By Brendan Swift
Local genre production house ProdigyMovies has signed a first-look deal with international sales agent Lightning Entertainment.
The deal was inked at the recent American Film Market and follows their successful collaboration on the supernatural feature Road Train and upcoming shark thriller The Reef.
The funding for both films was kicked off by a commitment from Lightning Entertainment – a model ProdigyMovies executive producer Michael Robertson hopes to replicate on future commercial projects.
“Effectively I get market attachment early in the piece which is often the missing piece in the puzzle when you get the rest of [the finance] together,” Robertson said.
The Reef has been sold to several major territories including the USA and UK and is slated to open on more than 100 screens in Mexico in December.
Road Train, which had a limited release in South Australia last month, has also been sold to several territories including Korea last week.
Robertson said ProdigyMovies, which made its mark in 2007 with crocodile thriller Black Water, is aiming to shoot two new genre feature films next year.
Falls Creek and Mary, Mary are both budgeted below $3 million and will be co-produced with first time producers.