Curry Barker is a writer, director, and actor best known for creating Obsession, the movie credited with redefining contemporary horror. The breakout horror feature premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, sold to Focus Features for upwards of $15 million, broke box office records, and is part of a growing resurgence of original IP dominating the big screen.

As a keynote speaker, Curry Barker delivers insights on executing ideas that make the whole world take notice. He speaks about cultivating a loyal audience on YouTube, the viral $800-budget film that earned the attention of Hollywood execs, and why Obsession feels so fresh in the oversaturated market of horror movies. In detailing his journey to becoming the genre’s most in-demand director, he offers lessons in preserving the integrity of bold ideas, overcoming creative paralysis and momentum-killing perfectionism, and telling stories that become inflection points for an entire industry. Bringing together pop culture entertainment with practical takeaways, Curry Barker is an ideal speaker for colleges, comic cons, corporate leaders, startup founders, entrepreneurs, creative teams, and any audience whose goals are disruption and glory.

More About Curry Barker
Curry Barker is a disruptor. Rather than waiting around for his big break, he made Hollywood come to him. He launched the YouTube channel “that’s a bad idea” with fellow film school dropout Cooper Tomlinson, writing, directing, and starring in comedy sketches and horror shorts. With projects like Enigma, Warnings, and The Chair garnering millions of views, Barker quickly established himself as a rising star in the horror community. But it was his found footage feature debut Milk & Serial that really put him on the map, capturing the attention of die-hard horror fans and mainstream critics alike, earning praise from The Guardian and Variety, among others.

Barker’s success on YouTube opened the doors to create Obsession, the movie that cemented him as a true titan of horror. Produced for a modest $750,000, the film premiered at TIFF, sold to Focus Features for $15 million, and made over $450 million at the global box office. It broke records as the highest-grossing genre acquisition in TIFF history, the highest-grossing film with a budget less than $1 million dollars, and is ranked as one of the most profitable movies ever made.

With studios knocking at his door, Barker has no shortage of opportunities to bring his stories to the masses. In a return to his comedic roots, he wrote, directed, and starred in Anything But Ghosts, a comedy horror film starring Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard. Additional projects include a remake of the horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for A24 and an original horror movie with Blumhouse.

Curry Barker’s meteoric rise is evidence of what’s possible when you trust your ideas and commit to telling stories only you can tell.