Travis Jeffery, Maria Angelico, Linda Cropper and Michael Hurst have come together under one roof for Zoe Pepper’s debut feature Birthright, which has begun filming in the Perth Hills.
Jeffery and Angelico play professional couple Cory and Jasmine in the dark comedy, which picks up with the pair as they are preparing to welcome their first child.
When Cory loses his job, they are forced to move back in with his retiree parents, played by Cropper and Hurst, until they get back on their feet. As their stay extends, Cory fixates on his parents’ wealth and decides the only way to achieve the success he always imagined, is to do something unimaginable.
Written and directed by Pepper, Birthright is produced by Rush Films’ Cody Greenwood, who is working alongside co-producer Kate Neylon, executive producer John Maynard, and editor Luca Cappelli, as well as a Western Australian crew that includes DOP Michael McDermott, production designer Ocea Sellar, and costume designer Texx Montana.
The film is the 2022 recipient Screenwest’s West Coast Visions initiative, through which it secured $750,000 in production funding from the state agency. It has also received production funding from Screen Australia and will be distributed in Australia and New Zealand via Madman Entertainment.
Pepper said she was “incredibly grateful” to have such a talented team backing her vision.
“The cast and crew are doing an amazing job,” she said.
“It’s quite surreal to see this world I’ve concocted come to life. I’m equal parts terrified and excited to kick off filming.”
Screenwest CEO Rikki Lea Bestall described Birthright as a “quintessentially Australian story about boomers versus millennials”.
“Kicking off 2024 with a West Coast Visions film heading into production is a great start to what is already shaping up to be a bumper year,” she said.
Madman Entertainment co-founder and CEO Paul Wiegard said Birthright had the ingredients to become a “buzzy festival film mixing social satire and thriller elements”.
“Zoe Pepper’s writing has attracted a talented ensemble cast and we have full confidence in the cast, crew and producing team to deliver a tense, thought-provoking tragicomedy,” he said.
Filming will wrap on March 1.