(Photo courtesy of Shiver Vertical, LLC)
Written by Colleen Bement, Editor
Scott Vandiver Talks Shiver
Nerd Alert News caught up with Shiver Vertical creator, Scott Vandiver at this year’s Colorado Festival of Horror. The vertical film craze has taken off and after realizing that there was no one in the horror space of vertical, he jumped at the chance to start his own. Shiver is a mobile-first premium vertical horror entertainment app. They want to dish out terror in short, cinematic bursts, designed specifically for the palm of one’s hand. Vandiver plans to redefine mobile storytelling through high-production vertical episodes.Â
Horror fans can never get enough scares and the Shiver app will offer one to two minute bursts of frights any time of day or night. Bored on the bus to work? Open the app for some quick entertainment. Can’t fall asleep at night? Oh wait, that actually might not work! Still, it seems like a wonderful idea to get content out to those who crave that delightful dread. Dive into our interview and learn more about this cool new app.
Colleen Bement: Have you been to the Colorado Festival of Horror before?
Scott Vandiver: First time, and I’m having a great time. They really run a nice festival here. It’s easy to navigate. People are friendly. I was telling Daniel (Sharner) that it feels like a family. They really make you feel welcomed here.
CB: It’s true.
SV: Some don’t. You get there and you don’t see anybody. Nobody talks to you, set up, do your thing, and go home.Â
CB: It’s like a family because the people who created it are like a family. So, tell me about Shiver. Did you create it or was it a joint effort?
SV: I did. I’m a talent manager also, in Los Angeles, and that’s called Spotlight Management. I get these breakdowns that tells you what every film and TV show being produced and they’re looking for actors, right? So, I’m able to see what’s coming out. About 3 years ago, I started to see vertical, vertical, vertical. It was all like romance stuff telenovella-type Chinese stuff. It started in China, the vertical format did. It’s a 1.5 billion dollar industry worldwide, and they brought it to the United States. There’s tons of them, but no one’s in the horror space for vertical. So I’m like, I’m going to do it! One day I created this logo, and I created a poster with it, I put together an investment package, got some investors, and off and running we are. Five months later, here we are and we go live October 5th on iOS and Android with about 25-30 movies. They’ve been verticalized and cut up into series, so you watch them in episodes. Every episode is like 60 seconds to 2 minutes long, and an average movie is about 50 episodes, and an average short, maybe 20.Â
CB: I love that. Perfect for many people’s attention spans.
SV: It’s for everyone’s attention span.Â
CB: How did you accomplish this in five months? Good connections, or are you just brilliant?
SV: How about a little lucky sometimes. I’ve told this story before, I AI’d how to do it. I typed in Chat GBT how do I make a mobile app, and it told me how to do it. But then you’ve got to do the deep dive into the information to really understand it. I was a sales agent for a long time. I sold movies around the world, so I have a lot of connections to distributors and friends that have movies that I have access to. That’s really the hardest part is getting the content, and since I had these connections, it was a little easier for me.Â
CB: Do you have people applying to get their movies on your platform?
SV:  Yes. All the time. Mostly, I chase them, but there are always people coming. Once the app is up and running, they’re like oh, what can I give you? And what’s happening right now is people are starting to produce in vertical for the horror genre, and that’s what I really want is they’re paced properly. Sometimes with movies, they’re an hour and a half long, can be a little slow at spots, and you’ve got to kind of manipulate that area because in verticals if they’re not (claps hands) like that, they’re going to just walk away from it. Got to keep them engaged. Everything’s engagement.
CB: It’s exciting. It’s certainly different from how I grew up.Â
SV: It’s very exciting. It’s very new. Like I said, we are the first vertical only horror app.
CB: Just how scary will these mini movies be?
SV: They’re all over the place because we do different banners. What I mean by banners is there will be a horror comedy banner with horror comedy. Then one banner will be like slasher, so if you divide them up like that, you can’t really say what’s scary or not scary because it depends on your taste and what you like. We’re doing dark thrillers also, so not necessarily a horror film, but a dark thriller. Not Lifetime, but dark.
CB: This is just the start and I can just imagine how far you’re going to go with this.
SV: I read an article the other day that vertical viewership is doubling every month.Â
CB: Is it paid content? Do we pay to play?
SV: There are a few ways to do it. It’s not advertising supported. That’s what Netflix does. We’re doing subscription based and transactional based. You can buy digital coins and then you spend those coins to view the product. Or, you can buy the monthly or yearly subscription. That’s unlimited, you can watch as much as you want.Â
CB: OK, let’s talk about horror for a little bit. I’m not a horror fan. I admit it. When it comes to horror, at least I like some classics. Let’s start there. What’s your favorite classic horror and what’s your favorite modern horror?
SV: Classic, probably The Exorcist. That scared the hell out of me. I saw it as a kid and said I’d never watch another horror film in my life, but I did eventually. The Omen was a great one back in the day. Rosemary’s Baby was a classic. Modern classics would be Evil Dead. Nightmare on Elm Street. The Thing is one of my favorite movies of all time.Â
CB: Did you watch Obsession?Â
SV: Of course.
CB: My husband begged me to watch it with him, and I was like WHY AM I STILL WATCHING THIS? Yikes!
CB: Well, you clearly love horror. You’re on a mission. You’ve got the backing. You’ve got the films. You’re ready to go, and it’s only a couple weeks away. Everyone needs to follow your socials to keep up with the excitement. Thank you again for chatting with us and we can’t wait to download the app.
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