Matt Duffer, creator, showrunner and executive producer of Stranger Things along with brother Ross, didn’t specifically cite Backrooms or Obsession on Monday in accepting a career honor at the Gotham TV Awards.
But the two YouTube-driven smashes seemed to be on his mind as he addressed the crowd at New York’s Cipriani Wall Street.
Despite never having directed television or served as showrunners, he recalled, Netflix gave the Duffer Brothers a fairly blank check 10 years ago when the show’s journey began. “That level of trust gave us the confidence and the courage to step up,” Matt Duffer said. “The experience we had is so very rare in this industry. And in this age of endless data, and algorithms, it feels rarer than ever, which really worries us. But we’re also encouraged by what audiences are responding to right now across TV and film. I feel young people are telling us very loudly that they’re hungry for original stories – unfiltered personal visions that haven’t been mangled by a thousand paper cuts.”
Backrooms, which stemmed from a popular YouTube channel and 4Chan post, captivated Hollywood with its $81 million opening last weekend. Obsession, directed by former YouTuber Curry Barker, has pulled off the unusual feat of increasing its box office over its three weekends of release, and is now Focus Features’ top grosser in the U.S.
“I say this to anyone in the room with any level of power: Let’s choose risk over fear. Let’s do everything we can to help new voices, make bold personal stories, and then let’s stay out of their way,” Duffer continued. “First of all, I would say it’s less work for you. And second, it’s gonna make you a lot of money. But most importantly, it’ll result in cooler sh-t.”
The audience let out a hearty cheer for Duffer’s comments, which followed a similar rave over the weekend from indie stalwart Mark Duplass. The Visionary Award for the Duffers was one of five non-competitive honors bestowed, with other recipients including Kerry Washington, Clare Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer and the ensemble cast of FX’s Love Story. Apple TV’s Pluribus and HBO Max’s I Love LA and DTF: St. Louis were among the night’s big winners. This is the third year for the Gotham’s TV offshoot of its more established film awards, which are handed out annually in November and help get the Oscar season started.
Along with shouting out the groundswell of online-rooted breakout successes, the Duffers briefly detailed the unlikely origin story of Stranger Things. The fifth and final season of the genre series set a record for New Year’s Day viewing last January, racking up 31.5 million views in its first four days of release.
“I can’t really emphasize what a crazy risk Stranger Things was, how little sense it made on paper,” Ross Duffer said. “You know, all we had was one movie, which Warner Brothers disliked so much they wouldn’t release it, and a weird 50-page script starring kids – but not for kids. No one wanted to touch it.”
Eventually, Netflix exec Matt Thunell saw potential in the project and brought it to former Netflix programming lieutenant Cindy Holland, and eventually then-content chief Ted Sarandos. (Thunell and Holland are now heads of Paramount’s television and direct-to-consumer operations, respectively, and attended the Gotham ceremony.)
“What’s amazing is that all these people weren’t just betting on idea or script. They were betting on us,” Duffer marveled. They let us showrun, even though we never showrun before. They let us direct, even though we never directed TV before. They let us cast whoever we believed in, including David Harbour, who’s here tonight, as well. They never once hovered of our shoulders or asked us to sand off the weird edges.”
