story for viral marketing and the internet was in a good spot at the time. It was kind of like the Wild West. There are so many people on the internet and posting things now that itís a lot harder to break through the clutter. I am working on a film right now that I think has a great Tranís media campaign as the story works really well for that type of exploitation. I think to a certain extent the same rules apply now as they did back then in the fact that certain forms of promotion/marketing works well for certain projects. Lately stuff is very processed and has I think a different effect than when we did it.
MG: Can you give us some background on your newest film ìThe Possessionî?
ES: I wrote the script, directed and edited the film. Itís kind of a weird movie as itís not your typical possession type movie. Itís about this woman named Molly and her and her husband move into the house where she grew up. Molly had grown up with relatives after her parents died and after moving back to her parentís home they realize the house holds a lot of dark secrets. Molly starts seeing things she shouldnít be seeing and things go from there. Itís kind of an exorcist movie without the exorcist. We shot the film here in Maryland by my house on a small budget. Itís looking good and we hope to have it at some festivals.
MG: What are your feelings on the ìParanormal Activityî franchise and found footage type films?
ES: I didnít see the second movie. I liked the first one and thought it was executed pretty well. It was a good use of first person footage. It was great that it blew up like ìBlair Witchî and they used the same type of things we did.
MG: Do you think there will be another ìBlair Witchî film?
ES: Itís definitely a possibility. We have talked to Lionsgate about it and they are interested so itís really just a matter of me and Dan coming up with something that we both feel passionate about and that Lionsgate will want to back. Dan and I are very busy on other things so there are priorities. We just have to get the right idea that clicks with everyone.
MG: How did you get involved with doing an interview for ìThe Shark is Still Workingî?
ES: I was contacted by James while I was working on a film in Orlando titled ìAlteredî and he asked me if I would like to be a part of the documentary. I loved the film so I said sure. I was really happy to be a part of it. The film is probably the best ìJawsî documentary I have seen in my life. It covers all the aspects of the film and it is really well done. I was proud to share the screen with a lot of people I admire.
MG: Any idea of release plans for ìThe Possessionî?
ES: We donít have a distributor yet so itís a matter of selling it first. I am hoping next year maybe. Itís amazing how much lead time distributors want on these movies.
MG: What can you tell us about your upcoming Big Foot trilogy?
ES: Itís actually slated to be four films. The first film will have to make money before there are others so we will see. I have been wanting to make a Big Foot movie for a long time and it seems like all the right elements have come together. We have a lot of great people working on the suit and we are going to be shooting in Austin this fall. I am mostly looking for unknown actors to be in this one and we want to do Big Foot right as it hasnít been done in a while.
