Original-Cin Q&A: The Flash's Robbie Amell talks crowdfunding for Code 8, a feature with his Green Arrow cousin Stephen

A few years ago, Canadian actors and cousins Robbie Amell and Stephen Amell posted a short film called Code 8 and began a crowdfunding campaign to finance a feature version of their near-future, sci-fi thriller. 

The effort was more successful than they could have imagined. While they initially were looking at raising $200,000, their DC Universe-related roles on their respective CW shows (Robbie plays Deathstorm on The Flash,  Stephen is the Green Arrow of Arrow) helped them go way past that early goal. By the end of the campaign, they had raised $1.7 million from more than 20,000 backers, providing a considerable launching pad for the feature.

The film centers around a desperate young man possessing special powers (Robbie) who  clashes with the police force after committing a petty crime.

The Flash’s Robbie Amell and Arrow’s Stephen Amell co-star in the super-power saga Code 8.

Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with actor and producer Robbie Amell about the amazing journey to bring Code 8 to the big screen.  

The movie opens with Cineplex Event Cinema across Canada on December 7th.

Original-Cin:  Robbie, Code 8 is the little short that grew into a feature film.  What was the inspiration to make it into a full length movie?

ROBBIE AMELL:  “We always planned and hoped to make a feature. The short film was always supposed to be a proof of concept to try and make this Indiegogo campaign and make some money to fund it.  We knew we were doing something different and it was a risk because Stephen and I were known for our superhero shows and had never been leads in a movie before. So it was just to prove that we could do it.”

OC: Let’s talk about your crowdfunding efforts. Because from what I understand, once you posted that you needed to raise money, it took off in no time! 

AMELL: “It was terrifying because when you make something you just hope that people will like it, you just never know.  We front paged Reddit, which was a big deal. And we raised over $200,000 in our first 24 hours of being up.  It was crazy.”

OC: So do you think that is due to the power of Robbie and Stephen Ammell or the love of the sci-fi genre? 

AMELL: “Truthfully I think it was the perfect storm of Stephen’s fan base, my fan base  and a really great short film. If you don’t have anything to show people I think it’s tough to get behind.  Someone might buy a t-shirt because they just want a t-shirt.  But I think because we made this 10-minute short film that looked like it was out of a feature film, people really wanted to get on board.”

OC: That is pretty amazing.

AMELL: “The other thing is that Stephen  is really good at running his social media. When you do an Indiegogo campaign, based on your first 24 hours, they give you a chart that tells you  your likely projections for the whole campaign. And you normally make the most money in your first two days and your last two days. 

“Stephen has great ideas using his social media, promoting contests and just keeping everyone engaged and making it exciting.  We pretty much broke the Indiegogo algorithm because we kept shattering their projections.”

OC: A great testament to both yours and Stephen’s loyal supporters.

AMELL:  “I was in awe of the 27,000 backers who supported the movie.  One of the most amazing things that we did was 300 people, some from Toronto but a lot from  around the world,  paid to be extras. They flew in and put themselves up just to be in the background of the film. That to me is amazing! 

“The passion from the people who were a part of this was incredible.  Plus, sharing the movie premieres that we have  held is something I will never forget.  We filled a 700-person theatre in Los Angeles.  We put every dollar we raised on screen, nothing was wasted or used frivolously. The Indiegogo money was never to be used to pay anyone. It went entirely to our production. Nobody got paid well for the movie because that’s not what it was about.  It really was a huge labour of love.”  

OC: Where did the idea come from for Code 8?  Are you both huge sci-fi fans? 

AMELL: “We knew we wanted to make something that we were fans of, and this was our favourite genre. We knew it had to be marketable. We knew that if we were going to make a relationship drama it would be really difficult to get people on board. 

“We also knew that we wanted to make something grounded and  real.  We had references like Chronicle but also references from Heat, a good crime drama. To make it as relatable as possible we talked about what it is at its core. And for us, it’s the story of how far someone will go to save one of their loved ones and everyone can relate to that.”

OC: It sounds like you struck a nerve with that short film. 

AMELL: “What was really cool about the short film was that the comments on the YouTube page people were arguing about whether they thought what my character did was right. And we loved that. 

“Our movie was never going to be black and white or right or wrong. Our goal was to generate discussion. That’s life, people make shitty decisions  and people do the wrong things for the right reasons sometimes and we wanted people to talk about it.

“The sci- fi element was just wrapping paper, we just wanted to make sure at the end of the day that we were entertaining people.” 

OC:  Was this character a bit of a challenge for you because it’s something we’ve not seen from you before. 

 AMELL: No, not really.  Chris Pare, the screenwriter, writes so well for me. And I trust the director, Jeff Chan, with my career, and the casting process was amazing. 

“Kari Matchett was the first audition tape that I watched to play my mom, and I immediately knew we had found her. She actually reminded me of my mom in real life so that was a no brainer.  We have Greg Bryk, and Peter Outerbridge, two amazing actors and so having all these people by my side made my job so much easier.” 

OC: Plus, working alongside your cousin Stephen had to have helped.  You two have been so close, what a treat to finally work together at this level. 

AMELL: “It was so great. We had worked together on The Flash but didn’t speak a word of dialogue to each other. So to have this opportunity to spend so much time together on a project was great. 

“It was so cool to see how the other one does their work and watching each other’s process was an experience I’ll never forget. 

“More than that, it was really cool to just hang out for five weeks and get to know each other better in between scenes.  What was really nice was  we were our own boss on this movie so we were the ones who decided the adjustments that were needed each day, and how to find a scene and get it to a place where we  felt it was the best version.” 

OC: So now that you have produced a film, do you want to do more of that? 

AMELL: “Oh yes, I will continue to produce for sure. I’d love to take a stab at directing at some point. But I will never give up acting. This has been really fun and I have learned so much making Code 8. Who knows, maybe we will have a sequel coming up for us to work on.”

OC: Plus, to add to all of your excitement you are a brand new dad.  How’s that going?

AMELL: “It’s incredible and life-changing of course.  You know, I was one of those people. Leading up to his birth it never felt real for me. Then he was born and  it suddenly hit me, this is very real! 

“It was the perspective shift that was unbelievable. What is important now is that he and my wife take precedence over everything. Things that you used to think were everything are suddenly not so important anymore.  It all changed in a great way. 

“Don’t get me wrong I am still excited about my career. But it’s all very much a back seat to my son and my wife. Life seriously couldn’t get any better right now!”