Latest News

Rick Dugdale is a Canadian film producer.

Photos courtesy Enderby Entertainment

B.C. producer speaks on film made during lockdown

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 2:17 PDT, Fri July 22, 2022

Last Updated: 12:30 PDT, Tue September 6, 2022

—

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the film industry, although creative solutions have enabled those involved to continue their work in different ways.

Canadian film producer Rick Dugdale is president and chief executive officer of Enderby Entertainment. The company made the film Zero Contact, starring Anthony Hopkins and Aleks Paunovic, during the early pandemic lockdown.

Our City Tonight first spoke with Dugdale via Zoom in June 2020, just as he was about to produce a film with an international cast—a tremendous challenge given the pandemic situation. Our City Tonight spoke with Dugdale again earlier this month about the movie’s recent release.

Tell us about creating a film during the lockdown.

Going into this project was very ambitious as no one could shoot a film conventionally. So, we had a think tank and came up with an idea and a script that made it possible to film remotely. It took a while in post-production to complete it the way we wanted it, but I think it turned out pretty well.

It would be commendable to mention the accomplishment of producing this under the (pandemic) restrictions, but this film is not just a “gimmicky” film—there’s also a great story.

Thanks for that. Part of it is, when COVID hit and everyone’s looking at Zoom every day, the storylines you anticipate them coming up with (are) some kind of horror movie in a box or some
contained Zoom-like horror movie. We figured that was the one thing we absolutely wanted to avoid, and ultimately if the film is going to have a life and find distribution and an audience, it’s got to have a solid story.

We understand that it’s (the first part of) a trilogy. You shot in, or are going to shoot in, 13 different countries. Tell us how you managed to do that during the pandemic and make it look so seamless.

We started filming in Antarctica last December. It’s about taking an audience places they don’t get to go to. We did it remotely in part one of the trilogy, but realizing where it can go (as) a futuristic, sci-fi type of thriller, the storylines are endless. We built a part two and part three that will take audiences to places like Antarctica—and we became the first film to shoot in Antarctica. The rest of the filming will start up after the summer in places like Jordan, Egypt, and Bolivia. Again, it’s about taking people to places where they don’t get to go and our story will walk the line in an Indiana Jones kind of way. But first, it does start with the story, and with part two and three we will be able to extend that.

Zero Contact is the first feature film to have an NFT (non-fungible token) release. Can you explain that?

NFTs are obviously very buzzworthy. When we finished the film and it was unconventional, it made sense for us to release the film in an unconventional way. We formed a company called VUELE, which is the first NFT distribution company out there. What that means is, when you buy an NFT, it is a digital collectable.

(It’s) different (from) a DVD or a Blu-ray—this is something that has inclusions inside of it, it’s like a DVD with bonus features on steroids. This is something that is (for) fan engagement, it’s for the Comic-Con kind of (fans), but more importantly you are part of an exclusive group. There’s only a certain amount of NFTs sold of the film in perpetuity. So VUELE is where you buy your NFT from and the collectibles tied to the film. It is a whole new world of film distribution and definitely the future.

Zero Contact is now available on video on demand.

To watch the full video interview, visit richmondsentinel.ca/videos.

Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins are contributing writers to the Richmond Sentinel.

The film Zero Contact was released in 2022.