Aaron B. Koontz | |
|---|---|
 Koontz on the set of Old Man | |
| Born | |
| Citizenship | American |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Notable work | |
Aaron B. Koontz is an American producer, writer and director. He is the founder and CEO of Paper Street Pictures, a film production company in Austin, Texas. [1] He is also a producer behind The Pale Door , the Scare Package franchise, and Shelby Oaks , from YouTuber Chris Stuckmann.
Koontz was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. As a child, he shot home movies and wrote numerous short stories. [2]
After moving to Florida with his family he went on to attend Full Sail University, where he was a classmate of filmmakers Adam Wingard and E. L. Katz. [3] Koontz graduated in 2001 and worked as freelance crew on various film sets including Monster and studio films The Punisher and Out of Time . [4]
In 2003, Koontz took a nearly ten-year detour where he worked in video game production as a producer and QA tester-manager for companies like EA Sports, THQ and Zynga. [5]
In 2012, Koontz left games to start the boutique genre production company Paper Street Pictures. [6] Through Paper Street, Koontz wrote and directed multiple short films including the award-winning Honor Student. [7] In 2014, Koontz was an executive producer of the SXSW hit Starry Eyes , and then in 2016, he co-wrote, produced and directed his first feature film, Camera Obscura, for NBC Universal. In 2019, Koontz lead the production team for the Shudder cult hit Scare Package , of which he also was the core story co-writer and director as well as the final segment director with Horror Hypothesis. In 2020, Aaron co-wrote, directed and produced The Pale Door , a horror-western he released with the help of executive producer Joe R. Lansdale.
In 2022, he produced five films, with the first was The Requin , starring Alicia Silverstone, followed by Revealer, [8] for which he also wrote the comic book tie-in with Vault Comics. [9] Old Man, starring Stephen Lang, came out in the fall, followed by Blood Relatives which premiered at Fantastic Fest, before releasing in select theaters on Thanksgiving week, [10] and Snow Valley. [11]
Koontz directed, produced and co-wrote Scare Package 2: Rad Chad's Revenge, the sequel to Scare Package. The film premiered at Fright Fest in August, before streaming exclusively on Shudder in December, [12] which was called a "superior and superbly silly sequel" by MovieWeb . [13]
In 2023, he led the production of Emily Hagins's Sorry About the Demon which premiered in January on Shudder. In March, he produced The Artifice Girl , starring Lance Henriksen, which had its U.S. Premiere at SXSW. It previously won Best International Feature at Fantasia in Montreal and Trieste in Italy. [14] Also in 2023, he produced the Christmas creature feature A Creature Was Stirring starring Chrissy Metz [15] and the horror thriller Trim Season starring Alex Essoe. [16]
In 2024, he produced The Bunker and Shelby Oaks. Koontz launched a Kickstarter for Shelby Oaks with Chris Stuckmann, [17] which went on to break the record as the most funded horror kickstarter of all-time, [18] and then began filming in May and June in and around Ohio. [19] In May 2024, Mike Flanagan, Trevor Macy and Melinda Nishioka were revealed to be executive producers on Shelby Oaks, under their production company Intrepid Pictures. [20]
In late 2020, it was announced that Koontz had formed a new genre consulting firm, Blood Oath, with various other industry veterans. [21]
Koontz has said that he hoped to make a third Scare Package film with Shudder. [22] [23]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Camera Obscura | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2019 | Scare Package | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2020 | The Pale Door | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also editor |
| 2022 | Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Executive producer
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2014 | Starry Eyes |
| 2020 | 15 Things You Didn't Know About Bigfoot |
| The Pizzagate Masacre | |
Producer only
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2022 | The Requin |
| Revealer | |
| Old Man | |
| Blood Relatives | |
| 2023 | Sorry About the Demon |
| The Artifice Girl | |
| Trim Season | |
| A Creature Was Stirring | |
| 2024 | Snow Valley |
| Shelby Oaks | |
| The Bunker | |
Other credits
| Year | Title | Writer | Executive producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Tales From the Void | No | Yes | [24] |
| 2025–present | Revival | Yes | Yes | Creator and showrunner [25] |