Sad Mag loves a good show-and-tell almost as much as we love independent arts and culture. In fact, if showing off could be an independent art form… well, we would be doing it, now wouldn’t we? So when Sad Mag heard about CineCoup, we thought, “What better way to strut your Canadian film-making stuff, than competing for one million dollars via social media?”
“At it’s most basic level, the CineCoup Film Accelerator is sort of like American Idol, except for indie film in Canada,” says Sean Horlor, co-founder of Steamy Windows Productions, CineCoup contestant, and organizer of the CineCoup West Coast Party at The Queen’s Republic on April 25th. “Between now and June 11, filmmakers get to showcase their filmmaking abilities every week on CineCoup.com and in June, one filmmaker will be selected for a $1M production budget and a 2014 release in Cineplex. Fans and critics will vote their favourite filmmakers to the top.”
A pretty sweet deal, and one bankrolled by J Joly, founder and CEO of OverInteractive Media and dimeRocker. Joly’s project puts the curatorial power of social media to the test, so that filmmakers who participate gain valuable audience feedback based on their film’s trailer and concept. Rather than relying on film competitions or focus groups, it’s really the team’s social media savvy and the professional online pitch package which will bolster fan support. In the end, the Top 10 projects will be optioned for development. A jury of industry professionals and a “CineCoup Superfan” will select one project for up to $1 million (CDN) in production financing and guaranteed release in Cineplex theatres in January 2014.
Is there a need for such a competition in Canada? For Horlor and his team, the answer is, “Definitely.” Says Horlor, “my team joined this year because the barriers to entry to the filmmaking industry are huge. Only 3% of the films screened in Canadian theatres are made by Canadian filmmakers.”
CineCoup gives indie filmmakers a chance to tell stories that might never make it to screen through the traditional filmmaking model in Canada. It’s a novel concept that, according to Horlor, has really changed the game: “So let’s say you’ve shot a few short films or done a ton of commercial work. You’ve got the skills to make your film. You have a great feature script, access to the best talent, and a great crew…now what? If you don’t have connections to investors or distributors or have a film that’s suitable for federal grants, your project will never find the money to get made.
CineCoup has changed that model. We’ve been connected to fans before our project has even gone to picture and they have helped crowdsource our concept and screenplay by interacting with us in realtime. CineCoup is also finding investors on our behalf and connecting us to their industry network. CineCoup will pitch the Top 10 projects this year at Cannes and the Top 5 filmmaking teams will be going to Banff to pitch industry reps themselves.”
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Horlor invites fans to come to the CineCoup West Coast Party at The Queen’s Republic April 25th. It will be a night of celebration and great drinks. Help all eight of these West Coast teams reach the Top 15! Teams in attendance are:
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