An Airdrie filmmaker may have gotten his big break, after the television show he wrote, filmed and edited on a shoestring budget was picked up by an American distribution company.
Born and raised on the east coast, Corey Gerard moved to Airdrie in 2008. He said he always had an interest in filmmaking and initially took acting classes as his way into the industry. After filming a few creative projects with friends, Gerard recognized his love for directing and producing.
“On our second or third project, I [realized that] I kind of like being behind the camera,” he said.
Gerard’s current project, titled Assassin’s League, is about a former C. I. A. agent coming out of retirement to take down a rogue assassin.
According to Gerard, the show was initially set to air as a web series on YouTube. That was, until it was recently picked up by an American distribution company.
“They love what we’ve got and so they’re fully funding our marketing, our distribution – everything,” he said.
Currently, Gerard said the first five episodes of the series have been fully filmed and edited, with four left to complete in order to round out the first season. After that, he said everything is set to change.
The director explained he has signed a six-year deal that will see season one distributed overseas and locally. The company is taking the show globally to markets in Europe and Asia, as well as distributing it locally to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, in addition to on-demand access, according to Gerard. All overseas sales dollars will be put into funding season two.
“One of the sales pitches we had was, ‘Look at what we’ve got on no budget – give us a budget and see what we can do with this,’” Gerard said.
The funding and distribution deal is extremely exciting for Gerard and his crew, who have essentially been volunteering their time to be involved with the show. He said the money made from distribution will not only aid in upgrading filming and editing equipment, but also finally allow him to pay the crew that have been working so hard to get his story on screen.
“It’s so bad to say that we’re not paying them – coming as an actor myself – it’s so bad to say,” he said. “They put in so much time and effort and you want to be able to pay them something, the first thing we’re going to do with that funding is pay our actors and our crew.”
Not only has the dedication of the cast and crew pushed the show forward, but the community of Airdrie has as well, according to Gerard.
“The one beautiful thing about Airdrie is that everyone here is so willing to help out,” he said.
To date, the episodes of Assassin’s League have been shot almost exclusively in the city as well as Rocky View County. Gerard said he is grateful for the generosity of local business owners, as they are a large reason why the first season was able to be made without a budget. So far, Genesis Place Recreation Centre, Cam Clark Ford, the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel, the Horseman Motel, and the Wildcard Saloon have provided backdrops for the show.
Gerard made a point of arguing local film stays alive because of the community, and that is the reason he has continued to shoot his projects in Airdrie.
“We see all of the big productions that are coming here now because of the tax credit,” he said. “We’ve wanted to stay here because of the people here – the actors are unbelievable, and they just don’t get a shot.
“They want to act for the love of acting. It’s not about the money for them. They just want to act and that’s why we want to keep it here, for the cast and the crew.”
Even with money secured for the next season of the project, Gerard said the team is very much in hustle mode. In order to meet the deadline for the distribution company, the remaining four episodes have to be shot by mid-September. This has resulted in many early call times, travelling to different locations and intensive editing sessions.
“I think I had a 15-hour editing day [the other day] – I was up until 5 a.m.,” Gerard recalled, adding in the end, it will all be worth it to see the finished product on screen.
There has been no formal release date for the series thus far, as Gerard said that is in the hands of the distribution company.
However, in the meantime, he encourages Airdronians to stop and wave if they spot the crew out filming and to check out the trailer for Assassin’s League at bit.ly/3yYmFC5
Lauryn Heintz, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @LaurynHeintz
