After making waves with powerful stories like Judas and the Black Messiah, the team at Proximity Media decided to shake things up with something totally different — a vampire thriller called Sinners. And they didn’t just think outside the box with the story; they made the whole thing happen faster than anyone expected.
Making a movie in Hollywood usually takes forever — years of back-and-forth with studios, endless meetings, and plenty of delays. But somehow, Sinners went from an idea to a finished film hitting theaters in just over a year. That’s pretty much unheard of.
At the center of it all is Ryan Coogler, the director who went from indie hit Fruitvale Station to big-league movies like Creed and Black Panther. With Sinners, Coogler got back to basics — telling an original story he really cared about, alongside his wife and producing partner Zinzi Coogler and longtime friend Sev Ohanian.
Zinzi’s been by Ryan’s side since they were teens, and she’s been part of his creative process from day one — first as a behind-the-scenes helper, then as a full-on producer. Ryan says he learned from other filmmaker couples like the Snyders and the Nolans that working with your partner can be a superpower, not a liability.
Ohanian met Ryan in film school, and their bond has been rock solid ever since. They officially teamed up as Proximity Media over dinner after a film screening — deciding they wanted to build something of their own, on their own terms.
And Sinners? It’s not your average vampire story. It’s set in a Southern juke joint during the Jim Crow era, mixing supernatural horror with deep cultural history and blues music. Ryan felt the timing was perfect — the film industry was stuck in safe mode after COVID and the strikes, and he wanted to do something bold while he still had the freedom to do it.
“We’ve got families now, kids, minivans,” Coogler joked. “But I didn’t want to wake up at 50 and realize I never made this movie.”
When Proximity pitched the project, they weren’t messing around. They had Ruth E. Carter (Oscar-winning costume designer), Autumn Arkapaw (cinematographer), and Michael B. Jordan (playing twin brothers) already on board. Even composer Ludwig Göransson started working on the music before the script was finished.
The pitch to studios was simple: We’re ready. Let’s go. And it worked. Warner Bros. came out on top, thanks in part to Coogler’s insistence on moving quickly and keeping some ownership of the movie — a rare deal in the studio system.
Production kicked off just four months after the script was done. Filming happened in Louisiana, and the budget hovered around $90 million. Critics are already raving, calling it layered, bold, and refreshingly original.
But this movie isn’t just a big win for Proximity. It might be a turning point for the whole industry. In a time when original movies are struggling to find audiences, Sinners could prove that fresh ideas still matter — and that fast, independent filmmaking can thrive even on a big scale.
As Zinzi put it best: “Ryan’s tenacity is how we got here. It wasn’t luck — it was hard work.”