PRE-PRODUCTION / TEASER - BLOOD AND RELICS

In the brave new world of web series’, The Movie Extra Web Fest  Competition brought to the fore  a whole new generation of filmmakers. And what a fascinating competition it has proven to be, with some great (and not so great) offerings and good sports shining brightly against a disappointing plethora of bad sports. Amongst this chaos a number of great new concepts shine brightly, and one of those is “Blood and Relics”, the brain child of Joshua C Birch and Simon Taylor.

Blood and Relics is an action series set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world where humanity has regressed back to the tribal age. Rather than the bleak and uncompromising planet often displayed as the typical post apocalyptic scenario, this planet has been reclaimed by Mother Nature, which is a comforting touch. 

The series follows a young Novice hunter (newcomer Kashmir Sinnamon) who has uncovered some of the secrets of the past. As he delves deeper into this world he distances himself further from the tribe and incurs the wrath of the Veteran hunter (well known favourite ‘bad guy’ Ozzie Devrish) and other tribal leaders.  In a community which fears the past, the Novice is quickly ostracised for bringing the ‘old evil ways’ back to hurt his people and he finds himself siding with a mysterious Hermit (up and coming actor James Harris). Ultimately he finds himself at the tipping point of revolutionary change and fighting against his own people.

This series holds great potential – whilst the story has been touched on before in other forms, so too have vampires and war films, which just goes to prove that a good story, told well and with new twists and a great new ending, will always be in demand. The casting is clever and well balanced, showing a mature understanding of fitting actor to character  (and an understanding of the pulling value of the 8+IMDb rule!). It is not surprising they are in the finals for the Movie Extra Competition (second place, from 100 competitors!) and I look forward to seeing the completed series in 2011.

Cast: Ozzie Devrish  (PJ Hogan’s Peter Pan, Crocodile Dundee in NY, The Condemned, TV series The Strip, sci fi cult The Dark Lurking and rumoured to be cast next year alongside Mad Max legend Roger Ward in The Hospice) James Harris (Azrael, Dartworth, Mercedes, Kansas), Kashmir Sinnamon.

Written by Simon Taylor & Joshua C Birch, Producer Simon Taylor, Director Joshua C Birch, Cinematographer Brian Loewe, Production Design Kate Carrick, First A.D. Summa Liu, Make-up  Amanda Rieck, Editor Michael Du – Shane, Sound Design Andrew Couzens, Colourist Lauren 'Thunder' Carter , First AC / Gaff Lachlan Hughes , Sound David Ridley , Art Assistant Sean Lemass.

IN PRODUCTION - 2 HOT 2 HOLD

After having worked on a number of large international productions, including Blue Lagoon Australian Filmmaker and award winning writer Martin Simpson found it frustrating that both the Australian and International market were overloooking so much of the talent available. So rather than complain, Martin decided to take action.

In his first step of a carefully structured campaign to show both Australia and  the world the untapped market of talent they are missing out on, Martin is kicking off  his “showcasing Australian talent” campaign with a short film, 2 HOT 2 HOLD which is being filmed in Queensland.

The film, based around a young girl who thinks she has met the man of her dreams, is a classic twist to a teenage love story, and has a hand picked cast and crew selected from the best Queensland has to offer. It is currently in production, and will be touring the short film festivals summer 2010. 

Cast includes Tegan Chamberlain, Rupert Raineri, Michelle Berka,  May Grehan, and Ozzie Devrish and crew includes Beau Eastman, Jeff Boot, Ozzie Devrish, Shaye Yuill, Belle Galpin, Ramona Rai and Richard Morton.

PRE PRODUCTION - THE LAUNDRY MAN

Loosely based on the classic The Mechanic this action thriller stars a modern day Charles Bronson in the form of Australian Actor Ozzie Devrish. Ozzie plays a cold blooded and calculating killer, known as The Laundryman, who has built a career out of ‘cleaning up problems’.

In a pleasant diversion from the norm, he's not the type of hired gun that you usually see in movies - whilst there are plenty of dead bodies by the end of the film, some great stunts along with a good dash of dark humour and a slightly warped sense of justice make this an entertaining piece rather than a "violence for the sake of violence" thriller.

Currently in pre-production, The Laundryman will be filming summer 2010 with cast being sourced from both Australia and USA.