# Jason Blum

Jason Ferus Blum (/blʌm/; born February 20, 1969) is an American producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, which has produced the horror franchises Paranormal Activity (2007–2021), Insidious (2010–2023), The Purge (2013–2021), and Halloween (2018–2022). Blum has also produced Sinister (2012), Oculus (2013), Whiplash (2014), The Gallows (2015), The Gift (2015), Hush (2016), Split (2016), Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), Get Out (2017), Happy Death Day (2017), Upgrade (2018), BlacKkKlansman (2018), Us (2019), The Invisible Man (2020), Freaky (2020), The Black Phone (2021), M3GAN (2022), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), and Speak No Evil (2024).
Blum received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing Whiplash (2014), Get Out (2017) and BlacKkKlansman (2018). 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 and education

Jason Ferus Blum was born in Los Angeles, California, 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. Blum is of Jewish heritage.
He graduated from Vassar College in 1991. While at Vassar, he and fellow future filmmaker Noah Baumbach were roommates, and Blum produced Baumbach's first film, Kicking and Screaming, in 1995.

## 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. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
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. Blum attached the letter to copies of the script he sent around to Hollywood executives.

### Blumhouse Productions

In 2000, he founded Blumhouse Productions, which specializes in producing micro-budget movies that give directors full creative control over the projects. Bloomberg News praised Blum for making "blockbusters for pennies", including the horror film Paranormal Activity, which cost $15,000 to make and then grossed nearly $200 million. In addition, NPR's Planet Money did a special podcast about the company's methods.
Blum also produced Insidious (2010), Sinister (2012), The Purge (2013) and Happy Death Day (2017), as well as their sequels. 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.
Blum's feature films BlacKkKlansman, Whiplash and Get Out were all nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
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." After much criticism on social media, in which lists of such directors were circulated, he apologized for what he called his "dumb comments". In 2019, Sophia Takal directed and co-wrote the studio's horror remake Black Christmas, which opened on December 13, and was the studio's first theatrically released film by a female director.

### Other ventures

On August 14, 2020, Daily Front Row listed Blum as one of a group of high-profile investors who purchased W, a troubled fashion magazine.
After appearing on an episode of Shark Tank, Blum made a deal with American Immersion Theater, the leading immersive theater company in the U.S.

## Personal life

On July 14, 2012, Blum married journalist Lauren A.E. Schuker in Los Angeles.
In July 2019, he bought a Brooklyn Heights townhouse for $9.8 million.

### 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.

### Philanthropy

In 2022, Blum donated $10 million to Vassar College, the largest gift ever given to the college from a male alumnus.

## Filmography
### Film
#### Universal Pictures

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2013 | The Purge | James DeMonaco | |
| 2014 | Not Safe for Work | Joe Johnston | |
| 2014 | The Purge: Anarchy | James DeMonaco | |
| 2014 | Mockingbird | Bryan Bertino | |
| 2014 | Mercy | Peter Cornwell | |
| 2014 | Stretch | Joe Carnahan | |
| 2014 | Ouija | Stiles White | |
| 2014 | Unfriended | Leo Gabriadze | Executive producer |
| 2015 | The Boy Next Door | Rob Cohen | |
| 2015 | Visions | Kevin Greutert | |
| 2015 | The Visit | M. Night Shyamalan | |
| 2015 | Curve | Iain Softley | |
| 2015 | Jem and the Holograms | Jon M. Chu | |
| 2016 | The Veil | Phil Joanou | Direct-to-video |
| 2016 | The Purge: Election Year | James DeMonaco | |
| 2016 | Split | M. Night Shyamalan | |
| 2016 | Ouija: Origin of Evil | Mike Flanagan | |
| 2017 | Get Out | Jordan Peele | |
| 2017 | Stephanie | Akiva Goldsman | |
| 2017 | The Keeping Hours | Karen Moncrieff | |
| 2017 | Happy Death Day | Christopher Landon | |
| 2018 | Insidious: The Last Key | Adam Robitel | |
| 2018 | Unfriended: Dark Web | Stephen Susco | Through OTL Releasing |
| 2018 | Upgrade | Leigh Whannell | Through OTL Releasing |
| 2018 | Truth or Dare | Jeff Wadlow | |
| 2018 | Delirium | Dennis Iliadis | Direct-to-video |
| 2018 | The First Purge | Gerard McMurray | |
| 2018 | Halloween | David Gordon Green | |
| 2018 | Seven in Heaven | Chris Eigeman | |
| 2019 | Glass | M. Night Shyamalan | |
| 2019 | Don't Let Go | Jacob Aaron Estes | Through OTL Releasing |
| 2019 | Sweetheart | J. D. Dillard | |
| 2019 | Happy Death Day 2U | Christopher Landon | |
| 2019 | Us | Jordan Peele | |
| 2019 | Ma | Tate Taylor | |
| 2019 | Black Christmas | Sophia Takal | |
| 2020 | The Invisible Man | Leigh Whannell | |
| 2020 | The Hunt | Craig Zobel | |
| 2020 | You Should Have Left | David Koepp | |
| 2020 | Freaky | Christopher Landon | |
| 2021 | The Forever Purge | Everardo Gout | |
| 2021 | This Is The Night | James DeMonaco | |
| 2021 | Halloween Kills | David Gordon Green | |
| 2022 | Firestarter | Keith Thomas | |
| 2022 | The Black Phone | Scott Derrickson | |
| 2022 | Halloween Ends | David Gordon Green | |
| 2023 | M3GAN | Gerard Johnstone | |
| 2023 | The Exorcist: Believer | David Gordon Green | |
| 2023 | Five Nights at Freddy's | Emma Tammi | |
| 2024 | Night Swim | Bryce McGuire | |
| 2024 | Speak No Evil | James Watkins | |
| 2025 | Wolf Man | Leigh Whannell | |
| 2025 | The Woman in the Yard | Jaume Collet-Serra | Post-production |
| 2025 | Drop | Christopher Landon | Post-production |
| 2025 | M3GAN 2.0 | Gerard Johnstone | Post-production |
| 2025 | The Black Phone 2 | Scott Derrickson | Post-production |
| 2025 | Five Nights at Freddy's 2 | Emma Tammi | Filming |
| 2026 | SOULM8TE | Kate Dolan | Post-production |

