Jason Blum

Jason Ferus Blum^[3] was born in Los Angeles, California,^[5] 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.^[6][7] Blum is of Jewish heritage.^[8][9]

He graduated from Vassar College in 1991.^[10] While at Vassar, he and fellow future filmmaker Noah Baumbach were roommates, and Blum produced Baumbach's first film, Kicking and Screaming, in 1995.^[11][12]

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.^[13] He is a member of the board of trustees of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.^[14]

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.^[15] Blum attached the letter to copies of the script he sent around to Hollywood executives.^[15]

Blumhouse Productions

In 2000, he founded Blumhouse Productions, which specializes in producing micro-budget movies that give directors full creative control over the projects.^[13] Bloomberg News praised Blum for making "blockbusters for pennies",^[16] including the horror film Paranormal Activity which cost $15,000 to make and then grossed nearly $200 million.^[17] In addition, NPR's Planet Money did a special podcast about the company's methods.^[18]

Blum also produced Insidious (2010), Sinister (2012), The Purge (2013) and Happy Death Day (2017), as well as their sequels.^[19] 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.^[20]

Blum's feature films BlacKkKlansman, Whiplash and Get Out were all nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.^[4]

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."^[21] After much criticism on social media, in which lists of such directors were circulated,^[22] he apologized for what he called his "dumb comments".^[23] 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.^[24][25]

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.^[26]

On July 14, 2012, Blum married journalist Lauren A.E. Schuker in Los Angeles.^[6]

In July 2019, he bought a Brooklyn Heights townhouse for $9.8 million.^[27]

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.^[28]

Film

Universal Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Lionsgate Films

Focus Features

Sony Pictures Releasing

Netflix

Amazon MGM Studios

FilmDistrict

The Weinsteins

Other

Television

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jason Blum.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Jason Blum.

• Blumhouse Productions
• Jason Blum at IMDb
• Interview with Blum (2013)