CFL MOVIE/THEATRE PRODUCTION IN THE WORKS

By: Allan Ly
RP Show Intern

Movies, documentaries and television shows are a great way to introduce audiences to a new subject.

For example the hosts of the Rod Pedersen show – Rod Pedersen and Darren Dupont – became fans of new shows like Tiger King from Netflix and Yellowstone from Amazon Prime during the pandemic.

Chris Bickford is a talented Canadian movie actor/producer and writer, and he was on Friday’s edition of the RP Show to explain his plans for an upcoming Canadian Football movie and how all of it came to be.

According to Bickford, the idea came from a chat with the CEO of the Ottawa RedBlacks Mark Goudie, who wanted to know how we can get younger fans to watch the CFL.

“So we came up with the idea,” said Bickford on getting the CFL’s younger fans. “Why don’t we do a movie that showcases the Hamilton Tiger cats specifically and the City of Hamilton and the CFL?”

According to Bickford, the movie will be similar to the Mighty Ducks movie franchise.

The Mighty Ducks franchise is a series of hockey films that started in 1992 based on a hockey team of underdogs from Minnesota with a coach that turned them around.  

The success from the first movie, where according to IMDB, grossed $50-million. The success of the movie inspired Anaheim to get a hockey team of its own in 1993, and they were called the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

This CFL movie is incredible to hear and I can not wait to see the finished product of the film.

While talking about the vibe of the movie, Bickford also talked about the synopsis of it .

“It’s about four, 12-year-old kids living in Hamilton, blue-collar, tough families, low parental supervision, and they’re kind of typical losers,” said Bickford. “The four kids will be obsessed with the Tiger-Cats however the Tiger-Cats also suck. Bickford explained that the Tiger-Cats and kids would eventually start winning during the film, and things will eventually get better.

Bickford has the financial backing for the movie, as he explained on the show.

 “We have $1.7 million in equity,” said Bickford. “And we recently just got our first investor, for low six figures.”

Currently, for the movie to start shooting, Bickford explained that he needs “$900,000 to shoot, which is not that much money.”

He further elaborated, “Once that happens, It’s a four-week shoot [then] It’s a six-week edit,” said Bickford. Furthermore, Bickford would showcase the movie to all the major movie festivals; then, the movie will have a movie theater release, after that straight to Netflixs.

While answering viewers’ questions, Bickford also sheds some details on who will be cast in the movie.

“We’re going to cast the kids as unknown actors, just regular kids,” said Bickford. “[We] will go to Toronto, go across Canada, but we’ll start in Toronto and Hamilton, the kids are the stars of the movie.”

Bickford explained that he could get the movie with the right kind of partners and have fans see it in six months.

The sky’s the limit for this New CFL movie and can help certify the legacy of the CFL for generations to come.

(Follow Allan on Twitter @AllanTheIntern)