IFH 314: How a 17-year-old Director Gets Signed by Amazon Studios with Jonathan Perry

Today on the show we have 17-year-old scriptwriter and filmmaker Jonathan Perry who directed a large budget short film titled SUBNIVEAN which will debut on Amazon Prime June 12, 2019, making Perry the youngest director on any streaming service. I know, it's crazy.

After filming SUBNIVEAN in December of 2018, Perry and his team of producers wrote a nine-page appeal which was submitted to Amazon. Amazon accepted Perry’s appeal and formed a partnership with Perry. Perry’s partnership with Amazon includes the release of SUBNIVEAN on the Amazon Prime streaming platform, as well as coverage of select advertising costs. Additionally, Perry partnered with EDM band ODESZA for promotional sound mixing.

Once offered a large sum of money for his script titled SUBNIVEAN, Perry decided SUBNIVEAN may be his golden ticket into directing his first large budget feature film. Perry, still hard at work on SUBNIVEAN, doesn’t plan on taking any breaks after the Amazon release. Recently, Perry has signed with a Hollywood director and union members for his upcoming 2020 film with a starting budget of 1.5 million.

Director Jonathan Perry is from Sandusky, Ohio and began his early career in the film industry four years ago when he began writing scripts online for other filmmakers by selling the copyright to his work. Now, this is the part that blew me away, after writing nearly 40 scripts over the course of two years, Perry made a total of nearly $10,000. We go deep in how he did this and you will be surprised at his journey.

The film SUBNIVEAN introduces the viewer to two young brothers and their troubled relationship.

Perry states in a film synopsis,“

After a vicious chase home from gathering firewood, an innocent boy unknowingly leads his brother to fall through an isolated pond. The boy has to accept and use his twisted hallucinations of hatred as his only hope to break the ice and save his brother in time or die trying.”

Enjoy my inspirational conversation with Jonathan Perry.

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