iHM, Blumhouse Partner to Produce Fictional Podcasts

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, October 10, 2019

iHeartRadio

Blumhouse and iHeartMedia have announced a strategic partnership to produce a series of fictional podcasts for potential, future film and television development. Under the new deal, the two companies will collaborate to develop and produce scripted podcasts in the horror genre, ranging from suspenseful thrillers and murder mysteries to science fiction audio-plays. The first podcast in the series is set to launch early next year and will be distributed through the iHeartPodcast Network.

The first in the slate of co-produced podcasts is "The Mantawauk Caves" from writer, director and producer Dan Bush (The Signal, The Vault, The Dark Red). "The Mantawauk Caves" weaves together narrative threads of a social drama and supernatural horror, following three boys who enter a cave in the Appalachian Mountains -- the oldest range in the world -- and only one makes it out alive.

"We're such avid fans of great podcasts at Blumhouse -- the compelling storytelling that engrossing podcasts offer -- and we were eager to partner with iHeartRadio to curate a slate of dark, fictional stories together," said Blumhouse founder Jason Blum. "We're thrilled the partnership has already produced 'The Mantawauk Caves,' the first of what we hope are several successful collaborations."

"We think fiction is one of the next big genres in podcasting, tapping into the incredible imaginative power we all have - the theater of the mind - and so we couldn't be more excited to bring this slate of shows into the world, starting with 'The Mantawauk Caves,'" added iHeartPodcast Network President Conal Byrne. "Blumhouse is truly masterful at creating some of the best suspense thrillers and horror movies around and, with their help, we can't wait to introduce a series of captivating, world-class audio content to the iHeartPodcast Network."

In addition to being available on iHeartRadio and all digital podcast platforms, full episodes and excerpts of the podcasts will also be distributed across iHeartMedia radio outlets.