Many may say that the key to rock-paper-scissors is just a bit of luck. For filmmakers April Mullen and Tim Doiron, it also helps to have a creative marketing strategy.

The team behind Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way of the Tosser, a comedy about rock-paper-scissors enthusiast Gary Brewer (played by Doiron) and his quest to win the upcoming world championships, credit their film’s success to its cross-Canada screening tour.

“With Rock, Paper, Scissors, we knew that we really had to do something different to get people’s attention. There are thousands of indie films that never get distribution; there’s only a small handful that do. So we decided to take the film across the country,” Mullen told the Straight over the phone. They also organized rock-paper-scissors tournaments at universities to hype up the film—all the time still in character, dressed in tutus and denim cutoffs.

Not long after, Alliance Films picked up Rock, Paper, Scissors for video and television distribution (the film is being released on DVD today), as well as Mullen and Doiron’s next feature, Gravytrain.

“Through that [the tour] we got a lot of media attention, and then we were on Much Music and morning shows just because we were so unique in our marketing—especially the way we were dressed, and it was just a fun film, with the improv and the comedy that goes with it—all of that helped and it caught their [Alliance Films’] eye.”

While reminiscent of both Air Guitar Nation (a look at the World Air Guitar Championships in Finland) and Best in Show, the film is neither strictly documentary or mockumentary.

“In no way are we poking fun at the sport and the person, so I think that sets it apart from so-called other mockumentaries,” Mullen replied when asked if she was worried the film might offend die-hard rock-paper-scissor competitors. “It’s more a feature film shot in the documentary style. It’s more about a guy who has big dreams”¦.it just so happens his dreams include rock-paper-scissors.”

Mullen and Doiron even approached Douglas and Graham Walker, founders of the World RPS Society, to discuss their movie and gain access to the world championships.

“We competed in the actual tournament. We took our four lead characters into the tournament, and sort of seamlessly went in disguise. Because everyone looks so crazy, we just fit in perfectly and there was so much media coverage that our three cameras just melded in with the news cameras. We got away with everything and nobody really knew we were shooting a film whatsoever,” Mullen said.

Mullen and Doiron also screened Rock, Paper, Scissors at various film festivals, including the Edmonton International Film Festival in 2007, where it won the People's Choice award for best Canadian feature. The movie premiered at the Cambridge Film Festival.

“The U.K. really loved Rock, Paper, Scissors and we got a great response. I think they’re used to dry humour, sort of like The Office. That’s their style, but Rock, Paper, Scissors has such a different scope of comedy—there’s physical comedy, and then there’s dry humour, and then there’s also the over-the-top characters”

Rock, Paper, Scissors was filmed and set in Canada, but Mullen says there was never a conscious effort to give the film a Canadian feel. “I don’t think you would ever know it was shot in Canada”¦.I think to make a film in Canada, just as long as it’s interesting, and new, and inventive, it doesn’t necessarily have to have a Canadian theme,” she told the Straight. “It doesn’t scream Canada.”

Mullen and Doiron’s second feature, GravyTrain, starring Saturday Night Live alum Tim Meadows, is now in its final stages of production, with no release date yet pegged down. But you can bet the comedy duo has big plans for its premiere.

“That’s one of the lucky things about being picked up—we’re able to market it how we want, and we’re hoping to use the same strategy as we did before,” Doiron said. “There are a lot of outlandish characters and we’re hoping to do a cross-Canada tour for it as well; do some crazy stuff and have some out-of-the-box marketing.”