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Ten Thirty One Productions
Ten Thirty One Productions
from Wikipedia

Ten Thirty One Productions was[when?] an American entertainment company based in Los Angeles that created, owned, and produced live attractions in the horror genre. It was featured on Season 5 of Shark Tank where it received the largest investment in the history of the show. The company was sold to Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group.

Key Information

History

[edit]

Ten Thirty One Productions was founded in 2009 by Melissa Carbone and Alyson Richards.[1] The same year, they launched Los Angeles Haunted Hayride in Calabasas, California.[2][3] The company generated $400,000 in revenue during its first year of business.[4]

The company appeared in Season 5 (2013) of Shark Tank, where Carbone pitched the company to potential investors. Ten Thirty One Productions landed what was the biggest investment in the history of the show when billionaire Mark Cuban paid $2 million for a 20% stake.[5][6] The company used the money to expand operations from California to a national audience, and Cuban helped secure ticket distribution contracts with Live Nation (its CEO became another investor in the company) and Ticketmaster.[7][4][8] After the show, the company had to triple its cast and crew to nearly 1,000.[4]

Ten Thirty One Productions brought in $3 million in revenue in 2014.[9] The following year, the company created New York Haunted Hayride.[10]

In 2018 an accident at a New York event caused injury to one patron, followed by a lengthy lawsuit that resulted in a not guilty verdict.[11] Eventually, Ten Thirty One was purchased by Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, the world's largest haunted house company. Melissa Carbone, as well as Alyson Richards of Ten Thirty One, remained with the company.

Live attractions

[edit]

Los Angeles Haunted Hayride and New York Haunted Hayride are Halloween-themed attractions. They are held once a year, beginning in early October and running every weekend through the end of the month.[12] To prepare the events, the company polled 30,000 people and asked them what they feared. The three most frequent answers were: darkness, claustrophobic spaces and clowns. As of 2015, the attractions employed about 250 actors.[3]

To minimize its environmental footprint, Ten Thirty One Productions recycles and composts; features plastic-free concessions, hybrid and electric production vehicles, biodiesel fuels, 100-percent reused or recycled sets and wardrobes, and plant-based concessions; and offers carpool discounts.[13]

Los Angeles Haunted Hayride

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Los Angeles Haunted Hayride is held in Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles. Visitors are taken on traditional tractor drawn, hay filled wagons through a fantasy world of ghosts, demons and monsters. The attraction offers five different "scare zones" along with dining, retail and other activities.[10] The site includes a 10,000 square-foot clown maze where even the attendees wear clown masks.[3]

Ten Thirty One begins planning each year’s Hayride in January, writing scripts and designing scenes and props for each scene. Everything is first built in warehouses, and 10 days before opening, pieces are brought to the 30-acre site in trucks and reconstructed there. The event employs hundreds of actors and attracts an average of 15,000 guests each weekend.[14]

In 2016, when the event carried the theme "Secret Society," attendees could leave their wagons for the first time in the event's history, to have a secret society initiation experience on foot. The "Trick or Treat" portion of the attraction tripled in size, with life-size suburban houses. Also, Universal Pictures took over the space in the newly named Ouija: Origin of Evil in the first such partnership for Haunted Hayride.[13]

New York Haunted Hayride

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New York Haunted Hayride is held in Randall’s Island Park, a spot that had been used for asylums and psychiatric hospitals.[10] The attraction is a half-hour, 4,000-feet-long trip around a 12-acre section. As of 2015, it employed just over 100 actors.[3] The experiences for Halloween 2016 included House of Shadows, Theater Macabre, and Purgatory Haunted Village.[15]

The Great Horror Campout

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The Great Horror Campout launched in 2013,[16] when it spanned nine U.S. cities over 11 weekends.[17] The campout is an overnight, 12-hour event. Participants are assigned tents and given tips for surviving the interactive camping experience. From there, campers can tailor their experience to their own comfort level, from a simple campfire night to "Hellhunt," a horror-themed scavenger hunt. Other interactive activities include simulated kidnapping and a game called "blood tag." The events are populated by 100 masked actors. The Campout travels along the West Coast every summer.[2][18]

