Canada First! Opening Film: Young People Fucking

Director: Martin Gero

Writers: Martin Gero, Aaron Abrams

Producers: Steve Hoban, Tracey Boulton

Cast: Diora Baird, Carly Pope, Callum Blue, Sonja Bennett, Kristin Booth, Josh Cooke, Josh Dean, Aaron Abrams

Distributor: Christal Films

International Sales: Thinkfilm

Martin Gero went from being a university dropout and a writer of ‘really bad movies that never got made,’ to directing his first feature film, the romantic comedy Young People Fucking, which headlines the Canada First! program at this year’s TIFF.

It takes ‘a lot of luck,’ he says, but it also helped that Gero has been working as a writer and producer on the stalwart sci-fi series Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1 for the last three years.

‘That’s the great thing about TV,’ Gero says on the phone from Vancouver. ‘With films you have one chance to get it right, but with TV you have 20 a year, so it really allows you to risk and experiment. That provided me with a great training ground — [working] with some of the best people in the industry.’

The 30-year-old filmmaker cowrote the script for Young People over a six-month period with friend Aaron Abrams, who also acts in the film. They insist the eyebrow-raising title was not designed as a marketing ploy, yet concede it has its benefits.

‘To a certain extent, the title is the star of the movie,’ says Gero. ‘It’s an independent film and we don’t have any stars… people aren’t going to say, ‘Aaahh, it’s another movie by Martin and Aaron’… so it needed something as a hook.’

Abrams agrees: ‘It’s not a strategic move for attention. It’s just that nothing else fit this movie. We never expected to shoot or make a movie with this title… I still can’t believe we have.’

Gero and Abrams penned the sex comedy fairly quickly in 2005 and got ‘great notes’ on their script from thesp Sarah Polley, who enjoyed a great success with Away from Her, her feature writing and directing debut. Abrams and Polley are good friends who costarred in The Movie Network/Movie Central comedy series Slings & Arrows.

‘Sarah’s been a big champion of the script and has really helped every step of the way,’ Abrams says. ‘We were two dudes writing a sex comedy and we had no lady notes — which is kind of dangerous territory to be in.’

The $1.5-million feature — shot over 19 days in five bedrooms in Toronto last year — stars Carly Pope (Dirt), Kristin Booth (Prairie Giant) and Callum Blue (The Tudors).

The freshman film duo was fortunate to have a producer with some experience when their distribution deal collapsed three weeks prior to camera.

Steven Hoban of Toronto’s Copperheart Entertainment (Ryan, Ginger Snaps) had to think fast when distrib and principal financier ThinkFilm was sold to American investors in November 2007.

‘After ThinkFilm was sold, we needed a Canadian distributor to come on board for a fair amount of money within 24 hours, without the ability to approve cast, director or make any script changes,’ explains Gero.

Montreal-based distributor Christal Films ‘saved the day,’ thanks to Tony Wosk, director of acquisitions and development for English Canada.

‘Christal loved the script and saw Young People as a film that could help [Christal] push into English Canada,’ Gero says. ThinkFilm still holds U.S. and international territories.

While some correlations can be made with Young People and other sex comedies, including the recent American Pie franchise, Gero says his film is a little more grown-up.

‘It’s a sex comedy for people that have had sex. The American Pies were about people coming to terms with their sexuality. In this movie, people have come to terms with it a long time ago, and it’s now a real, vital part of how they communicate in relationships,’ he explains, citing classic comedies like Carnal Knowledge (1971) and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) as inspiration.

Meanwhile, Gero and Abrams are back at it again, collaborating on ‘a couple of scripts’ in the comedy genre. ‘With Young People Fucking we had so much fun… we want to do it again,’ Gero says.