Director Jeremy LaLonde on financing films and the state of Canadian cinema

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When journalist Katherine Monk set out to detail the rise of Canadian film in the late nineties, she chose an apt title for her book: Weird Sex & Snowshoes. CanCon, Monk found, is simply obsessed with all things carnal. So it's little surprise that filmmaker Jeremy LaLonde has made a career out of wryly dissecting the bedroom antics of the nation, starting with 2013's Sex After Kids and now How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town. The Globe spoke with the director about fornicating and fundraising.

You've assembled practically every familiar face in Canadian acting for this film: Ennis Esmer, Jewel Staite, Katharine Isabelle…

Well, we got really fortunate with the people available, and up for it, because it's a low-budget movie and they're in it for the love.

I guess that's something you have to preface your offers with when making Canadian films.

That's just it. They know that going in. But it is giving an actor a chance to do something they don't always get on American shows or movies that film here. I always tell actors, you're going to get a chance to play, to build a character. I'm willing to do rewrites and punch things up. It can be an enticing opportunity.

It's low budget, but you also turned to Indiegogo to help finance the film. What was that process like?

We raised a little under half our budget with Indiegogo, and we just did another one for a new film we're working on. There are way more pluses than negatives to it. You get to build an audience from the ground up, and you don't have to run everything by someone, as you would a private investor. But you do put in an effort to take care of supporters. It's about the long game – retaining backers for future projects.

During Hot Docs, I was talking with a few documentarians who used Indiegogo and Kickstarter, and something that came up was how much time they spent ensuring backers were taken care of. Did you feel stretched?

You have to be on the ball. But I also think these people need to be thanked properly. It might take up more time that it should, but the dividends come back in a way that's really rewarding.

And if you don't do it, the film might not get made at all, I guess.

Exactly. For Orgy, we were fortunate that Telefilm came on board, but we would have had to find private investors otherwise, which is harder these days.

The market is changing rapidly.

Fewer and fewer distributors are offering money upfront, and broadcasters are coming on board less and less in the early stages. So now you make the movie for as little as you can without affecting production values. Our strategy is making movies that we would want to see. I'd shell out 10 bucks for a movie about an orgy in a small town, for sure.

I guess a provocative title goes a long way, too?

I like art films, but I like "audience" movies, too. A strong title does the heavy lifting for you. When I was in film school, I spent a lot of time in Blockbusters, listening to how other people picked movies. It was always: "What's it called?" was the first question, "Who's in it?" was the second, and "What's it about?" the third. If your budget is small, you can curb around who's in it, but the title is important.

I heard that you said it was a good thing that the film didn't get into TIFF.

Oh, that's a slippery slope. I mean, we didn't get in. It's hard to know how things would have played out if it had. I think there have been a lot of comments recently, though, like [Operation Avalanche director] Matt Johnson had a lot to say about how TIFF plays into the state of Canadian cinema. I do think comedy doesn't get accepted into the festival as much. And it's hard to stand out there when competing against all that Hollywood rolls into town. Matt was saying there's no victory to playing at TIFF, and I thought a lot about that. It does help you in terms of getting that stamp of approval, it puts you on the radar. But I think for Canadian films, there's a little more victory getting into a big U.S. festival. They have no reason to program you other than the fact they really liked your film.

Which is what happened for you at Slamdance?

Yeah, so there's a bit more celebration there. I don't want to down-talk TIFF. I think it's a tremendous festival. But I've also been turned down three times with each of my features, so I've grown to expect not to make it the kind of thing that I wait for and build my whole strategy around it. I don't want to believe that my film will live or die because of TIFF. That's a dangerous strategy for anyone.

This interview has been condensed and edited.