Other attractions

[edit]

Ten Thirty One Productions opened a haunted boat attraction, The Ghost Ship, which had its maiden voyage in Orange County in 2011, and Great Movie Horror Night, a series of horror movie screening parties in Los Angeles.[19][17]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
Ten Thirty One Productions was an American entertainment company specializing in live horror attractions, founded in 2009 by Melissa Carbone and her business partner Alyson Richards in , . The company pioneered immersive, seasonal horror experiences, with its flagship attraction, the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride, launching the same year. By 2013, it had become one of the most popular haunted events in the United States, generating approximately $1.8 million in revenue over 17 days in October. In 2013, Carbone pitched the company on ABC's , securing a $2 million investment from in exchange for 20% equity, which fueled national expansion including the New York Haunted Hayride, the Great Horror Campout (an overnight horror-themed camping event), and (a multi-level haunted maritime experience). The company also partnered with Live Nation, the world's largest live entertainment firm, to scale operations and produce additional events like Great Horror Movie Nights. By 2018, Ten Thirty One Productions had been sold to Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, a leading producer of immersive experiences, allowing its attractions to integrate into a larger portfolio of over 25 horror events across 15 markets. Under this ownership, the company's original productions continue to thrive as of , contributing to the multibillion-dollar U.S. Halloween industry while maintaining its reputation for innovative, high-production-value scares.

History

Founding and early development

Ten Thirty One Productions was founded in 2009 in , , by Melissa Carbone and Alyson Richards, who were business partners and ex-spouses at the time. Carbone, a former executive at Clear Channel Communications, co-founded the company with Richards to pioneer immersive horror entertainment experiences that extended beyond conventional haunted houses. The company's name is a direct reference to , the date of Halloween, reflecting its focus on seasonal, narrative-driven events centered around interactive scares and storytelling. The initial concept drew inspiration from Carbone's childhood memories of rural East Coast hayrides, aiming to adapt this format for urban audiences with heightened interactivity and theatrical elements. In 2009, the company launched its flagship attraction, the Haunted Hayride, at the eastern trails of , marking California's first such event. The experience featured a wagon ride through darkened woods populated by live actors portraying monsters and ghosts, enhanced by like fog and lighting, and encouraged direct audience participation to blur the lines between spectator and participant. Early development was marked by significant logistical hurdles, particularly in securing permits for the outdoor venue, a process that took nearly six months amid bureaucratic negotiations with park officials. Carbone described the permitting authority as deriving "entertainment or joy in holding the power to squash our dreams," highlighting the intense advocacy required to gain approval. To assemble its creative team, the founders navigated a male-dominated horror industry, recruiting talent including mentors like haunted attraction veteran Randy Bates, though specific backgrounds in theater and were leveraged for performer roles without detailed . Initial funding came from a $365,000 , much of which was allocated to promotional efforts such as billboards and radio ads, supplemented by personal resources and small loans.

Growth and Shark Tank investment

In October 2013, Ten Thirty One Productions founder Melissa Carbone appeared on Season 5, Episode 6 of ABC's , which aired on October 18, pitching the company's immersive horror attractions for a $2 million in exchange for 10% equity to support national expansion beyond its Los Angeles base. , recognizing the scalability of the seasonal live entertainment model, countered with $2 million for 20% equity, securing the largest single in the show's history at that time and providing crucial validation for the business's growth potential. The investment fueled rapid operational scaling, with annual revenue increasing from approximately $1.8 million in 2013—primarily from the Haunted Hayride—to $3 million in 2014, driven by the launch of the New York Haunted Hayride that year. By 2015, revenue reached another $3 million milestone, coinciding with the debut of The Great Horror Campout, an overnight immersive event that expanded the company's portfolio into multi-day experiences and further boosted attendance. In 2016, facilitated a key partnership with , including an undisclosed investment, which enhanced ticketing, marketing, and venue access, enabling larger-scale productions and sparking interest in international adaptations. This collaboration helped propel projected 2016 revenue to $5 million, underscoring the company's momentum in the live horror sector. Amid this expansion, Ten Thirty One faced challenges from a 2016 incident at the New York Haunted Hayride, where a patron suffered injuries from a falling , leading to a filed in 2018 that initiated a multi-year legal battle. The litigation strained resources and operations but did not derail overall growth, as the company continued producing events through 2017 while defending the case, which ultimately resulted in dismissal without liability in 2022.

