Tongal, the creator-led studio, and filmmaker Savanah Moss are partnering together to adapt a feature film based on Jeff the Killer. Jeff the Killer started as an online creepypasta, continuing the trend of studios adapting online horror stories into movies in the wake of A24’s success with “Backrooms.” The success of Kane Parsons’ “Backrooms” and Curry Barker’s “Obsession” have inspired Hollywood to invest in a new wave of horror movies from creators. “This has been the biggest sea change in Hollywood since the original studio system broke up," said Tongal CEO James DeJulio.
The iconic creepypasta Jeff the Killer is getting the Hollywood treatment. Aside from being a solid basis for a big screen adaptation, the project itself is embracing its internet roots in a way we haven’t seen yet. TikToker Savanah Moss is developing the Jeff the Killer film alongside Tongal. If you’re unfamiliar, Tongal is a collaborative studio that connects major brands with a network of indie creators. It essentially uses a crowdsourcing approach to allow creatives to pitch ideas, write scripts and produce media. Right now, both Savanah and Tongal are calling on fans to chime in. It’s a genius idea. Like every creepypasta, Jeff has never belonged to one person.
Tongal, a creator-driven studio and platform that worked on Pharrell Williams’ “Piece by Piece” movie, is developing a feature film based on Koei Tecmo’s classic ’80s football video game “Tecmo Bowl.” The studio, which has developed content for Netflix, The Lego Group, Pokemon, NBCUniversal and more brands, says it will collaborate with its community of over 160,000 creatives to “reimagine the beloved classic as a movie” that will “combine live action with animated gameplay sequences inspired by the original ‘Tecmo Bowl.'”
Tecmo Bowl, the classic and enormously popular football video game franchise, is getting a 21st-century refresh for a feature film. Tongal is currently accepting submissions from design teams who want to “reimagine the 8-bit characters from Tecmo Bowl as 3D characters for the modern era.” Two teams will be selected, each tasked with developing a version of NFL legend Bo Jackson that translates the original Tecmo art style to 3D.
“I grew up playing ‘Tecmo Bowl’ with my friends, as did so many kids of the 90s, and I know this is going to resonate with the fans and their families,” Tongal CEO and co-founder James DeJulio said. “We’re bringing together our creator community and cutting-edge creator platform to reinvent how features are developed and produced. Just as we did with Piece by Piece, this is an opportunity to innovate and build a new model for storytelling — one where beloved IP is supercharged by the talent and ideas of independent creators around the world.”