More than $23 million worth of film and television production has been kickstarted in New South Wales, as a result of investment decisions by the Board of the NSW Film and Television Office.
The FTO has invested in the new feature film by director Shirley Barrett and producer Marion Macgowan, the second series of both East West 101 and East of Everything, plus five documentaries, including the new documentary by Bob Connolly (Rats in the Ranks, First Contact).
“For every dollar invested by the FTO, more than $20 will be spent in New South Wales. This is a great boost for the NSW screen industry and to the NSW economy,” said Linda Tizard, head of development and investment at the FTO.
South Solitary, written and directed by Shirley Barrett (Love Serenade, Walk the Talk) and produced by Marion Macgowan (Death Defying Acts, The Rage in Placid Lake) and British producer Sarah Radclyffe (Les Misérables, My Beautiful Laundrette) is set on a remote and windy lighthouse island in the 1920’s.
East West 101 and East of Everything will each begin production of a second series in NSW over the coming months. East West 101, produced by Steven Knapman and Kris Wylde, is set in the western suburbs of Sydney. Writers are Kristen Dunphy, Michelle Offen and Michael Miller.
Peter Andrikidis is confirmed to direct. Series two is the continuing story of Muslim Detective, Zane Malik, as he seeks to solve a bombing within a murky world of international intrigue, illegal immigration and local extremism.
East of Everything, set in the mythical town of Broken Bay, will be filmed on location in Byron Bay in northern NSW. Producers are Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox; Writers are Deb Cox, Roger Monk and Max Dann. Stuart McDonald returns as Director. In series two, when Art (Richard Roxburgh) and Vance Watkins (Tom Long) re-open the door of the ramshackle resort they grew up in, they unwillingly invite the return of the free-spirited father who abandoned them – when their ‘paradise’ was spoiled.
Director Peter Andrikidis is also attached to the mini-series False Witness, which will be produced by Greg Haddrick (Mary Bryant, Underbelly) and written by Ronan Glennane and Nell Greenwood. False Witness is a high octane thriller about the world’s worst nightmare.
The five documentaries to receive FTO investment include Making Music which will be directed by Bob Connolly and Sophie Raymond, written by Bob Connolly and produced by Bob Connolly and Helen Panckhurst. It tells of MLC School’s biennial concert at the Sydney Opera House, where legendary director of music Karen Carey throws her young players into musical waters over their heads.
Taxi School is a quirky, fly-on-the-wall documentary series about some of the people behind the faces in the mirror of the next taxi you hail. Writer/Director is Claire Haywood and Producer is Kingston Anderson.
Bombora tells the social history of surfing in Australia – and how it shaped our national character. Writers are Paul Clarke, Nick Carrol and Greg Appel. Paul Clarke and Greg Appel will also produce and direct.
Samson and Delilah by Writer/Director Beck Cole, is about two Aboriginal bush kids, picked from obscurity, who bring to life and onto cinema screens worldwide the fictional journey of Samson and Delilah. Beck will produce with Kath Shelper.
Julie Nimmo will write and direct and Tom Zubrycki will produce The Intervention, which will record the success and failures of the Commonwealth Emergency Intervention, as experienced by communities in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory.
[release from TM Publicity]