A Grande Prairie musician has been given $10,000 to make his dream a reality. Through the TELUS STORYHIVE 2018 Music Video Edition, Michael Cassidy will be able to produce a music video for his song X Hotel. Cassidy is one of 40 grant recipients in this edition. He says he still can’t believe he won.
“It was amazing but I don’t even think I really accepted the fact that I won for a few days. It was kinda like something traumatic, I didn’t even really clue in for a couple days and then I was like oh wait I’m gonna have $10,000 to make a music video.”
The TELUS STORYHIVE program started in 2013. It was created to help people living in Alberta and BC who were looking to enter the film industry or who wanted to further their careers. This is the third time Cassidy, who also performs under the name Mikey Blue Shoes, has applied to STORYHIVE. This time around, he says he figured he’d try again and it paid off.
“I applied for the first time about four years ago to do a western for a different song. This is my third time applying now and I figured I had made a few smaller scale videos in the last few years but now I should reapply… and luckily I won.”
With the money, Cassidy will finally get to shoot his western. He says most of the funds will go towards finding and paying for a location and costumes for the shoot.
Filming for X Hotel is expected to begin in January and the video should be available on TELUS Optik Tv and STORYHIVE.com by May 2019.