TV producer Mike Fleiss has been creating network content since the early ’90s. Raised on Aaron Spelling’s slate of iconic programs including Fantasy Island, Charlie’s Angels, and The Love Boat, Fleiss says he’s constantly coming up with show ideas — and confesses that he keeps a pad next to his bed to jot down his next significant notion.
“I’m always coming up with ideas. I’ve created dozens of shows that have been on the air,” he says. “I had a new idea last night for a weird twisted relationship show.”
Fleiss also produced the popular Hostel trilogy and films within the Texas Chainsaw Massacre canon. He adds that he’s excited about his upcoming Hostel TV series.
“Eli [Roth] and Chris Briggs wrote the pilot script. It’s the same team that made the movies, and we think it’s a great brand,” Fleiss says. “It’s got international appeal because of the way the film is constructed. It was a big hit all over the world. So we’re excited to bring that to television. We have a really clever approach to how to turn this into a series, and I think it’s going to be really satisfying.”
Fliess shares that it’s tough to turn off the creative wheels spinning in his mind. His latest project is the film Possessions.
“I just finished helping out on a little movie called, a little horror movie called Possessions that my son was a producer on,” Mike Fleiss says. “So I got to work with my son Aaron, who’s an attorney and also a producer. And we did that movie with Yeardley Smith’s company, Paperclip.”
Deadline.com describes Possessions as the terrifying journey of a father who moves his 10-year-old son across the country after the untimely death of his wife. After purchasing a storage facility to run, his life takes a disturbing detour when unimaginable secrets emerge.
“The audience’s imagination is far more powerful than what you can show them,” Clive Standen, who stars in the film, said in a video for The Loop Studio. “You’ve got to get the audience thinking there’s a jump scare. Then when they least expect it, then it comes. And that’s all in the directing, editing, and brilliant writing.”
“We’re just wrapping that movie up and starting to work on a movie set in Mexico,” teases Mike Fleiss, who says he’s taken a summer hiatus before he’ll ramp up to more work in the fall.
“I’m excited to be working on new projects,” Fleiss shares. “That movie in Mexico is really a good one — but that’s not a reality thing. I will be doing more reality shows and more dating shows too.”
When he’s not working with his next Hollywood project, the TV executive can typically be found giving back to the community. Mike Fleiss says his latest philanthropic endeavor is purchasing musical instruments and donating them to schools that don’t have access to them. It’s a perfect project for Fleiss — he’s a major music lover and used to jam with Eddie Van Halen before the Ax legend passed away in 2020. The two shared many things in common including favoring the same type of guitar — a hollow-body Gibson named after jazz great Barney Kessel.
“I’m trying to bring musical instruments to underprivileged kids right now in the schools,” Mike Fleiss shares. “We’re working with some people.”
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