Playback The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Our final episode covers The Blair Witch Project’s wide public release and the groundbreaking promotional campaign that followed. It was the first “viral marketing” case of its kind, permanently changing the course of movie advertising for the social media age. Our story concludes with the minting of a new genre: found footage.

This episode covers the premiere of The Blair Witch Project at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999. We start with the acceptance phone call that every budding filmmaker dream of receiving, building to the anticipated opening night screening and the financial record-breaking overnight sale that almost didn’t happen.

This episode covers the radically experimental production process that was used to make The Blair Witch Project. Hint: It had more in common with an army bootcamp than a typical movie set. Hear from the actors themselves about what it was like to be stuck in the woods, performing and shooting a movie unlike anything else that had come before it.

This season dives into The Blair Witch Project. The first episode covers the pre-production process and everything else that came before the actual making of Blair Witch—how everyone met, where the idea came from, the audition process, and much more.

Featuring interviews with co-writers and directors Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick, producer Greg Hale, and the films’ three lead actors, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams.