Sundance

FUNNY OR DIE PARTNERS WITH SUNDANCE MIDNIGHT COMEDY “WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS”

Park City, UT. On the eve of its world premiere in Sundance, Funny Or Die (FOD) is partnering with the Unison Films and Defender Films broad comedy WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS. From frequent collaborators Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement who shared writing, directing and acting duties, SHADOWS is a hilarious comedy chock full of one-liners that showcases whether you’re immortal or human—life is better with friends. The film was produced by Waititi, Chelsea Winstanley and Emanuel Michael and held its world premiere on Sunday. January 19 at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, UT. CAA brokered the deal and is repping the domestic distribution rights.

In partnering with the film, FOD will leverage its social media and marketing reach leading up to the films’ release, once sold to a distributor. FOD most recently worked with Clement this Summer when Flight of the Concords headlined FOD’s "Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Tour."

SHADOWS follows the lives of Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), and Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) - three flatmates who are just trying to get by and overcome life’s obstacles—like being immortal vampires who must feast on human blood. Hundreds of years old, the vampires are finding that beyond sunlight catastrophes, hitting the main artery, and not being able to get a sense of their wardrobe without a reflection—modern society has them struggling with the mundane like paying rent, keeping up with the chore wheel, trying to get into nightclubs, and overcoming flatmate conflicts.

On the partnership, "at the last minute, we were given the opportunity to be involved in Taika and Jemaine's hilarious movie, and we jumped at it. We are excited to help market SHADOWS, not only to their already impressive fan base, but also to the tens of millions of Funny Or Die viewers whom we know will love it as much as we do,” stated Dick Glover, CEO of Funny Or Die.

ABOUT FUNNY OR DIE Funny Or Die launched in April 2007 and has become an award-wining top destination for comedy on the web. The site has over 19 million unique users per month, over 60 million video views per month, and has grown into a vertically integrated 21st century digital studio that produces high quality content over numerous platforms, operating a social media and marketing division with over 7.7 million Twitter followers (#1 Comedy Brand), approximately 4.5 million Facebook fans, and devoted followers on numerous social networking and sharing sites. Funny Or Die has become the “place to be seen” for comedic celebrities, and the obvious destination for a daily comedy fix. Funny Or Die's founders are Gary Sanchez Productions (Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy), Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and Michael Kvamme. Judd Apatow is also a principal partner in Funny Or Die.

ABOUT UNISON FILMS Unison Films is an Oscar® winning film production and financing company launched in 2004 by CEO Emanuel Michael. In addition to financing and producing What We Do in the Shadows, Unison is also in pre-production on its fourth film with Oscar® nominee Taika Waititi, the Blacklisted script Jojo Rabbit, a co-production with Studio Babelsberg of Germany. Unison’s recent producing credits include the double films The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her starring Oscar® nominee Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Oscar® nominee Viola Davis, Isabelle Huppert, Bill Hader, and Oscar® winner William Hurt which made their world premieres at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and will be released internationally this year by The Weinstein Company; Mike Newell’s Great Expectations starring Oscar® nominee Ralph Fiennes and Oscar® nominee Helena Bonham Carter; Yaron Zilberman’s A Late Quartet starring Oscar® winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Oscar® winner Christopher Walken and Oscar® nominee Catherine Keener; Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine’s 2013 Oscar®-winning documentary Inocente; and Oscar® nominee Fernando Meirelles’ 360 starring Oscar® winner Anthony Hopkins, Oscar® nominee Jude Law, and Oscar® winner Rachel Weisz.

-Edited by Vanessa McMahon