#### Lionsgate Films

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2012 | Sinister | Scott Derrickson | |
| 2012 | The Bay | Barry Levinson | With Roadside Attractions |
| 2014 | Jessabelle | Kevin Greutert | |
| 2019 | The Gallows Act II | Chris Lofing Travis Cluff | |
| 2024 | Imaginary | Jeff Wadlow | |

#### Focus Features

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2015 | Insidious: Chapter 3 | Leigh Whannell | With Gramercy Pictures |
| 2015 | Sinister 2 | Ciarán Foy | With Gramercy Pictures |
| 2016 | In a Valley of Violence | Ti West | |
| 2018 | BlacKkKlansman | Spike Lee | |
| 2018 | Bathtubs Over Broadway | Dava Whisenant | Executive producer |
| 2022 | Vengeance | B. J. Novak | |

#### Sony Pictures Releasing

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2014 | Whiplash | Damien Chazelle | Through Sony Pictures Classics |
| 2020 | Fantasy Island | Jeff Wadlow | |
| 2020 | The Craft: Legacy | Zoe Lister-Jones | |
| 2023 | Insidious: The Red Door | Patrick Wilson | |
| 2024 | Afraid | Chris Weitz | |

#### Other

Actor
* Unknown Dimension: The Story of Paranormal Activity (2021) (Documentary film, himself)

### Television

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 2002 | Hysterical Blindness | TV movie |
| 2004 | The Fever | TV movie |
| 2012 | The River | 8 episodes |
| 2013 | Stranded | 6 episodes |
| 2014 | The Normal Heart | TV movie |
| 2014 | Ascension | Miniseries |
| 2015 | Eye Candy | 10 episodes |
| 2015 | The Jinx | Miniseries |
| 2015 | South of Hell | 8 episodes |
| 2015 | Hellevator | 12 episodes |
| 2015–2016 | #15SecondScare | 14 episodes |
| 2016 | Judgment Day: Prison or Parole? | 3 episodes |
| 2016 | 12 Deadly Days | 12 episodes |
| 2017 | Election Day: Lens Across America | TV movie |
| 2017 | Cold Case Files | 10 episodes |
| 2018 | Run for Your Life | TV pilot |
| 2018 | Ghoul | Miniseries |
| 2018 | Sharp Objects | Miniseries |
| 2018 | Sacred Lies | 20 episodes |
| 2018 | Tremors | TV pilot |
| 2019 | Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt For Justice | 6 episodes |
| 2019 | No One Saw a Thing | 6 episodes |
| 2019 | 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 |
| 2020 | Betaal | 4 episodes |
| 2020 | A Wilderness of Error | 5 episodes |
| 2020 | The Good Lord Bird | Miniseries |
| 2022 | The Thing About Pam | |
| 2023 | The Horror of Dolores Roach | 8 episodes |
| 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 | The Normal Heart | Nominated |
| 2015 | 26th Producers Guild of America Awards | Best Long-Form Television | The Normal Heart | Nominated |
| 2015 | 26th Producers Guild of America Awards | Best Theatrical Motion Picture | Whiplash | Nominated |
| 2015 | 4th AACTA International Awards | Best Film | Whiplash | Nominated |
| 2015 | 30th Independent Spirit Awards | Best Film | Whiplash | Nominated |
| 2015 | 87th Academy Awards | Best Picture | Whiplash | Nominated |
| 2015 | 67th Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series | The Jinx | Won |
| 2016 | 27th Producers Guild of America Awards | Best Non-Fiction Television | The Jinx | Won |
| 2017 | Gotham Independent Film Awards 2017 | Best Feature | Get Out | Nominated |
| 2018 | 75th Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Get Out | Nominated |
| 2018 | 29th Producers Guild of America Awards | Best Theatrical Motion Picture | Get Out | Nominated |
| 2018 | 33rd Independent Spirit Awards | Best Film | Get Out | Won |
| 2018 | 90th Academy Awards | Best Picture | Get Out | Nominated |
| 2018 | Gotham Independent Film Awards 2018 | Breakthrough Series – Long Form | Sharp Objects | Nominated |
| 2019 | 76th Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Drama | BlackKklansman | Nominated |
| 2019 | 76th Golden Globe Awards | Best Miniseries or Television Film | Sharp Objects | Nominated |
| 2019 | 30th Producers Guild of America Awards | Best Limited Series Television | Sharp Objects | Nominated |
| 2019 | 30th Producers Guild of America Awards | Best Theatrical Motion Picture | BlackKklansman | Nominated |
| 2019 | 72nd British Academy Film Awards | Best Film | BlackKklansman | Nominated |
| 2019 | 91st Academy Awards | Best Picture | BlackKklansman | Nominated |
| 2019 | 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 |
| 2022 | 75th Locarno Film Festival | Premio Raimondo Rezzonico (Best Independent Producer) | Himself | Won |
| 2024 | 44th Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Picture | The Exorcist: Believer | Nominated |