Filipino director Eric Matti has been chosen to be part of the panel of judges for the HOOQ Filmmakers Guild.
He will lend his hand in the selection process of HOOQ’s South-East Asia wide project that aims at turning the most imaginative TV series ideas of filmmakers into reality.
“I believe the Philippines still has a lot of undiscovered filmmakers out there just waiting for their big break. The HOOQ Filmmakers Guild, will give them a chance to see their ideas become reality, and hopefully inspire others pursue their dream,” Matti told guests at the media launch of the region-wide search for the most creative filmmakers.
Matti is the third judge in the selection of the five pilots to be produced and the full series thereafter. The other two judges are from Indonesia – Mouly Surya, a critically acclaimed director who recent screened at Director’s Fortnight in Cannes, and Nicholas Saputra, an award-winning actor and documentary producer.
Matti says he is “humbled” to be chosen by HOOQ. “I think it’s inevitable that everywhere in the world everyone is moving online and to be part of it from the beginning is really special. We already see the shift to online viewing by Filipinos, and HOOQ offers an international opportunity for us to share our content stories and bring it to the global stage.”
Matti also co-founded (and co-owns) Reality Entertainment, a film production company with Lily Monteverde’s son Dondon, which is producing the On The Job (OTJ) sequel and series together with HOOQ. The OTJ movie and sequel is set to premiere later this year.
“We want OTJ to be special so we don’t want to rush anything. We are putting together a bigger idea and a grander story because we are also launching it as a movie which will help in bringing the story out first and creating more interest and entice them to watch the series on HOOQ.”
Asked what he is looking for in an entry, Matti explains “My main goal when I went back to do movies was to create something for the local market but with big potential for international crossover. If you look at the successful international movies, they have a strong local voice but at the same time very universal themes.”
“HOOQ’s mission’s has always been ‘a million stories for a billion people’ and how do we populate this for our customers? By finding more avenues for more filmmakers to bring their stories to HOOQ and HOOQ Filmmakers Guild is one of those opportunities,” notes Allison Chew, head of Brand and Communications of HOOQ.
Chew adds that while HOOQ already has the best of Hollywood content, they noticed a shift in the viewing habits of their subscribers, who are shifting from Hollywood to local content.
She adds that HOOQ wants to invest to bring in more local content. “While we already have lots of local/ regional movies what’s been missing are long form productions—such as TV series. There are a lot of amazing stories to be told but there are no opportunities for films that do not fit basic format. We want to give filmmakers a chance to tell stories whether it is a 4 hour story or 25 hour story– and those formats sit perfectly on HOOQ.
“Ever since we announced On The Job: The series, we have gotten a lot of inquiries from filmmakers as to how they too can be part of this opportunity. This is the future. We know that Filipinos are very good storytellers so much more we can explore. This opportunity not only for new filmmakers but also for seasoned ones as this is also an opportunity for them to spread their wings so to speak,” says Jane Cruz-Walker, HOOQ Philippines Country manager.
“There is incredible talent for TV series making in Asia, and we want to give opportunities to film professionals to turn these amazing ideas into reality. HOOQ is built in Asia for Asia and we want to give Asian filmmakers the power to create quality entertainment that gives our customers that escape into worlds of romance, action, adventure and even heroism, all in the setting of their backyard. HOOQ Filmmakers Guild does just that, making Asia the nation from which great TV arises!” said Chief Executive Officer of HOOQ Peter Bithos.
HOOQ calls for film professionals, be it directors, producers or scriptwriters to send in scripts and treatments for a TV series idea they have. From these, the five best scripts, regionally, will be given a funding of $30,000 to be converted into a pilot episode that will debut on HOOQ.
Submissions can be from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia. The best out of these five pilot episodes, decided by HOOQ subscribers and a star-studded judging panel consisting of the top film talents around Asia as well as Hollywood (to be announced), will be converted into a full series produced and aired on HOOQ.
The search for the HOOQ Filmmaker Guild began June 5and will be open for entries until Aug, 15.
Applicants must be either in film school or working as professionals in the film industry with prior film production experience. They are to submit the script and treatment for a mini-series or a full series with a maximum of 13 episodes for a single season in order to qualify. There will be no restriction to genre, however submissions and productions must be in the language of the applicant’s country.
The winning series will be part of HOOQ’s new original productions including Critical Eleven and Sweet 20, which hit cinemas last month while Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts and OTJ 2 are scheduled to come out later this year.
For more information and how to join please visit: https://campaign.hooq.tv/filmmakersguild2017/