Filipinos are natural storytellers. Just scroll through your social media feeds and you’ll see a great story or two just lying there, waiting to be read. HOOQ, one of the largest Video-On-Demand (VOD) services in Southeast Asia, hopes to discover brilliant storytellers across the SEA region and enable them to turn their concepts into reality through the HOOQ Filmmakers Guild.
Acting on their vision “A million stories for a billion people,” HOOQ calls for film professionals, be it directors, producers, scriptwriters, or even film students to send in scripts and treatments for a TV series idea they have.
From this pool, the five best scripts (regionally) will be granted USD 30,000 which then will be used to make a pilot episode to debut on HOOQ. Submissions can be from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia.
The best out of these five pilot episodes will be converted into a 13-episode series to be produced and aired exclusively on HOOQ. The winner will be decided by HOOQ subscribers and a star-studded judging panel consisting of the top filmmakers across Asia as well as Hollywood (to be announced).
Panel of Judges
Renowned filmmaker and director Erik Matti was recently revealed as one of the members of the judging panel. Matti will be the Philippine representative in the deliberation and selection process of this project that celebrates the region’s talent.
“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 these aspiring filmmakers a chance to see their ideas become reality, and hopefully inspire others pursue their dream,” said Director Erik Matti.
Matti, who is one of the brilliant minds behind the critically-acclaimed movie, OTJ, is the third judge announced in the region. The other two judges announced 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.
During the announcement, Matti also shared that OTJ part two is in the works and will be followed by a series which will be available to view on HOOQ—the pilot of the series debuted on the same platform.
HOOQ Filmmakers Guild Qualifications
HOOQ’s Filmmaker Guild will begin accepting entries on June 5, 2017 and will be open until August 15, 2017. The VOD service has expressed that they are looking for concepts with an impactful message, and strong local voice but carries a universal theme.
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 joining 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.
HOOQ is proud to offer the best of local and the best of Hollywood. A platform that serves as stage for various genres and any long form content, through the Filmmakers Guild, participants are allowed to spread their wings and go all out with their series ideas. The VOD service aims for this project to be a starting point in which like-minded people can discuss, brainstorm, and have their concepts realized.