Acquisition and dissolution

In January 2018, Ten Thirty One Productions announced its sale to Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, the world's largest operator of haunted attractions, for an undisclosed amount. The deal was completed on October 1, 2018, marking the end of the company's independent operations. The founders, Melissa Carbone and Alyson Richards, pursued the sale to enable further scaling under a larger corporate structure, particularly in light of escalating legal costs stemming from a 2016 incident in which a fell on a patron during an event, leading to a lengthy filed in early 2018. Mark , who had secured a 20% stake through his record $2 million investment on , endorsed the transaction, realizing a substantial return on his investment. Post-acquisition, Ten Thirty One's assets—including its , event formats, and select staff—were integrated into Thirteenth Floor's operations, while Carbone and Richards stepped away from day-to-day management roles. The original entity was formally merged and absorbed into the acquiring company by late 2018. The transaction delivered significant financial gains to investors, notably , and freed the founders to explore new professional endeavors beyond live horror entertainment.

Live attractions

Los Angeles Haunted Hayride

The Los Angeles Haunted Hayride served as the flagship live attraction of Ten Thirty One Productions, debuting in under founder Melissa Carbone as the company's inaugural production. Held annually in near the former , the event transformed the park's eastern trails into an immersive Halloween horror experience, drawing inspiration from traditional hayrides while elevating them with professional production elements like theatrical sets, fog effects, and synchronized . Guests boarded open-air wagons pulled by tractors for a roughly half-hour journey through darkened woods, where live actors portraying demons, slashers, and spectral figures interacted directly with riders, creating moments of close-contact terror. The core format emphasized and , spanning approximately 30 acres of terrain and requiring 11 months of per at a cost of about $1.3 million. Early iterations focused on classic horror tropes, but the attraction quickly incorporated Hollywood-caliber stunts, such as sway poling performances by acrobats in 2014, alongside eco-friendly features like all-vegan concessions and zero-waste operations. Attendance for the inaugural 2009 reached 25,000 visitors, breaking even financially, but grew substantially in subsequent years; by 2012, the event sold out nightly and generated $1.8 million in October revenue alone, reflecting peak seasonal crowds exceeding 50,000. Over its run under Ten Thirty One, the hayride evolved with themed expansions and sub-attractions to enhance immersion. Annual motifs, such as the 2012 "Congregation" storyline featuring red-robed cultists and a horned leading rituals, added depth, while additions like walking paths through haunted villages and VIP access for behind-the-scenes tours broadened the offerings. Production scaled accordingly, employing dozens of , makeup artists, and set designers to populate scenes with dynamic encounters, including chain-saw wielders and hordes. Safety remained a priority, with protocols ensuring rider containment on wagons amid the high-energy interactions, though the company navigated industry-wide challenges like rising costs for such outdoor events. Critics and haunt enthusiasts lauded the hayride for pioneering immersive live horror in Southern California, blending adrenaline with polished entertainment that set a benchmark for seasonal attractions. During its peak under Ten Thirty One from 2009 to 2017, it consistently ranked among Los Angeles' top Halloween events for innovation and scale.

