ABOUT US
Founded in 2017 by filmmakers Parker Croft and Elisa Croft, Paper Horse Pictures is an independent production company dedicated to ambitious, filmmaker-driven storytelling. The company develops, finances, and produces original work across horror, science fiction, dark comedy, and drama, spanning live action and animation, shorts and features. Its films have screened at hundreds of festivals worldwide and earned more than 190 awards. Across every project, Paper Horse pairs emotionally grounded storytelling with bold cinematic form, creating work that is intimate in character and expansive in imagination.
Parker Croft / Co-founder
Parker Croft is an American writer and director. He began his career as an actor, appearing in Big Little Lies, Once Upon a Time, and American Horror Story, before moving behind the camera. He co-wrote the feature Falling Overnight, which won the Special Jury Prize at Cinequest and was later released on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.
In 2017, Croft co-founded Paper Horse Pictures with Elisa Croft. He directed As Easy as Closing Your Eyes, executive produced by Abigail Breslin, followed by The Liars of Black Mountain Road, a moral black comedy co-written with Nolan Gould, and Hell, a stop-motion descent into isolation and despair. His films have earned hundreds of festival selections worldwide, including HollyShorts, Nashville Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, Aesthetica, St. Louis International Film Festival, and Dallas International Film Festival, along with more than 20 Best Director awards.
He is preparing to shoot Bearing the Dead, a horror short executive produced by Abigail Breslin and Rosario Dawson.
ELISA Croft / Co-founder
Elisa Croft is a screenwriter and producer with over twenty years of experience in film and television. She co-founded Paper Horse Pictures with Parker Croft instead of going on their honeymoon and has been producing distinctive, award-winning work ever since, including the music video Send Her to Heaven by The All-American Rejects, the narrative short The Liars of Black Mountain Road, and Hell, the first stop-motion animated installment in the Hard Times anthology. Beyond film, she is a CPG marketing expert who co-founded First Friday CPG, writes for The Spaghetti Test, and is currently working on her first novel.