BPS 226: From Wedding Videos to Writing For Netflix & Paramount+ with Rel Schulman and Henry Joost

Henry Joost and Rel Schulman are a directing and writing team,
producers and best friends. They founded the New York City
production company Supermarché in 2007. Their most recent feature,
SECRET HEADQUARTERS, premiers summer 2022 on Paramount+ and stars
Owen Wilson, Michael Peña and Walker Scobell. The film is produced
by Jerry Bruckheimer Films..

In 2020 Henry and Rel directed PROJECT POWER, a Netflix sci-fi
action film starring Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon Levitt. The film
debuted at #1 in over 90 countries. It held the #1 spot in the USA
for over 2 weeks. It remains one of Netflix’s top ten original
features of all time.

Their first feature documentary, CATFISH, premiered at the 2010
Sundance film festival where it received critical acclaim and went
on to a nationwide release. Their second feature, PARANORMAL
ACTIVITY 3, released by Paramount Pictures, opened to rave reviews
and had the highest grossing horror opening weekend in history.
Their second film in the franchise, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 was
released in October, 2012, and the two combined have grossed $350
million. Henry and Rel directed two films in 2016: NERVE, a summer
hit released by Lionsgate, starring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco;
and VIRAL, a prescient low budget horror movie with Blumhouse,
starring Sofia Black-D'Elia. They also executive produced the 2016
Sundance Film Festival hit WHITE GIRL, directed by Elizabeth Wood,
which was acquired by Netflix for worldwide distribution.

Henry and Rel are executive producers on the long running series
CATFISH: The TV Show, now in it’s 8th season, and have directed
dozens of commercials and short films for companies like Nike,
Google, Facebook, and Vogue. They directed the short film A BRIEF
HISTORY OF JOHN BALDESSARI, commissioned by LACMA, narrated by Tom
Waits, which has been screened at over 100 film festivals
worldwide. Henry and Rel’s Google commercial DEAR SOPHIE was named
Time magazine's Best Commercial of the Year in 2011. In 2020 they
fulfilled a lifelong dream of directing the season opening short
film for the NEW YORK KNICKS.

Henry, Rel, and their in-house producer Orlee-Rose Strauss maintain
an active development slate. Features in the works include: an
adaptation of Capcom's MEGA MAN which they wrote and are directing
for Netflix; an adaptation of Edward Abbey's novel THE MONKEY
WRENCH GANG, produced by Ed Pressman, which they wrote and are
directing. They are also signed on to direct a bio-pic about KEITH
ADAMS, the deaf football coach who made history leading an all-deaf
high school football team to an undefeated season against
all-hearing teams. The film is being written by Josh Feldman, and
produced by Freddy Wexler, DJ Kurs and Eryn Brown.

Enjoy my conversation with Henry Joost and Rel Schulman.

Become a supporter of this podcast:
https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support.