Fueled by ambition, moxy, and the faith of those around him who deferred their wages, Toronto writer-producer Michael Sparaga embarked on a feature-film project with nothing but a $10,000 line of credit.

Shooting on weekends in Toronto (Sparaga was a waiter at The Keg at the time) during the spring of 2004, Sparaga made the film and - by extending his credit line and currying favours and discounts for everything from crew food to sound studios - was able to make a superhero comedy with visual effects, an American star, and quality sound for, wait for it, $35,000.

The film would have cost $330,000 without the breaks.

Now, two years later, Sidekick has a Vancouver Screening tonight at Tinseltown as part of the Moving Pictures series of Canadian films. Sparaga also has an option deal with Focus Features, the specialty films unit of Universal Pictures that made Brokeback Mountain, Broken Flowers and The Constant Gardener, to write the screenplay for a bigger-budget version of the film for the American market.

If low-budget filmmakers need a poster boy, Sparaga should be their candidate.

"This all came about with a letter from the Royal Bank that I was pre-approved for a $10,000 line of credit," says Sparaga, 33, who is in Vancouver for tonight's screening. "I had been writing screenplays for years, but hadn't seen anything on screen for a while.

"With digital technology and the Royal Bank letter, I decided that I'm going to do this feature."

Sparaga paid off his VISA credit card with the Royal Bank line of credit, which got him a larger line of credit from the credit card company. He did the same with American Express, earning him more credit. It got to the point where he made a chart of credit card companies, paying for things and getting expanded credit limits.

"The whole thing kept going, from starting off with $10,000 I was able to get to $35,000," says Sparaga, who had no idea what the film would end up costing, but plowed ahead anyway.

Not short on nerve, Sparaga would call companies looking for assistance. William F. White donated lighting and gaffe equipment. Pizza Pizza donated food for the crew. Once the film was finished, he asked Footsteps Studios if they would give him a break on the foley work. Footsteps originally said no, but after viewing a rough cut, it did the sound for $5,000, less than one-tenth the going rate.

Sparaga and the cast and crew all deferred their wages in order to make the film. The only person paid was American actor Daniel Baldwin, in Toronto on another project, who jumped at the chance to play someone other than a cop or a killer. Baldwin, a part-time resident of Vancouver, plays the owner of a comic book store.

"My parents loaned me the money, and I brought it in cash in a paper bag to [Baldwin's] condo," says Sparaga with a laugh.

Even with the film completed, Sparaga continued his pay-as-you-go ways. Telefilm Canada kicked in money for a transfer from digital video to 35-mm film, asking Sparaga to tour the country with it at his own xpense.

"From the box office [receipts] I got in Halifax, I was able to go to Montreal," Sparaga says. "I literally paid my way across the country from each box office [take]."

The option deal with Focus Features, which will hold the rights for the film until December, with a six-month renewal option, paid Sparaga's debts, and allows him to show the current version in limited markets.

What advice can Sparaga give someone starting out in the film business?

"You can't worry about debt," says the man who started with nothing. "The two words that got me through making this movie were 'minimum payment'. A lot of people really get daunted by how expensive this business is."

Tonight's screening, part of the 7:30 p.m. closing ceremony for Moving Pictures, is free to the public, although there is a $2 membership to Moving Pictures.