Guy Writes Reddit Horror Story: Turns Out It’s Pretty Good and Netflix Buys It For 7 Figures

Netflix has made a "low seven-figure" deal to acquire the screen rights to Matt Query's short horror story 'My Wife and I Bought a Ranch,' which was posted across six installments on Reddit.

Deadline reports that Query's brother, Harrison, has been tapped to write the screenplay, while Scott Glassgold of Ground Control Entertainment will take on the role of producer. 21 Laps' Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen are said to be in talks to produce also, together with Atomic Monster's James Wan and Michael Clear.

Full story here.

Who needs a fucking publisher? Forget sending your shit from magazine to magazine begging for 17 cents per word, write a masterpiece and post it on Reddit and you’ll get your credit, upvotes and more! Obviously it’s not as easy as it sounds, and I don’t want to take anything away from Matt Query- but this is just one of those absurd parts of the internet. It’s just another way that Netflix is changing the game.

With the introduction of network specific streaming services, and the loss of long time favorites like the Office, I’m not shocked to see Netflix shelling out to take a flyer on a horror story- they need new, original stuff to replace what they’re losing- and they’re putting out something that they new half of people will already watch because it’s good, and the other half will watch because, well, we’re not really bounding with social opportunities right now. I do love to hate Netflix in a lot of ways- but it would be cool to see if this encourages more writers to publish their stuff as free to read on mediums like reddit, etc. I know most writers aren’t in it for the cash, and may I have my doubts about how successful they’ll be, but with companies like Netflix, Amazon Studios, Hulu, and the all the new blood looking for original IP’s- I could think of worse ways to spend your quarantine. 

Onto the story itself. I’ll make it short because this is one of those stories that speaks for itself. I like scary stories. I don’t peruse Reddit threads like the one this story was published on (I will now) but I love Steven King as much as the next 28 year old white guy.

This story is about a husband, wife, and dog who move onto a ranch in the American west. They’re informed by neighbors that their land is inhabited by an ancient, Native spirit- one which manifests itself in different ways each season. Husband, wife, and dog have to learn the necessary rituals and customs to keep each other safe and avoid upsetting the spirt- which is all far easier than it sounds. That’s the story in a nutshell and let me tell you, it is very, very good.

I don’t know if Netflix will fuck it up or not, even Steven King has had his share of classics that become duds in the box office, but regardless, this is a great read. I don’t remember the last time I was so engrossed in something the first thing I had to do when I woke up was read it. That was me with this story. I read one part before I went to bed (mistake, but a good mistake) and then crushed the rest the next morning over a cup of coffee. To be honest- it reminded me that reading was fun! Kind of a bummer honestly because I was ready for that ship to sail.

Regardless, if any part of this has caught your interest- check it out. It’s easy, it’s free, and unless you’re developing a vaccine for corona you’ve got nothing better to do. 

Here’s the first part.