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Coming tomorrow to Shudder is Can’t Take It Back, the supernatural horror film from director Tim Shechmeister (Viral, Day 13). Essentially an anti-bully PSA, the film follows a group of students who leaves hateful comments on the page of a… Continue Reading →

The post Exclusive: Can’t Take It Back Clip Proves My Fear of Pencils Correct appeared first on Dread Central.

The presence of ghosts has long been associated with electromagnetic disturbances but what if a ghost lingered around in Facebook? An eleven-minute short film, Viral, by UCLA film school graduate Tim Shechmeister takes cyberbullying to a supernatural arena.

According to THR, Screen Gems has acquired the rights to the short with the intention of adapting it into a feature film. Shechmeister co-wrote the short with his brother Matt. The brothers will both write the screenplay for the feature with Tim to direct.

Described as The Grudge meets Facebook, this short “strikes at the modern social media anxiety.” Grudge writer Stephen Susco actually discovered Shechmeister’s short this past summer at a screenwriting event. Susco talks about what impressed him about the short:

“I see a lot of student films and like to see what’s going on. I rarely see something as polished as this one.

It strikes at the...

When we reported that Paramount was close to picking up the fantasy novel Daughter of Smoke and Bone, it seemed as though they’d be sealing the rights in no time. Even if it was ever-so-briefly mentioned that this was “attracting the attention of a few other studios,” I didn’t think anyone else was snatching it. Paramount was the top bidder, and this business is always controlled by the top bidder.

Well, silly me — we’re now being told by THR that Universal has come in and made Laini Taylor‘s novel their business. A smart move on their part; they’ve yet to get in on the young adult franchise game, and the interest of studios is a sign that there’s something profitable here. Will it be good? People like it, but that doesn’t tell me it’s going to make a quality motion picture. We’ll know in good time.

Screen Gems has picked up the feature remake rights to Tim Shechmeister's student film short "Viral" reports Heat Vision.

Set in the world of cyberbullying, the tone is said to be akin to "The Grudge" or "The Ring" but designed for the current generation with smart phones and social media acting essentially as extensions of themselves.

Shechmeister directed and co-wrote the eleven minute short as part of his thesis. The pair will now work in the same capacities on the feature version.

Stephen Susco, Roy Lee and Lawrence Grey will produce.

Screen Gems has picked up the feature remake rights to Tim Shechmeister's student film short "Viral" reports Heat Vision.

Set in the world of cyberbullying, the tone is said to be akin to "The Grudge" or "The Ring" but designed for the current generation with smart phones and social media acting essentially as extensions of themselves.

Shechmeister directed and co-wrote the eleven minute short as part of his thesis. The pair will now work in the same capacities on the feature version.

Stephen Susco, Roy Lee and Lawrence Grey will produce.

Let's face it: The Internet can already be a pretty frightening place (if you don't believe us, Google any word, and you have a 99% chance of pulling up some dude jackin' off). The good news? It's about to get a whole lot scarier!

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Screen Gems has picked up rights to a creepy student-made short entitled Viral with the plan of spinning it into a feature.

The pickup is a coup for Tim Shechmeister, a recent UCLA film school grad who directed the short and co-wrote it with his brother, Matt, as part of a thesis project. The Shechmeisters will co-write the feature, and Tim would direct the big-screen version.

The roughly 11-minute short is set in the world of cyberbullying and eventually includes supernatural elements. In fact, the story could be described as being reminiscent of The Grudge or The Ring, but primed for the...

Sony Screen Gems has picked up rights to a creepy student-made short entitled Viral with the plan of spinning it into a feature, reports Heat Vision. The pickup is a coup for Tim Shechmeister, a recent UCLA film school grad who directed the short and co-wrote it with his brother, Matt Shechmeister, as part of a thesis project. The Shechmeisters will co-write the feature and Tim would direct the big-screen version. "The roughly 11-minute short is set in the world of cyberbullying and eventually includes supernatural elements." In fact, the story could be described as being reminiscent of The Grudge or The Ring, but primed for the current generation that uses smart phones and Facebook as extensions of themselves.

Screen Gems has picked up rights to a creepy student-made short entitled Viral with the plan of spinning it into a feature. The pickup is a coup for Tim Shechmeister, a recent UCLA film school grad who directed the short and co-wrote it with his brother, Matt, as part of a thesis project. The Shechmeisters will co-write the feature and Tim would direct the big-screen version. The roughly 11-minute short is set in the world of cyberbullying and eventually includes supernatural elements. In fact, the story could be described as being reminiscent of The Grudge

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Recent UCLA film school graduate Tim Shechmeister has just scored his first big break: his short film Virus has been caught by Screen Gems, who are set to spread it into a full-blown feature.The ten-minute short is reportedly a slightly Catfish-like cyberbullying tale, but with a supernatural edge. Shechmeister has been opting for the festival circuit, rather than posting the full thing online, but there is a short trailer out there. It shows two girls being mean on the still-active facepage of a dead "friend", and getting a nasty shock when they hear back from her. Cue a brief montage of violent images like necks in nooses and guns in mouths.It's a bit Ring (updating the cursed technology from video-cassettes to social media) and a bit Grudge, which is evidently why it attracted the attention of (American) Grudge writer Stephen Susco, who in turn took it to franchise producer Roy Lee.

Hollywoodnews.com: Join us at the 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival. The festival will be screening the premiere of the short film ‘Viral’ at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood.

‘Viral’ will premiere on Saturday, October 22nd at 2:00 p.m.

About ‘Viral’: Julia and Alexis are supposed to be studying, but Alexis is bored. She decides to send a nasty message from Julia’s computer to another girl … who died three years ago…

To purchase tickets go here.

To read more about this film and others at the 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival go here.

Cast and Crew of ‘Viral’:

Director: Tim Shechmeister

Producer: Tim Shechmeister

Writers: Tim Shechmeister, Matt Shechmeister

Cast: Lauren Champey, Rya Meyers

Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.

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