When CineCoup launched on Feb. 28, 90 three-person Canadian film-making teams were in the running. Now, only 40 remain. And in a round of on-line voting April 25-28 that number will be pared to 15. In the weeks to come the list will be whittled further until one team is left standing. At stake is $1 million in funding and related tax credits (except in Saskatchewan, of course) which the winning team will use to shoot their film, with a commitment from Cineplex to screen it in its big-screen theatres in the winter of 2014.
You can read more about CineCoup, and its Vancouver-based founder J. Joly in this Globe & Mail report. But the general idea is to use social media to build buzz about Canadian Indie films before they’re made to improve the odds of them actually being made, and then enjoying a degree of commercial success once they’re released.
Here’s some CineCoup FAQs. As a condition of entry, all 90 teams produced two-minute trailers that people who log onto the CineCoup website can view and rank with their favourites advancing to the next round. They can also offer comments on the trailers so the film-making teams get feedback on what they’re doing. So overall it’s a neat idea.
One team that entered and is still in the running is from Regina. Lowell Dean is the writer/director, and the project is called Wolf Cop. It’s a horror flick about a cop who… well, I don’t want to spoil the trailer posted below, so I’ll just leave it at that. Other than to note that Dean and his partners Bernie Hernando (producer, marketing) and Crystal van Pelt (publicity, social media) would probably appreciate any support you’d be inclined to give them.
The voting process has some wrinkles in it to accommodate people who are really keen to get involved (Superfans they’re called). But once you register it’s relatively simple to cast a single vote. So let your conscience be your guide.
