Actor Oliver Wenn is working with Nero Resource Fund founder and investment manager Russell ‘Rusty’ Delroy on a WW2 series that will be the launch project for the pair’s WA-based production company.
The Tigers Revenge is an eight-part drama that tells the story of Operation Jaywick, in which 14 soldiers led by the enigmatic Ivan Lyon journey 2,000 km behind enemy lines to destroy Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour.
Currently in development, the Australian-British co-production is the first project under Wondership Entertainment, which was officially incorporated at the beginning of this year. Wenn and Delroy are executive producing with Shea Walsh, a writer on the project.
Wenn, who has over 20 acting credits including Home and Away, Top of the Lake, True Colours, and Population:11, previously founded The Hub Studio, a resource and development centre for emerging actors and working creatives.
He said Wondership was part of his desire to create a vertically integrated production model that harnessed private investment, leading to the collaboration with Delroy.
“Our key goal was to try and bring in the private equity side and that’s where Russell has come in recently,” he said
“Rusty is a friend of mine from school days, so I circled back to him with that idea.
“He was Exmouth some time ago visiting a museum and came across a story about Operation Jaywick. He loved the story and said we should do this as a way into setting up and establishing a production company.”
The Tiger’s Revenge, a collaboration with UK company Volpix, is one of four projects Wondership has in development alongside fellow eight-part scripted series The Story, about a crime journalist navigating a violent criminal underworld, the halls of power, and his unraveling personal life; ten-part unscripted series Inside Shalom: The World’s Toughest Rehab, which offers an unfiltered look at the addicts, their families, and the staff within the Shalom House rehab centre in Perth’s Swan Valley; and feature film Seize the Night, in which a psychotic meth king-pin goes up against a former SAS warrior and his highly-trained crew.
While Wenn admitted the slate had a military angle, he said the company was “fairly open” regarding the subject matter of its stories.
“I do enjoy those larger scale projects – I think they are incredible and there is so much story to draw from them,” he said.
“But really it’s about human relationships and moving the needle to highlight the human condition.
“The biggest remit for me is not only creating investment pathways but matching the financing to international scalability, so we are looking for stories that capture an international narrative. In effect, it is that ‘Glocal’ model that a lot of people talk about but leveraging local capability on a global scale.”
Anyone wanting to work with Wondership can fill out a submission form on its website, with the company using an AI filtering process in assessing projects.
Wenn also expressed a desire to synergise the venture with The Hub Studio.
“My business has large community involvement and so we are trying to leverage some really fantastic young talent and other people we believe should have a go,” he said.
“We are trying to create a pathway with Wondership on one end and The Hub Studio on the other.”