Hooked Digital Media Ready to Begin Haunting Melissa

Steve Barton   |  

May 1, 2013

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As technology continues to advance, so do the ways in which people try to scare the shit out of us. Case in point: Hooked Digital Media is gearing up to begin Haunting Melissa. Read on for details.

From the Press Release
To address the changing entertainment consumption habits of today’s always connected audiences, producer Neal Edelstein has formed Hooked Digital Media, a next-generation production company. The new company is committed to delivering a great story through quality film-making for tablet and mobile devices through app technology that reinvents distribution.

Hooked Digital Media combines the best of Hollywood film-making with the kinetic digital-age energy of a tech start up, taking all the critical elements of storytelling and refashioning them for today’s audiences. The company’s new platform allows delivery of stories in varied lengths, received at unpredictable intervals. Hooked Digital Media’s first app is the ghost story Haunting Melissa, which is scheduled for release in spring 2013.

“Hooked Digital Media will fill a void in today’s entertainment landscape by creating original filmed stories for viewing directly on mobile and tablet devices,” said Neal Edelstein, president, Hooked Digital Media. “The way stories are consumed has changed, so we set out to alter how stories are told by harnessing the power of tablet and mobile devices. We are not taking movies and stuffing them inside an app; we are crafting stories that embrace app technology and the viewing habits of the new generation of consumers.”

Edelstein is an award-winning independent filmmaker and early technology adopter whose credits include The Ring, The Ring Two, Mulholland Drive and The Straight Story. With Edelstein at the helm, Hooked Digital Media is developing and will distribute wholly owned original projects across multiple digital platforms. The combination of Edelstein’s experience and passion with a new distribution approach is poised to disrupt and re-define the entertainment viewing experience on connected devices.

“Delivery direct to tablet and mobile devices is going to be the most personal form of storytelling,” continued Edelstein. “The possibilities are endless for us to share new stories in an imaginative format directly to audiences. This new model is attracting interest among Hollywood’s power players who are shaping the industry.”

Edelstein brings a strong and successful independent vision to Hooked Digital Media having partnered with David Lynch in The Picture Factory. Edelstein formed Macari/Edelstein Filmed Entertainment with Mike Macari, producing the hugely successful Ring films for DreamWorks Pictures. Other completed pictures include Disney-distributed The Invisible, directed by David Goyer, and Shelter, starring Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Rounding out Hooked Digital Media are MySpace co-founder Aber Whitcomb and investor Kevin Washington. Whitcomb, who serves as an advisor to the new production company, is a leader in cross-platform technology design, large scale computing and networking on a global scale.

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