This week’s guest on The Nelson Pod has one of the most unlikely and incredible success stories you’re ever likely to hear.
Oren Peli was working as a computer programmer in California in the mid-2000s when he found himself in a toxic work environment. Depressed and suffering carpal tunnel syndrome, Oren hated his job and was in serious pain. “I was popping Ibuprofen like candy just to get through the day,” he said.
Inspired by the success of the ultra-low budget horror film The Blair Witch Project, Oren came up with a plan. With no background in filmmaking, he decided to make his own horror film.
Working with an idea inspired by the creaks his house would make at night, Oren spent $US15,000 making the film with a couple of unknown actors.
Once the movie was finished he started approaching the film industry, but no one was interested. Even his local San Diego film festival rejected it. The breakthrough came when Oren entered it in the Screamfest horror film festival.
The film won awards, an agent came calling, and, eventually, after being passed around Hollywood, a DVD of Oren’s film made it onto Steven Spielberg’s desk at Dreamworks Pictures.
This led to “one of the most surreal moments” of Oren’s life when the President of Dreamworks called to tell him Spielberg had watched his film.
The Dreamworks boss told Oren that Spielberg had started watching the film but stopped halfway through because he got so scared that he could not keep watching it at night. He went on to tell Oren that Spielberg had viewed the rest of the film in the morning, that he loved it, and the company wanted to release it.
Oren’s film was called Paranormal Activity and it went on to make $US193 million at the box office.
The Paranormal Activity franchise has now spawned seven films and Oren and his family have been calling Nelson home since 2018.
Host of The Nelson Pod, Matt Lawrey, says Oren’s story is a must-watch.
“I just love the way he tells his amazing story in this incredibly relaxed and casual way. It really is a wonderful tale of determination, talent and self-belief. It’s also very cool hearing why Oren and his family chose to make Nelson-Whakatū their home,” Matt says.
“I really encourage everyone to watch the pod. It’ll definitely make you smile.”
Watch or listen on: thenelsonpod.co.nz
