Last September Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass and Patrick Brice announced their partnership with the Transgender Film Center, to create “The Found Footage Feature Fund.” It was formed to provide funding and support to emerging trans filmmakers in the subgenre the Creep team knows quite well. Today the recipient of this year’s grant package has been announced, and it’s The People’s Joker filmmaker Vera Drew, who’ll be using the package to make Trandemic, which is being described as a “cosmic found footage horror-comedy.”
The People’s Joker was Drew’s infamous autobiographical feature film debut, and it’s exciting news indeed to see this storyteller veer into the horror lane for her sophomore effort. Details are scant, but Drew says in Deadline, “I’m so wildly stoked and honored to be receiving this grant from the Trans Film Center and Duplass Brothers Productions. Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass reinvented the found footage genre with the Creep franchise, so their support means the world to me as I gear up to do the same with my sophomore feature film Trandemic.”
Ms. Drew will not only be getting a $25,000 cash grant to go toward production; the package from TFC also includes a ton of support for her film, including creative support from Brice and the Duplasses, a big ol’ pile of expensive post-production services, and a leg up on film fest placement. New-ish genre label Chroma has already made a distribution offer.
Stay tuned for updates on this project as they happen.
