EXCLUSIVE: Buffalo 8 has struck a $15-million deal with BarBHouse Productions for production, post and distribution on three features. News of the strategic partnership follows the recent Tribeca premiere of BarBHouse’s acclaimed horror feature, A Wounded Fawn. Films to be made under the deal include the horror Mr. Yokai, the psychological thriller Bait and Switch and the fantasy pic Watermark.
Mr. Yokai centers on the addict Ellie, who finds herself in rehab. When a demonic entity named Mr. Yokai begins to hunt down her and her fellow patients, she must fight against her inner demons in order to defeat him. Alex Merkin will direct from A Wounded Fawn scribe Nathan Faudree’s script.
In Bait and Switch, the reunion of a mentally unstable war vet and his childhood best friend erupts into a violent battle for survival, after a brutal psychotic snap. The screenplay was written by Zack Kahn, who penned the Christmas horror pic, Better Watch Out.
Then, there’s Watermark, in which a physics professor struggling to explain paranormal events in his life is surprised by encounters with his childhood friend who drowned at age twelve. The third film under the deal will be written by Mark Schnug.
BarBHouse and Buffalo 8 have partnered with the goal of leveraging the former’s creative development expertise within the backdrop of the latter’s indie-studio infrastructure. (Buffalo 8, along with ABS Payroll, are sister companies of indie film and television financier BondIt Media Capital.) Lee Forsyth, the Chief Operating Officer of BarBHouse, structured the deal with Grady Craig, who serves as VP of Business Development at BondIt and Buffalo 8.
“BarBHouse’s recent expansion is fueled by forming robust strategic partnerships,” said Forsyth. “Relationships, trust, and the ability to deliver the amazing content we create can only be done when you have the right ingredients at hand. Streamlining our financing and distribution channels means we can accelerate film deliveries and make our unique brand of content more accessible in a timelier fashion. On behalf of the BarBHouse team, we are excited to partner with our friends at Buffalo 8 on our upcoming ventures.”
“We are beyond excited for this partnership,” added BarBHouse founder, Joe Barbagallo. “I have been following Buffalo 8 and BondIt as it has expanded over the past decade. Our company has been growing and with the new additions to our team including Lee, as well as this partnership, I believe we will make a more significant impact together.”
Matthew Helderman and Luke Taylor co-founded Buffalo 8 in 2010, launching the film, television, and media finance company BondIt Media Capital in 2013. On average, BondIt and Buffalo 8 package, finance and exec produce around 50 projects per year, with recent credits including The Kill Room, starring Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson; Brittany Snow’s feature directorial debut, September 17th, Neil Labute’s Fear the Night with Maggie Q; the action-thriller Ambush, with Aaron Eckhart and Jonathan Rhys Meyers; the sci-fi thriller Dual with Karen Gillan and Aaron Paul; the action-adventure pic Sheroes; National Champions, with Stephan James and J.K. Simmons; Kevin Smith’s Clerks III; Wash Me in the River, starring Robert De Niro & John Malkovich; and Paradise City, starring John Travolta & Bruce Willis.
Travis Stevens directed BarBHouse’s A Wounded Fawn, in which a serial killer brings an unsuspecting new victim on a weekend getaway, in hopes of adding another body to his ever-growing count. Other projects from the company include the romantic drama On Our Way and the horror pic Cryptid.
