One point from glory at the US Open, Isa Collins falls apart. The years that follow cost her the sport, her sobriety, and nearly everything else. Wildcard follows her comeback attempt, alongside the estranged brother who knows her game better than anyone.

The film is fully shot and edited, stars Andrea Londo and David Arquette, and features Tennis Channel's Brad Gilbert, Sam Querrey, and Steve Weissman. Now we need your help to get it across the finish line and onto screens.

https://deadline.com/2026/02/andrea-londo-david-arquette-tennis-drama-film-wildcard-1236708611/

Wildcards Marketing Plan

Where the money goes

First goal: $120K (finish and launch the film)

Picture and sound finishing, including final mix, foley, original score, and VFX: $30k. Distribution deliverables, music licensing, E&O insurance, and legal: $20k. Festival campaign, including publicist, key art, trailers, and premiere travel: $25K. Social Media Marketing: $35k. Platform fees, the financial review, and contingency: $10K.

Full raise: $200K (amplify the release)

Platform theatrical release, covering booking, ads, and event screenings in key cities: $45K. Paid social and creator campaign: $20K. International market push, including localized trailers, market screenings, and territory marketing: $15K.

Marketing and Distribution Plan

1. The thesis

Wildcard sits where two audiences overlap and are rarely served together. One is prestige drama fans who show up for character-driven stories like Whiplash, the other is the global tennis community, a huge, affluent, highly engaged fanbase that almost never sees its sport on screen with any real depth. Add a Mexican-American lead in a story set on the US-Mexico border, and the film has a third audience with strong cultural pull and a cast member they already follow.

Our strategy uses the festival circuit to build prestige and attract buyers. Meanwhile, we build a direct audience of tennis fans, Latino viewers, and our own investor community, so the film arrives at market with proven demand. That combination gives us leverage in sales conversations and a fallback path if a single big deal doesn't come together.

2. Who we're reaching

Tennis players and fans. Tennis has an estimated 87 million players worldwide, plus a much larger viewing(estimated to be 1 billion) audience across the four Grand Slams. We reach them through tennis media, clubs and academies, coaches, and tennis creators on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Having Tennis Channel's Brad Gilbert, Sam Querrey, and Steve Weissman on screen gives the film instant credibility with this crowd.

Prestige drama audiences. These viewers follow festival lineups, read Deadline and IndieWire, and watch A24 and Neon releases. We reach them through festival press, reviews, awards conversation, and the cast's names (Andrea Londo, David Arquette, James Le Gros, C.S. Lee).

Latino and Mexican-American audiences. The film is set in Tijuana with a Mexican-American lead and a bilingual world. Andrea Londo's audience is the entry point. The Casa Ajena co-production and the Mexican festival track (FICG in Guadalajara as the flagship) extend that reach into Mexico and Latin America, where tennis keeps growing.

People touched by addiction and recovery. At its core, Wildcard is about addiction and family. That gives it a life beyond sports fans, through recovery-focused organizations, podcasts, and press that cover mental health in athletics. Athletes like Naomi Osaka have brought that conversation into the mainstream.

3. Marketing assets

We'll build a full asset library before premiere. Key art comes first: a theatrical poster billing Andrea Londo, David Arquette, C.S. Lee, and James Le Gros, plus social cutdowns and character posters. Then a trailer suite: a festival teaser, a full trailer for buyers and release, and localized versions for France, Spain, the UK, and Latin America.

A clip library of match sequences, commentator moments, and dramatic scenes will be cut for vertical video. We'll also have behind-the-scenes material from the shoot: tennis training, cast interviews, and the making of the US Open sequence. An electronic press kit (EPK) with director's statement, production notes, cast bios, and stills goes to press and buyers.

4. Phase one: festival campaign (now through premiere)

The film has been submitted to top-tier US festivals, with a sequence built to protect its world premiere: Sundance, Slamdance, SXSW, and Tribeca. In parallel, the Mexican co-production opens a separate Ibero-American track led by FICG. We'll choose the premiere that gives the film the strongest press and buyer attention, then build the rest of the festival run around it.

