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Vancouver entrepreneurs launch outdoor adventure movie-streaming site

Local tech start-up hopes to shred the gnar-ketplace
Keegan McCool, Shawn Price, Adrian Lu and Aaron Franks slipstream
Vancouver techies and outdoor enthusiasts Keegan McColl, Shawn Price, Adrian Lu and Aaron Franks launched the online action sports streaming service Slipstream in mid-February.

Netflix and chill is taking a backseat to Netflix and thrill in the business plan for a handful of Vancouver entrepreneurs.

The four techies have created an online streaming service called Slipstream, which leans heavily on the subscription video-on-demand business model employed by Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Video.

Launched in February, the site includes 150 action sports films that radiate getting rad: ski, snowboard, surf and cycling films set in the mountains, backcountry or on the water.

“We realized some of the best adventure filmmakers in the world live here in B.C. and there was no real place to watch these adventure films after they had run through their festival circuit dates,” said co-founder Keegan McColl. “We thought this would be a great opportunity to build a service that connects those filmmakers with viewers that want to see that kind of stuff.”

Outdoor, thrill-seeking films play a large role in the service, though it’s not strictly confined to bikes and boards. Ecological preservation is also present throughout the catalogue.

Some of the titles currently in rotation include The Fortune Wild, which follows three surfers exploring themes of environmentalism and pipelines while traversing the B.C. coastline, and Timeline Missions, which follows French Olympic snowboarder Xavier De Le Rue across the world in search of big slopes and pristine powder.

The site’s launch is the culmination of an ideal work/life balance for the site’s head honchos. McColl and co-founders Shawn Price, Adrian Lu and Aaron Franks all work for Reelhouse, a Vancouver-based video company that oversees distribution campaigns for the Sundance Film Festival and Warner Brothers.

They couple their experience in the tech sector with a love of action sports — they all ski, surf, cycle and snowboard — to make the Stripstream boat float.

“This is something that is true to ourselves and that we’re all passionate about that combines our technical experience in building online products,” McColl said. “We’ve built the mechanism for viewers to experience the films and for filmmakers to monetize those films in a meaningful way.” 

Filmmakers need not turn over any copyright permissions to the Slipstream format and are paid based on monthly views. Customers pay $4.99 a month for unlimited streaming on all the standard platforms: smart TV, mobile, tablet or desktop device. New films are added weekly and a free month is currently being offered.

For info, see watchslipstream.com.

jkurucz@vancourier.com

@JohnKurucz