Vaulting a queer-led film about the world of competitive cheerleading into the spotlight at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) required years of work and a dash of star power.

Toronto filmmaker D.W. Waterson and Backspot star and producer Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs began developing the film in 2017 under their banner Night is Y. A year later CBC was attached and, in 2019, Prospero Pictures came on board. (Full producer credits go to Waterson, Jacobs, Alona Metzer and Prospero’s Martin Katz.)

But Waterson’s feature directorial debut only managed to secure funding when Canadian actor Elliot Page boarded the film as an executive producer under his U.S. prodco Pageboy Productions. Jacobs had brought up the project in a meeting with Page in 2021 where they were discussing modern queer cinema. Page asked for the script and quickly expressed interest in Pageboy getting involved. Bell Media’s Crave came on board in 2022.

“Of course, when you have someone like Elliot come on board and say ‘yes’ to your project, the grant process becomes a hell of a lot easier,” Waterson tells Playback. “So it was after that point that doors started to open. And it was only a year ago that we got funding.” Metzer joined the project once the funding was secured.

Backspot was one of 21 films that received a shared total of $12.8 million through Telefilm’s Production Program fund in 2022, with Ontario Creates and Shaw Rocket Fund also coming on board. It was made on a “low budget,” says the filmmaking team. The production process on the queer cheerleading drama, which wrapped principal photography in March, has been “fast and furious,” Waterson says, ahead of the film’s world bow as part of TIFF’s Discovery programme.

Waterson wanted to make a film with a more serious “blood, sweat and tears” approach to storytelling – a film that shows the high-flying stunts, the injuries and concussions, and the grit of the athletes because “the cheerleading films that we see usually come through the POV of a male director. But also, because they’re just very fluffy.”

Waterson, along with Jacobs and screenwriter Joanne Sarazen, had been “chipping” away at the script for two years to keep it “as grounded and as real as possible.” Getting the look and feel right involved linking up with a local cheer club to get an insight into the athletes’ training and experiences and their lingo, as well as attending competitions. It meant constantly adjusting the script, while keeping in mind that “we’re not going to have the big budget to do everything we visibly see going to these cheer competitions,” notes Waterson, who watched “over 100 [audition] tapes” during casting.

Jacobs, a former provincial champion in gymnastics, could also offer an expert POV, as could co-star Kudakwashe Rutendo, who was a cheer captain in high school.

“Even our costume designer used to be a cheerleader,” says Metzer. “So it felt like there was really a lot of synchronicity. People had the background that they needed to portray that world.”

For Waterson it was vital the production team was aligned with the overall vision of the film, making sure, for example, that the DP understood “what I’m trying to show here: grit, girl being thrown 10 feet in the air, concussions left and right, [athletes] pushing through.”

With shooting taking place at the peak of competition season, finding a gym that met very specific flooring needs and ceiling height became a challenge. “Nobody wanted to give us their cheer floor and building one from scratch was not an option,” says Waterson. It took months of searching and the production team “locked our location weeks ahead of filming,” adds Metzer.

Backspot will be distributed by levelFILM in Canada and international and U.S. rights are currently available and handled by UTA. The film will stream on Crave and broadcast on CBC and also be available on CBC Gem, with those deals facilitated by Prospero.

“[Crave and CBC] getting involved and them showing excitement and letting us run free through all stages has been the best part,” says Waterson.

But their “number one goal” is securing U.S. distribution.

This story originally appeared in Playback‘s Fall 2023 issue

Photo courtesy of Night is Y