During this phase we'll hire a festival publicist and complete the trailer, key art, and EPK. We'll also post weekly content (training footage, cast introductions, story themes) to build an audience before anyone has seen the film. Every investor update doubles as content, so our Wefunder community sees the film come together in real time.

5. Phase two: premiere and sales

At premiere, the goals are press, buzz, and buyer offers. We'll book the cast for press and the red carpet, hold buyer screenings, and run a social push from the cast and the Tennis Channel talent on premiere day. Mavryk, where Greg is an international sales agent, will handle sales and screen the film for buyers at major markets: AFM, the European Film Market, and the Cannes Marché.

Our first goal is a major streamer deal with a platform like Netflix or Hulu. Our second is a split strategy: a US distributor plus territory-by-territory international licensing, with Mavryk selling the foreign rights.

6. Phase three: release

We plan a platform theatrical release, opening on a small number of screens in key markets (Los Angeles, New York, San Diego/Tijuana, and Mexico City through our co-production partner). The goal is a high per-screen average, which helps it expand wide theatrically and is a number distributors and streamers watch closely when deciding where to put their money.

Tennis drives the event strategy. We'll time a premiere or release event to a major tournament, ideally the US Open, since the film's story turns on it. We'll host watch parties and screenings with tennis clubs, academies, and USTA-affiliated programs. Q&As with the cast and the Tennis Channel talent turn screenings into events people share.

During release, we'll also run an awards campaign for Andrea Londo, targeting the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the Imagen Awards. Awards attention lengthens the release window and raises the film's value in later licensing deals.

7. Phase four: long tail and international

After the theatrical window, the film moves to transactional (rent/buy), subscription, ad-supported, and FAST platforms. Sports-focused channels are a strong fit. The clip library keeps working long after release: match sequences, commentator moments, and behind-the-scenes content can be recut and released around every Grand Slam, four built-in marketing moments a year.

Internationally, we'll release localized trailers and campaigns in tennis-strong territories, with France, Spain, the UK, Italy, Australia, and Latin America first. Mavryk will handle territory sales, and the Mexican co-production gives the film home-market status in Mexico.

8. Partnerships

Confirmed: Uomo, a brand sponsor of the film. Tennis Channel's Brad Gilbert, Sam Querrey, and Steve Weissman appear on screen as commentators. Casa Ajena is our co-production partner in Mexico.

9. Our investors are part of the marketing plan

Every Wefunder investor is a potential ambassador. Investors will get early access to the trailer, invitations to premiere and release screenings, behind-the-scenes updates, and a thank-you in the end credits. A few hundred investors who each share the trailer and bring friends to a screening is real reach, and they help hit the opening-weekend numbers that drive distribution deals.

10. Targets we'll report to investors

We'll report against these targets in regular investor updates:

1. Festival: a world premiere at a top-tier festival
2. Press: 20+ trade and consumer pieces during the premiere window.
3. Trailer: views across platforms in the first month.
4. Audience: grow our email and social following by release
5. Sales: offers from within six months of premiere.
6. Theatrical

These are goals, as always there is no guarantee of results in the film world.

11. How the film makes money

There are several ways the film can generate revenue. The first is a worldwide or domestic sale to a streamer or distributor after premiere. The second is international territory sales through Mavryk, which can stack across dozens of markets. The third is theatrical revenue from the platform release. After that come transactional, subscription, ad-supported, and FAST licensing, plus brand and sponsorship revenue. These paths aren't mutually exclusive. Most indie films recoup through a mix of several, which is why having sales built in matters.

“With Wildcard, we’re not relying solely on expensive ads to reach an audience — we’ve hardwired the marketing into the show itself. By featuring tennis influencers with over a million followers, we guarantee organic reach and global awareness. Add festival buzz, strategic brand partnerships, and a sports niche that’s hungry for content, and you have a marketing engine that de-risks investment while creating massive upside.”