Helping match up backers and filmmakers

The characters in an independent movie scheduled to begin filming this fall include a werewolf, a member of a rock band and a cannibalistic yoga instructor. The plot? “It’s kind of a modern-day ‘ Trainspotting’ set within a New York indie-rock backdrop,” says Noah C. Haeussner, the film’s producer and a senior vice president for financing and production at Union Entertainment Group.

When Mr. Haeussner set about looking for financial backing, he knew it would be tricky given the heroin use and other eccentricities in the film.

So instead of trotting it out to individual investors, the route independent filmmakers have taken for decades, he turned to a New York-based company called Slated, a free, members-only Web site that allows directors, producers, actors, sales agents and investors to communicate. It is “maybe like OKCupid,” said Mr. Haeussner, referring to the popular online dating site.

At Slated, 4,000 members describe their moviemaking or investing backgrounds, specify what types of movies they are interested in and indicate how much they are willing to invest. Filmmakers can also put up trailers for movies they want to finance, and everyone can send messages to one another privately.

Slated was founded in 2010 by Stephan Paternot, an American Internet entrepreneur and film producer; Duncan Cork, a South