Burnt Mill Road  ·  A three-feature horror slate  ·  Private placement · By invitation

We don't hope for an audience. We already built one.

In film, finding the audience is the risk. We removed it. Burnt Mill Road owns a horror catalogue with multiple shorts past a million views — led by THE FISHERMAN at 2M+. From that catalogue we vetted the three strongest concepts for the screen. This is the slate.

THE FISHERMAN — the lead title, 2M+ views. Watch it, then read the slate below.

2M+
Views — THE FISHERMAN, the lead title
1M+
Multiple catalogue shorts past a million
Vetted
3 features chosen from the catalogue
Why this is different

Every film raise asks you to bet someone will watch. We've already proven they will — across three titles, not one.

The number-one risk in film is distribution — finding an audience for a movie no one has met. Burnt Mill Road owns its audience: a horror channel with a track record of pulling views on demand. Each feature in this slate is the expansion of a short that already found that audience. You're not betting on three scripts. You're funding the feature versions of three properties the audience has already chosen — a portfolio, not a coin flip.

The slate

Three features, vetted from the catalogue for the screen.

We didn't pick these on instinct. Across a full horror catalogue, THE FISHERMAN proved the audience at scale (2M+); IN THE WALLS and THE WAITING ROOM were selected as the strongest feature concepts — tested premises, with a built audience already attached to the channel. Three properties, one proven distribution engine.

Lead title · 2M+ views · original IP

THE FISHERMAN

The feature based on our breakout short — the property with the most proven demand, leading the slate.

Original IP · vetted concept

IN THE WALLS

The feature based on the horror short IN THE WALLS — a tested premise selected from the catalogue for its feature potential.

Original IP · vetted concept

UPSTAIRS / DOWNSTAIRS

The feature based on our short THE WAITING ROOM — a tested premise carried into a full-length film.

Three independent bets under one slate — the portfolio is the risk reversal. Each title is already on screen; click any to watch the proof.

The precedent

The short-to-feature path is validated — twice over, this year alone.

In 2026, two YouTube horror creators brought their shorts to the big screen and rewrote the record books. Backrooms and Obsession aren't outliers — they're a pattern. Jason Blum called YouTube "a new place to look for the next generation of groundbreaking talent." The smartest money in horror is now betting on exactly the path this slate is built on.

YouTube short → A24 · 2026

Backrooms

$330M worldwide

20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons. $10M budget. A24's biggest opening weekend ever and highest-grossing film in the studio's history.

YouTube short → Focus Features · 2026

Obsession

$370M worldwide

Curry Barker's horror short led to a $15M acquisition out of TIFF. Made for $750K. Now the 7th highest-grossing horror film in US history.

Short → New Line · 2016

Lights Out

$4.9M → $148M

A no-budget viral horror short became a studio feature. ~30× on budget.

Short → Paramount · 2022

Smile

$17M → $217M

Adapted from the director's festival short. ~13× on budget.

Comparable outcomes are category precedent — not a projection of these films' results.

The edge

We don't guess what scares people. These three already proved it.

Most horror features are greenlit on instinct. Ours start from data: three shorts that already ran in front of a real audience, with the views, retention, and response to show what landed. We carry that signal into how each feature is developed and marketed — building on what the audience told us, not guessing. Three tested properties is a materially lower-risk starting line than a single unproven script.

Ownership

100% original IP — owned outright, free to franchise.

Every title in this slate is original horror IP created and owned by Burnt Mill Road. No licensed characters, no third-party rights, nothing to clear. That was a deliberate filter: we passed over higher-viewed catalogue titles that lean on outside IP in favor of concepts we own free and clear — the ones we can sequel, license, and build into franchises without a gatekeeper. What you fund, you own a clean piece of.

The ask

$3M for a three-feature slate — $1M all-in per film.

We're raising $3M to finance three original horror features at $1M all-in each. A slate, not a single film, so no one title carries the outcome — and capital on each feature is protected by a hard condition:

Condition precedent (per film): no production capital deploys on a feature until a commitment for 100 theatrical screens is secured in writing for that film. Until it is, the package is reworked — the concept and script revised, or the attached talent changed — and resubmitted. Capital never moves into production without the theatrical component secured.
Base production — per feature
$700K
P&A — per feature (trailer placement, digital posters, market attendance, social spend)
$300K
All-in — per feature
$1.0M
Total raise — three features
$3.0M
Capital back — Upstate New York film tax credit: each film shoots Upstate New York and targets up to 40% of the production budget back through the State's film tax credit — 30% base plus the 10% Upstate bump — up to ~$280K per film on the $700K base, ~$840K across the slate. The credit is fully refundable: New York pays it as cash, no discount, no buyer needed. A non-dilutive partial recoupment, independent of box office, that lowers at-risk capital — subject to qualifying spend, program allocation, and certification. Program runs through 2036.
Total raise
$3M
Per feature
$1M all-in · 3 titles
Seeking
A lead / anchor investor

Minimum check and full structure detailed in the memo. Reg D 506(b)/(c) per counsel; accredited investors only.

Team & risk

Jacob Arbittier — founder of Burnt Mill Road; writer-director of THE FISHERMAN, IN THE WALLS, and THE WAITING ROOM and the horror catalogue behind them, with prior experience at Blumhouse, the studio that defined the low-budget, high-margin horror model this slate is built on.

Risk, plainly: Film is high-risk; you can lose your entire investment. Audience proof on a short predicts but does not guarantee feature performance, and comparable films are not a guarantee of results. The 100-screen item is a condition of deployment, not a guarantee of box office. Distribution, tax credits, and attachments are targeted and subject to signing. The slate depends heavily on the founder. Full terms and conflicts are disclosed in the offering documents, reviewed by counsel.

By invitation · Private placement

Watch the shorts. Then see the slate.

The full memo — financials, slate structure, per-film terms, and risk disclosure — provided to accredited investors, by invitation, under NDA.

Request the memo

Burnt Mill Road · Private & confidential · By invitation only
Not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. Any offer is made only to accredited investors through definitive offering documents.
Film investment is high-risk; you may lose your entire investment. Comparable outcomes are not guarantees of future results.
All contingent items are subject to execution and certification. Consult your own legal, tax, and financial advisors.