HOOQ announces Director Erik Matti as their latest addition to the judging panel of HOOQ Filmmakers Guild.

HOOQ – the largest Video on Demand service in South-East Asia, announces Director Erik Matti as their latest addition to the judging panel of HOOQ Filmmakers Guild.

“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,” Matti told guests at the media launch of the region-wide search for the most creative filmmakers.

Matti is the third judge announced in the region that will helm the selection process of the five pilots to be produced and the full series thereafter.  The other two judges that have been 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.

“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, Mr Peter Bithos.

Allison Chew HOOQ Regional Brand and Communications Head

HOOQ Phils Country Manager Jane Cruz-Walker

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 USD$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 5, 2017 and will be open for entries until August 15, 2017.

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.