WEREWOMAN, WTF?!
Werewoman is a female skewed, supernatural comedy web series about a young man who magically transforms into a woman for a week every month during his roommates’ synchronized menstrual cycles. Through his hilarious adventures as a man stuck inside a woman’s body, he is forced to play the part and overcome his own preconceptions about gender and sexuality. Werewoman is a journey to self-discovery and finding your true identity.
While Werewoman aims to entertain viewers with outrageous humor, it also presents topical issues men and women deal with on a day-to-day basis, including sexism, gender stereotyping, as well as sexual identity.
THE DREAM TEAM
Werewoman is a dynamic showcase for emerging Canadian talent. It features six up and coming Canadian actors: Johnathan Sousa (PATRICK), Kimberly-Sue Murray (JACKIE), Amber Goldfarb (PATRICIA – the female version of Patrick), Mikaela Davies (ALLISON), Sarah Hansen (TARA) and Matthew Brown (SETH). In addition, Catherine Bérubé (MANDY) is an established Quebecoise actress, and Matt Baram, the gynecologist, is a well-known comedian currently starring in the television series “Seed”.
The majority of the creative team of Werewoman graduated from the Canadian Film Centre in 2011, where they frequently collaborated on resident filmmaking exercises. Among them are producer Kevin Kincaid, writer Surita Parmar, director Chris Agoston, and editor Richard Mandin along with actors Kimberly-Sue Murray, Johnathan Sousa, and Amber Goldfarb. Our stellar team is topped off with cinematographer Ian Macmillan, who also photographed the hit web series THE BITTER END, as well as composer Tristan Capacchione.
(Visit our website for full biographies)
HELP US CREATE OUR OWN WORK!!!
We all know how hard it is to make a living in this industry. Even though a lot of people would consider me a ‘working actor’, at times I feel as though I’m waiting around for my agent to call and for an offer to fall from the sky. You know, the typical actor story. After completing my residency at the Canadian Film Centre back in February 2012, I had a sudden rush of inspiration and motivation. I wanted to create work for my friends and myself as well as collaborate with the amazing people I met at the CFC. So, I registered to take a class on how to produce a web series. I showed up to class ill prepared and when the instructor asked me to pitch my web series concept, I pulled an idea out of my ass and blurted out something about a guy turning into a woman. And that’s how it all began.
Under the guidance of instructor Rechna Varma (Producer/CFC), I further developed the concept, and soon approached writer Surita Parmar with whom I had worked with on the CFC short, RATTAN, where she proved to have a knack for quirky, and off-beat writing. Being total nerds, we wanted to really explore the supernatural aspect of the concept. Another major source of inspiration is Lena Dunham’s show GIRLS. I love how raw, provocation, and honest the show is and I wanted to incorporate those qualities in Werewoman as much as possible. It was also crucial for both of us to have a strong female driven cast, as there are far fewer good roles for women in the industry than there are for men.
Back in November, I casually pitched my concept to my buddy Kevin Kincaid (CFC Producer ’11) and the minute I told him who was already involved (Surita Parmar, Johnathan Sousa, Matthew Brown and my four best friends: Amber Goldfarb, Catherine Bérubé, Mikaela Davies, and Sarah Hansen) he immediately wanted to come on board as producer. Kevin spearheaded the project with enthusiasm and ambition. He got director/producer and friend Chris Agoston (CFC Producer ’11) involved, and in turn, Agoston/Kincaid pitched the project to DP Ian Macmillan and editor Richard Mandin (CFC Editor ’11). After that, everything happened really quickly. The plan was to apply to the IPF* in hopes to get funding which would allow us to shoot our first season in the fall of 2013.
Things are looking good for us. We’ve made it to the second round of the IPF’s Web Series Program; 35 web series were short-listed out of 159 submissions. We’ll know by June if we get funding, but until then we are launching this crowd funding campaign. Our goal, and we love being ambitious, is $15,000. Imagine if we got $1 for every YouTube hit we got in the last month… 86,000 + views as of April 19th !!! Totally realistic, no?!
If I’ve learned anything until now it’s that there are no limits to our imagination and our creativity, to people’s generosity and support, but most importantly, there are no limits to our dreams. “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” That’s what I go by.
I would like to thank Rechna Varma, Kerry Young, the CFC, Isaiah Goodfriend (for our great website), my creative team and amazing crew, and of course my girlfriends for their encouragement, support and dedication to Werewoman. Also, a huge thanks to everyone who watched and shared our teaser. It means a lot.
Sincerely,
Kimberly-Sue Murray
Creator/Producer/Actor
*Independent Production Fund www.ipf.ca
WHERE THE HELL IS MY MONEY GOING?!
With your contributions you will help pay for…
CATERING (We’ve got an army to feed)
CAST (Professional actors cost a shitload)
TRANSPORTATION
SPECIAL EFFFECTS (We really want our transformation sequences to look believable. Our SFX’s master Shaun Hunter is crazy talented, but he needs a bit more money to work with…)
LOCATIONS
PERMITS
MUSIC (We’d love to approach musicians and get the rights to use their songs)
EQUIPMENT (Crucial to our production value)
... and much much more!
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
Sharing is caring!!!
Visit our website at www.werewomantheseries.com
Follow us on twitter @WerewomanSeries
Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/werewomantheseries
SOME PRESS
http://cultmontreal.com/2013/03/montrealers-bend-gender-with-werewoman/?fb_action_ids=10151515995705751&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map=%7B%2210151515995705751%22%3A266935413441510%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210151515995705751%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D
http://www.torontostandard.com/the-sprawl/more-canadian-web-series-trying-to-win-funding
