The Weird Legal Reality of A24's Backrooms Movie

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]I am so excited to see Kane Parsons' Backrooms movie from A24, and people have actually been bombarding our channel with a question about it. If it is functionally impossible for a Hollywood studio to release a real SCP Foundation movie, then how is A24, one of the hottest film studios of the last decade, releasing a Backrooms movie? The SCP Foundation and the Backrooms share extremely similar DNA. They each started with a single four-chan post and ascended into pillars of internet culture. They each have a big collaborative wiki where writers contribute stories and lore. And each of those wikis are licensed under Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0. Despite that, A24 produced a Backrooms movie, and it's coming out on May 29th, 2026 in the US.

[00:00:40]And it's directed by Kane Parsons, the indie filmmaker whose viral YouTube series turned his take on the Backrooms into a phenomenon. So, does this mean that A24 finally solved the exact legal problem that makes an SCP movie impossible? Not really, and here's why.

[00:00:54]First though, let me make this clear, I'm a huge Backrooms fan. I am a huge Kane Parsons fan. This is an honest, cut-and-dry film industry analysis of how A24 and Kane Parsons were able to pull off this huge achievement. And how it might affect our own production of a live-action feature-length SCP Foundation movie. Kickstarter live now.

[00:01:13]So, with that out of the way, let's get into it. Yes, the Backrooms wiki, like the SCP wiki, is licensed under Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0. You, as the creator, are giving up commercial exclusivity forever when you adapt material from wikis like SCP and the Backrooms. And that sounds like nails on a chalkboard to Hollywood studios. But, A24 discovered a cheat code that lets them no-clip into the Backrooms completely scot-free. And that cheat code's name is Kane Parsons. Let's dig into that. Let's take two general story concepts. First, a secret organization that works with paranormal phenomena.

[00:01:46]Second, an infinite liminal maze of yellow rooms that may or may not have monsters in it. No one can own, copyright, or license either of those two concepts, or any concept, according to the US Copyright Office. These things are too general and they're not executed into anything tangible yet. But, let's start putting more specific characters, plots, and stories into [music] these premises. When you take the secret paranormal organization premise and call it the Federal Bureau of Control, headquarter in a weird building called the Oldest House, add in a main character called Jesse Faden, baddies like the Hiss, and a refrigerator you can't take your eyes off of or else it'll kill you, that's the video game series Control. But, when you call that organization the SCP Foundation and give them a bunch of secret sites where they keep baddies like the Shy Guy, the Plague Doctor, the Possessive Mask, and a big peanut that you can't take your eyes off of or else it'll kill you, then that becomes, well, the SCP Foundation Wiki. Now, let's put things in the infinite liminal maze of yellow rooms premise. When you put the MEG, almond water, Smilers, party-goers, and the concept of levels in it, that's the Backrooms Wiki because all of those concepts were created and released on the Wiki. But, when you put A Sync Project KV31, the life form, and Captain Clark and his Ottoman Empire in it, that's Backrooms, Kane Parsons' original series and now feature film. So, now we have four entirely distinct executions stemming from these two core concepts.

[00:03:00]Two where the community shares the rights and two where the original creators maintain the rights. Despite what it looks like on the surface, these are two completely different intellectual properties with two completely different right situations.

[00:03:11]And Kane owns all the rights to his.

[00:03:13]This is probably a reason why A24's marketing puts "based on the series by Kane Parsons" in big bold type so that the film's origins and source material are abundantly clear. This basically says, "Hey guys, this is not based on the Backrooms Wiki, it's its own thing."

[00:03:27]Now, if Kane did originally conceptualize his Backrooms series using the Wiki lore, then he would have been obligated to release it under Creative Commons. And in that timeline, even if the series had the same exact amount of success on YouTube, A24 would never greenlight a movie without commercial exclusivity. And we would not be getting Kane's Backrooms movie at all. There's probably one more snag that's on your mind. What about the original Backrooms 4chan post? The thing that kicked off the whole phenomenon in the first place.

[00:03:54]Couldn't that original ex-poster just show up and say, "Actually, I own all of this." Maybe they could try, but they would have a pretty brutal time doing so. They would have to prove very clearly that they were the original anonymous poster who created the short story. Pretty much impossible. Then they would have to show that the film is using specific expression from that short story and not just concepts from broader internet folklore. Again, not really a good case to be made. And even if somebody could prove that they were the author of that first text, that does not mean that they suddenly own Kane's entire audio-visual universe. someone has claimed to be that original poster. And if that's true, they said that even if they could prove it, they wouldn't want to prevent anyone from creating Backrooms content. It seems like they're just happy that their creation left such an impact on internet history, which is an awesome mindset to have. So, that's great. Everyone's happy.

[00:04:41]Except the people who also want to see an SCP Foundation movie. I mean, think about how significant it is that the Backrooms went from a 4chan shitpost to a major international theatrical event.

[00:04:52]Internet-native creators, fandoms, and universes are making the jump en masse to major theatrical releases. There is no real reason why the SCP Foundation should not be a part of this new wave. I mean, its writers, artists, fans, and community helped create it. It is very difficult to imagine the Backrooms as we know it without SCP. But unlike the Backrooms, there is no way for a major film studio to get around the Creative Commons license. So, do we just have to accept the idea that a real deal theatrical SCP Foundation movie is off the table? Nope. I refuse to accept that. The demand is clearly there. It just has to start with indie filmmakers and fans joining forces to make the opportunity impossible to ignore. This is our purpose at Ketter Labs, and it is the purpose of our ongoing Kickstarter campaign to finance a feature-length SCP Containment Breach movie. Every pledge says, "I want to see SCP on the big screen." and proves the demand up front to the wider film industry. Investors, theatrical distributors, studios, potential cast and crew, everyone. So, if Backrooms is the latest proof that a theatrical moment for internet horror has arrived, then this campaign is our chance as the SCP community to make sure that the foundation is a part of it, too. If you want to join us on this quest, the campaign is live now for a limited amount of time. That's just how Kickstarter works, and every cent counts. And even if you're not able to back right now, you can still help out in super important ways. Subscribe, tell your friends, join the email list, join the Discord. But before you do anything, check out our festival-selected proof-of-concept short film showing you our vision for SCP on the big screen.

[00:06:25]All right, enough yapping. I got to go get a good seat for the Backrooms movie.

[00:06:28]Excel Celsior.