Alliance Films and the makers of Paranormal Activity have signed a deal to make five low-budget genre films, and will start this spring with a new one from the creators of Saw. Insidious, to be directed by Saw’s Jason Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, will shoot in Los Angeles – produced by Paranormal creators Oren Peli, Jason Blum and Steven Schneider.

Alliance will finance the projects, while Stuart Ford’s IM Global will handle international sales through its Octane label – launching Insidious to foreign buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin. The deal springs from the shared history of Ford, Blum and Alliance president Charles Layton, who were previously with Miramax.

Paranormal Activity was shot for under US$15,000. Since its release last fall the no-budget ghost story has grossed some US$107.9 million stateside for Paramount and another US$45.6 million overseas.

The idea, explains Alliance spokesman Mark Slone, looks to put the distributor’s cash into the hands of passionate, if frugal, filmmakers. ‘The plan is not to stand in the same place that lightning struck and hope it strikes five times again,’ he says. ‘It’s about finding filmmakers with vision and allowing that vision to come to light.’

Alliance is also set to distribute Area 51, the Peli-directed sci-fi horror later this year, though it is not part of the five-picture deal.