Matti tapped as judge for HOOQ Filmmakers Guild tilt

HOOQ, the largest video-on-demand service in Southeast Asia, announced that it has added director Erik Matti to the judging panel of its recently formed HOOQ Filmmakers Guild competition in an event held at the B Hotel in Quezon City on July 3, 2017. 

As the Philippine representative in the panel, Matti shall participate in the selection process of this region-wide contest that aims to turn filmmakers’ most imaginative television-series ideas into reality and, in the process, celebrate Asia and its people.

“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 to pursue their dream,” Matti said in a statement.

Matti is the third judge to be revealed by HOOQ, after critically lauded Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya and award-winning Indonesia actor and documentary producer Nicholas Saputra. They and the remaining three regional judges to be announced later will initiate the selection process of the five pilots to be produced and the full series thereafter.

“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 CEO Peter Bithos said.

“HOOQ is built in Asia for Asia, and we want to give Asian filmmakers the power to create quality entertainment that gives our customers (an) escape into worlds of romance, action, adventure, and even heroism—all in their backyard,” he added.

HOOQ is calling on film professionals—directors, producers, and scriptwriters—to send scripts and treatments for the TV-series idea they have. From these, the five best scripts from the region will be each given $30,000 to produce a pilot that will debut on HOOQ.

Submissions from the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia will be accepted. The best of the five pilots, decided on by HOOQ subscribers and a star-studded judging panel consisting of the top film talents in Asia, as well as in Hollywood, will be converted into a full series produced and aired on HOOQ.

The search for the HOOQ Filmmaker Guild began on June 5 and will be open for entries until August 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 miniseries or a full series with a maximum of 13 episodes for a single season in order to qualify. There will be no restriction on genre, but 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 Matti’s OTJ 2 are scheduled to come out later this year.