The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project was developed by the filmmakers. The script was written in 1988. It began with a 68-page outline, with the dialogue to be improvised. According to the directors of the movie, they advertised in Back Stage magazine for actors with strong improvisational abilities. There was a very informal improvisational audition process to narrow the total amount of 2,000 actors. In talks with investors of the movie, they presented an eight-minute documentary along with newspapers and news footage. This documentary, originally called The Blair Witch Project: The Story of Black Hills Disappearances was produced by Haxan Films. In the movie, the Blair Witch is, according to legend, the ghost of Elly Kedward, a woman banished from the Blair Township (latter-day Burkittsville) for witchcraft in 1785. The directors incorporated that part of the legend, along with allusions to the Salem Witch Trials and The Crucible, to play on the themes of injustice done on those who were called witches. They were influenced by The Shining, Alien and The Omen. Jaws was an influence as well, presumably because the witch was hidden from the viewer for the entirety of the film, forcing suspense from the unknown.