New York Haunted Hayride

The New York Haunted Hayride, launched by Ten Thirty One Productions in 2015, represented the company's East Coast expansion of its flagship haunted attraction concept originally developed in Los Angeles. Held at Randall's Island Park in New York City, the event adapted the hayride format to an urban industrial environment with a rich history of asylums and psychiatric hospitals, leveraging the site's eerie past to enhance the immersive horror experience. This location choice allowed for a distinct atmospheric setting, distinct from the wooded trails of the West Coast version, drawing on the island's legacy of institutional hauntings to create a sense of historical dread. The attraction followed a similar structure to its counterpart, featuring a tractor-drawn hay wagon ride lasting approximately 45 minutes through a series of horror vignettes populated by over 100 actors portraying psychotic clowns, demons, and killers. Riders encountered jump scares and interactive elements, including ghostly apparitions, demonic possessions, and scenes evoking burnt orphanages, all set against the backdrop of the park's abandoned structures and foggy waterfront along the . The production emphasized high-production values with , original soundtracks, and detailed sets designed to withstand the region's variable fall weather, such as colder temperatures and potential rain delays. Funded in part by Mark Cuban's $2 million investment from the company's appearance on , the New York launch enabled rapid scaling with custom builds tailored for outdoor durability. Unique to the New York iteration were after-dark extensions and add-on experiences, such as intensified nighttime shows that amplified the terror in the island's darker hours, building on the core hayride with optional upgrades for groups. The event collaborated with regional performers to diversify its casting, incorporating local talent to infuse performances with authentic New York flair while maintaining the company's signature blend of theatrical horror and audience interaction. Operating over a limited Halloween season of about 17 nights, it attracted tens of thousands of visitors annually, contributing significantly to Ten Thirty One's growing national footprint and helping the company achieve over $5 million in combined revenue across its attractions by 2016. This success solidified the hayride's role in establishing the brand's presence beyond , influencing the broader live horror entertainment landscape on the East Coast.

The Great Horror Campout

The Great Horror Campout was an innovative overnight attraction launched by Ten Thirty One Productions in , debuting at the State Historic Park as a 12-hour, R-rated survival-horror experience targeted exclusively at adults aged 18 and older. Participants pitched tents in designated camping zones and ventured through immersive areas populated by actors delivering intense scares, including simulated outbreaks, encounters with killer clowns, and team-based escape challenges designed to mimic a "choose-your-own-adventure" . The format emphasized , with campers able to opt for varying levels of engagement, from passive observation to full-contact encounters involving physical pursuits and simulated peril. Amenities such as food trucks, communal bonfires, and a continental breakfast were provided to balance the terror with basic comforts. What set the event apart was its fusion of traditional outdoor with elements borrowed from haunted attractions, incorporating over 100 actors per night, pyrotechnic displays, and elaborate set pieces like mud pits and mock mass graves to heighten the sense of vulnerability during the overnight hours from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Tickets ranged from $99 per person for a four-person to $139 for a two-person , encompassing accommodations, parking, and access to all activities; the production drew strong interest, with thousands attending across its runs and peak seasons seeing sell-outs in multiple markets. Safety protocols were integral, including a safe word ("I WANT MY MOMMY") to halt interactions and medical staff on site, though the extended duration amplified logistical demands like securing remote venues and managing participant well-being in the dark. In 2014, the attraction expanded nationally to nine U.S. cities—including stops in , , and —over 11 weekends, marking Ten Thirty One's push into touring live events and earning acclaim for innovating adult-focused horror entertainment beyond seasonal Halloween setups. Media outlets highlighted its role in elevating immersive haunts, with coverage praising the blend of competition, camaraderie, and adrenaline that appealed to seeking experiential thrills. The East Coast iteration launched in 2016 at sites like Camp Stillwater in , broadening its footprint but also underscoring the challenges of coordinating large-scale operations across regions. Operational hurdles, including venue permitting issues, weather dependencies, and ensuring overnight security for hundreds of participants, led to occasional cancellations and mounting costs estimated at $200,000–$250,000 per production. These factors, combined with shifting priorities after Ten Thirty One's 2018 acquisition by Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, contributed to the event's discontinuation by 2019, though its influence persisted in the evolution of interactive horror camping formats.

