After spending more than 15 years in programming at companies like Super Channel and HBO Canada, Justin Rebelo decided to jump into the world of feature producing with Room for Rent.

The comedy, which is currently in production in Winnipeg, is Rebelo’s first feature as a producer and the first film from his Toronto-based production company, Musterios Entertainment. Farpoint Films and El Duo Motion Pictures are also producing.

“I always enjoyed being involved with the production community,” Rebelo told Playback Daily. After working as VP, acquisitions at U.S. channel Epix, Rebelo (whose wife had recently had a baby) decided to return to Toronto from New York. “I thought, ‘I wonder what people I used to do business with are working on?’ I reached out to a few people and Matt Atkinson and his partners at El Duo Motion Pictures had a version of Room for Rent that I really took to. And the rest is history.”

Rebelo boarded the film in February 2014, and, as he puts it “spent a couple of years in the trenches” honing the script and getting it ready for production. During that time, he also joined eOne as senior director, TV and digital distribution, a position he currently holds.

“I’ve been lucky in my career to have had access to emerging talent as well as decision makers. In this case, I’ve been happy to be in a position to bridge these worlds together,” Rebelo said of running his own indie production company and working for one of Canada’s largest.

Initially, Rebelo planned to make the comedy for less than a million, but during his tenure as director, original Canadian production at Super Channel, Rebelo had worked with Winnipeg’s Farpoint Films, so he approached them about joining the project too.

“When we’re looking at the financing plan, the tax credits in Manitoba are so vast compared to some of the other provinces that, strategically, we wanted to partner with a Manitoba company,” said Rebelo. Toronto-based Urban Post also signed on as an equity partner, with principals John Laing and Mark Gingras serving as executive producers.  

“We’re a Manitoba-Ontario copro. Manitoba is our principal, where we do our principal photography, and we’ll do our post-production in Ontario,” Rebelo explained.

The new partners and tax credit structure helped boost the film’s budget to $1.6 million. And just as he worked his connections to assemble the producing team, Rebelo was also able to call on friends, and friends of friends, to assemble the film’s cast.

“Almost all of our key six cast, I believe five out of six, were actually brought on board through personal relationships,” he said.

Room for Rent stars Mark Little (Mr. D, Spun Out), Carla Gallo (Bones, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising), Brett Gelman (Love, The Other Guys), Suits‘ Patrick J. Adams, The Kids in the Hall‘s Mark McKinney and Stephanie Weir (MADTV, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend). It follows Mitch (Little), a recluse who squandered away all of his lottery winnings and who must now rent out a room in his house to a stranger (Gelman).

D Films has already come on board to distribute the film in Canada and it’s been pre-sold to The Movie Network, says Rebelo. “In Canada we’re very lucky to have top-notch partners in terms of how the release will roll out, but we will be looking to draft off of festivals [as well].”

He anticipates the film will be finished in October, at which point he hopes to secure a premiere at one of the large U.S. festivals.

Room For Rent is written and directed by Matthew Atkinson. It is produced by Rebelo and Farpoint’s Kyle Bornais, with El Duo’s Robert Scarborough coproducing alongside Scott Gfeller and Shawn Myrick. Executive producers are Jay Firestone, Tony Wosk, John Laing, Mark Gingras, Scott Leary, and Mark Satterthwaite .

Canadian distribution will be handled by D Films, with Prodigy Pictures handling worldwide sales. Partners on the film include TMN – The Movie Network, Telefilm Canada, and Manitoba Film & Music.