Take One Press

When audiences leave a theater after watching Obsession, they’re usually thinking about the performances, the shocking moments, or the anxiety that lingers long after the credits roll.

What they rarely think about are the dozens of people working just outside the frame.

For Jeffrey Barker, serving as Key Production Assistant on the breakout horror film meant doing whatever the production needed, sometimes all within the same hour.

“Honestly, I did a little bit of everything,” Barker told Take One Press.

On a larger production, a production assistant might be assigned one specific responsibility. But on Obsession, Barker’s job stretched far beyond the traditional role.

One moment he was organizing walkie-talkies, the next he was managing craft services, coordinating actors, keeping the set quiet during takes, or making sure every department had what it needed to keep production moving.

It’s the kind of work audiences rarely notice, but productions couldn’t function without it.

Bigger Than Any One Person

Although Obsession has become one of independent horror’s biggest success stories, Barker is quick to shift the spotlight away from himself.

“I wouldn’t say I carried it,” he said. “It’s definitely a very big team effort.”

That mindset defined nearly every answer throughout the conversation.

Whether discussing exhausting overnight shoots, complicated production days or unexpected challenges, Barker continually returned to one idea: everyone pulled together because they believed they were making something special.

Looking back, he says the cast and crew knew they were creating something audiences would connect with, even if nobody could have predicted just how successful the film would become.

“We all thought we were making a cult classic movie that people were going to really appreciate.”

Expect the Unexpected

If there’s one lesson Barker wants aspiring production assistants to understand, it’s simple:

Be ready for absolutely anything.

Sometimes that means grabbing coffee.

Sometimes it means coordinating an entire department.

And sometimes it means relocating dozens of cars across Los Angeles so a single exterior shot can happen, while somehow remembering where every vehicle was parked afterward.

It’s a reminder that independent filmmaking often relies on creativity just as much as budget.

“PAs kind of keep stuff alive,” Barker explained.

“Every little small thing… there’s normally a PA doing something behind the scenes that you don’t hear about.”

Watching the Finished Film

Working on Obsession gave Barker a front-row seat to the filmmaking process, but seeing the completed movie in a theater was an entirely different experience.

Throughout production, he’d only seen unfinished cuts with temporary sound and incomplete editing.

Watching the finished film alongside an audience changed everything.

“It changes things just a thousand times over,” he said.

One sequence still stands out above the rest.

The now-infamous scene involving Sarah’s brutal collision with the steering wheel became the moment many members of the crew realized they had created something remarkable.

“The makeup and just everything in that scene is spectacular,” Barker said, especially considering the film’s modest budget.

Looking Toward the Future

While Barker currently enjoys production work, his long-term ambitions reach even further.

His goal is to eventually become a producer and collaborate alongside his brothers on future projects.

He also revealed he’s preparing to work on a screenplay recently sold by his father, an opportunity he’s understandably excited about, even if he couldn’t share many details just yet.

More than anything, Barker hopes audiences leave Obsession with a greater appreciation for the people working behind the camera.

“I would want people to see the value of what a PA does,” he said.

It’s a role many moviegoers never think about, but one that’s essential to bringing every production to life.