Other productions

In addition to its flagship attractions, Ten Thirty One Productions developed several experimental and ancillary projects to diversify its horror entertainment portfolio. The Ghost Ship, launched as a pilot in 2011, was a multi-level haunted attraction set on a docked luxury yacht in Orange County, California. Guests experienced a 75-minute thematic cruise featuring water-based effects, sea monster actors, and immersive scares targeted at adults, with tickets priced at $59. Despite an initial production cost of $300,000, the event faced criticism for mismatched expectations—promoted as intense horror but perceived by some as a lackluster booze cruise—leading to negative reviews and a social media backlash under #SinkTheGhostShip. Due to high operational costs and underwhelming reception, it was not expanded nationally. The company also produced custom branded horror events for corporate clients and film promotions, generating supplementary revenue streams. For instance, in 2016, Ten Thirty One integrated promotional elements tied to the Ouija into its Los Angeles Haunted Hayride, enhancing the attraction with movie-specific themes and marketing collaborations. These tailored experiences allowed the company to leverage its expertise in live scares for partnerships beyond seasonal public events.

Legacy and impact

Industry influence

Ten Thirty One Productions pioneered immersive, interactive haunts in the live horror sector by launching the first large-scale haunted hayride in in 2009, moving the industry away from conventional static walkthroughs toward dynamic, narrative-focused experiences that engaged adult audiences with professional production values drawn from and theater backgrounds. This approach influenced broader trends, encouraging competitors like theme park operators to incorporate more sophisticated, story-driven elements in their seasonal events. The company's innovations contributed to market expansion by popularizing adult-oriented, multi-city events and models, helping elevate the U.S. haunted attractions industry from $367 million in ticket sales in 2010 to an estimated $300–500 million annually by the mid-2010s through increased attendance and . Its events were featured prominently in media coverage that highlighted the growing appeal of high-production-value haunts. Ten Thirty One's operations provided substantial economic contributions, generating millions in seasonal revenue—reaching $5 million by —and creating hundreds of temporary jobs for performers, crew, and support staff across its productions, while driving tourism to host venues like . The company trained performers in immersive acting techniques, with many advancing to roles in film and television, and emphasized inclusive practices that incorporated diverse and LGBTQ+ representation in its thematic storytelling.

Post-acquisition developments

Following the 2018 acquisition by Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, the world's largest producer of Halloween-themed entertainment with over 15 locations nationwide, Ten Thirty One Productions' flagship attractions were integrated into the buyer's portfolio. The Haunted Hayride, originally launched by Ten Thirty One in 2009, was rebranded under Thirteenth Floor and has continued as an annual event at in Los Angeles. For the 2025 season, the attraction featured () as host, including themed experiences such as Elvira's Trick or Treat Mayhem maze and exclusive merchandise, drawing crowds to its immersive horror setups. Other Ten Thirty One offerings faced varied fates post-acquisition. The Great Horror Campout, an overnight interactive horror camping experience that debuted in 2013, was not revived and remains listed as permanently closed, with no operations after 2015. Similarly, the New York Haunted Hayride, introduced in 2014, ceased operations and has not been reinstated under Thirteenth Floor management. Elements from Ten Thirty One's additional productions, such as the haunted maze, were incorporated into 's broader lineup of attractions, including asylum-themed experiences like those at 13th Floor Phoenix. The acquisition significantly expanded Thirteenth Floor's network, enabling the integration of Ten Thirty One's innovative live horror formats across multiple sites. Founder Melissa Carbone, who sold the company in January 2018, transitioned to other entrepreneurial pursuits in the entertainment sector following the deal. Mark Cuban's $2 million stake from the 2013 episode yielded substantial returns upon the sale. As of 2025, Ten Thirty One's brand endures through its enduring influence on Thirteenth Floor's operations, with no independent activities but a lasting legacy in seasonal events. Many of the integrated attractions, including the Haunted Hayride, are certified as top haunts by the Haunted Attraction Association, each welcoming over 10,000 visitors annually.

References

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