Cinematographer Ross Metcalf is developing his first feature as writer-director, a contemporary drama set in a seaside town which explores taking chances, inspirations and new beginnings.
The Perth-based Metcalf has started to look for emerging Australian actors to appear in the film such as Laura Collier, who stars in director Matt Soutar's thriller The Silent City, on which Metcalf was the DoP.
He's been advised by ScreenWest's Adam Bishop and says he will raise the budget via a combination of private investment and crowd-funding..
His aim is to launch the film, as yet untitled, at the Sundance festival or other major international fests.
Narrated by a young woman, the tale follows a fallen stockbroker who returns to his hometown to reassess his life. A chance encounter with a past girlfriend inspires him to turn his life around but she is hiding a secret.
Metcalf, whose credits include the ScreenWest funded webseries Greenfield, tells IF he has been inspired by former Perth-based DoP Denson Baker ACS, who shot two chapters of Tim Winton's The Turning.
He credits director Mike Cahil's film Another Year, which starred Brit Marling in the tale of a young student set on the night of a discovery of a duplicate Earth in the Solar system, with motivating him to make the transition to narrative story telling,
"It has always amazed me what could be achieved when compelling vital ascetics and great story telling are combined," he said. "There is a real human story I want to tell so I decided I need to make this film.
"With my visual background experience I am approaching this feature in a slightly left-of-centre sense.I also want to make a feature that shows some of the majestic locations that Western Australia has to offer."