Eric Tabach, utterly bored and frustrated by the
lockdown, had an idea. Eric is a small time actor and YouTuber. For a few
years, he had worked as a viral video producer at BuzzFeed.
He spoke to Christian Nilsson, one of the little known
film makers in New York. Christian liked Eric’s idea. Yes, he would be happy to
make the film with Eric. Inspired, on 9 May, Christian sat in front of his
laptop, and by midnight, had completed the script. A horror film, its title was
“Unsubscribe”. The plot was lockdown
friendly. A sinister internet troll tricks a group of YouTubers into joining a
Zoom call. The killer stalks the characters on camera.
Eric started speaking to everyone who bothered to
answer his call. He explained his idea, and shared the plot. Apologetically, he
admitted it was a zero budget movie. Surprisingly, some well known actors
agreed to act for free. They were utterly bored themselves. Charlie Tahan
(Ozark fame) would play the killer, Michelle Khare, the other lead. A few other
well known YouTube actors joined in.
The whole project was shot in a week’s time in May. Of
course, all the actors performed on Zoom, without ever leaving their homes.
Eric needed a couple of weeks to edit. A composer friend obliged by making an
original score for the film. The horror film was now ready for release.
*****
From his BuzzFeed days, Eric knew an industry practice
called “four-walling”. A filmmaker buys the entire cinema theatre for a fee.
Cinemas are happy to let the filmmaker collect money from tickets, if any.
Four-walling is like self-publishing. It is a loophole that allows a filmmaker to
claim an official release. If lucky, the film can get reviews in reputed
newspapers.
Eric contacted the Westhampton Beach movie theatre in
New York, and rented it for a whole day. The theatre owners were surprised but
happy to get a client.
On the night of the screening, Eric and Christian wore
tuxedos, groomed their hair as well as they could, and asked a passerby to take
their picture in front of the theatre. “Unsubscribe- Sold Out” in the
background made them truly proud.
They sat with large cups of popcorn, and saw the film
again and again. Five times in total. They were the only two spectators in the
entire auditorium.
*****
Now Eric started calling IMDb. IMDb is the owner of Box Office Mojo, the
company that audits and publishes the American box office rankings. They didn’t
believe that the film existed, and that people like Charlie Tahan played in it.
Finally, Eric sent them a copy of the film. IMDb called Tahan and the other
actors, they confirmed they had actually acted in Unsubscribe.
The total revenue of Unsubscribe was $25,488. On 10 June, it became the #1 movie of
America, the blockbuster of June 2020. Eric Tabach, as he had planned from the
outset, joined the illustrious list of Stephen Spielberg, James Cameron, Ridley
Scott and Christopher Nolan.
Ravi