These Producers Built a Business Working With First-Time Directors. It Paid Off Big With ‘Obsession’

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A few years ago, producer James Harris stumbled across The Chair, a 25-minute YouTube horror short directed by an unknown sketch comedy guy named Curry Barker.

Harris spends a lot of time scrolling through shorts; finding undiscovered directors is the bread and butter of Tea Shop Productions, the shingle he runs with partner Mark Lane. But The Chair felt different. It looked cinematic, and Harris believed that if he could get Barker a bigger budget, the fledgling filmmaker could make something special for theaters.

That something special became Obsession, which has upended Hollywood since its arrival on May 15. It already stands as Tea Shop’s highest-grossing film with $95.8 million globally, and in its second weekend was up an unheard of 39 percent from its first.

It’s all part of a fairy tale eight months for the movie that began when Focus picked it up out of the Toronto Film Festival for $15 million in September.