Backrooms

referenced · 3d modeling and spatial design software

Parsons designed the entire film's environments in Blender before physical construction began. He sent the 3D files directly to production designer Danny Vermette, who used them as blueprints for 30,000 square feet of practical sets.

“Parsons used the 3D software Blender, with production designer Danny Vermette adapting his digital designs for physical construction.”

in the room · production company and discovery mechanism

Shawn Levy's company 21 Laps became co-producer after his assistant Lucas Ford scouted Parsons' work. The discovery path ran through Levy's internal infrastructure for identifying emerging creators.

“Further discussions soon led to A24.”

referenced · film rights option and distribution

Parsons adapted his own viral web series into the feature. A24 optioned the rights after the 24-episode series went viral with tens of millions of views, leading to his feature directorial debut.

“After uploading the web series in January 2022, Parsons was approached by several studios about potentially adapting his series into a feature film.”

in the room · producer and production company partnership

James Wan's Atomic Monster was one of four companies that jointly produced the film. Wan was approached to the project via his assistant Lucas Ford, who discovered Parsons' viral series and flagged it for development.

“Parson was scouted by Lucas Ford, Shawn Levy's assistant in charge of 'flagging interesting material and creators'.”

in the room · distribution and financing commitment

A24 won the bidding war among multiple studios in 2023 and co-financed the film with Chernin Entertainment for under $10 million. The studio's willingness to back a 16-year-old first-time feature director was the business mechanic that made production possible.

“In February 2023, A24, who successfully bid on the film, announced that work had begun on a film adaptation of The Backrooms based on Parsons's videos, with Parsons directing.”

producer lineage · prior adaptation work and visual technique refinement

Parsons adapted Attack on Titan into six animated shorts in 2021 using a historical-documentary aesthetic, directly preceding and refining the found-footage visual language he would use for Backrooms.

“In 2021, Parsons adapted the anime and manga series Attack on Titan into six animated shorts. The videos present events from the series in the form of historical footage akin to war photography from the early 20th century.”

referenced

Parsons explicitly cited Portal's spatial logic and set construction as foundational to his entire creative vision. The game's infinitely extending interior spaces directly shaped the Backrooms aesthetic.

“I frequently have dreams where I'm just in the Aperture Research Center. A built interior that seems to extend forever in all directions... which is, of course, the familiar logic of the Backrooms.”

referenced

Parsons rewatched the series immediately after finishing his first Backrooms short and called it his single biggest visual and tonal reference for the film, specifically citing cinematographer Tod Campbell's deep-corner compositions and negative space.

“Of all the specific films that I think it's the one we referenced the most visually and tonally for Backrooms, I think certainly on a cinematography front and acoustic front, we definitely went to it quite a lot.”

referenced

Parsons drew the conceptual framework of collective anxiety manifesting physically from the anime series. Both works treat systemic and industrial unease as a tangible, spatial threat rather than psychological abstraction.

“Backrooms is responding to a lot of the anxieties around the level of urbanization and industrialization and, like, corner cutting we're at right now, where there's so much information but it means so little to most people.”

referenced

Parsons built his web series and film from the original 4chan creepypasta posted in 2019. He discovered the concept casually on Instagram and adapted it into a new mythology with found-footage aesthetics, ultimately displacing the original fan lore.

“Parsons was vaguely aware of the Backrooms from the original image and caption he had seen on Instagram two years prior.”