LOCAL LIMELIGHT: Shooting the medieval party scene from Eldest of None, which has been staged in and around Kangaroo Valley
KANGAROO Valley may soon feature on the small screen with a pilot for a television series being shot in the town almost complete.
Valley resident Victoria McIntyre has written and produced Eldest of None, with only the opening and finishing scenes yet to be shot.
“We have started a lot of the production work and we only have a little bit of shooting to complete the pilot,” Ms McIntyre said.
“We have had interest already from a couple of networks and I’d say in a couple of weeks we will be ready to send it out.”
She originally wrote the TV pilot for US television, and made it through to the final round of pitching at Warner Brothers in Los Angeles but unfortunately it conflicted with its programming and didn’t get picked up.
So she rewrote it for Australia and, with a Sydney production company, shot the pilot in Kangaroo Valley.
“It is a coming of age drama,”
she said.
“It is like the Wonder Years meets Sea Change meets Modern Family.”
The story is centred on 14-year-old Chloe, played by Valley resident Jessie Stapleton.
“Chloe’s parents split up when she was a baby, her mother remarrying and have five other children in a sprawling, modern, hippy style family,” Ms McIntyre said.
“Her father’s side of the family are big wig socialite city people who have lived on the other side of the planet for the past 10 years.
“Both sides of the family come together for Chloe’s 14th birthday – the first time both families have been together.
“And of course there is trouble and embarrassment for Chloe.
“The series centres around her experience of not fitting into either family, being the eldest of the
children, hence the title Eldest
of None.”
Ms McIntyre said filming has gone well despite battling with 40-degree heat and an impending fire danger while they were trying to shoot the medieval party scene.
“The rushes look amazing and the composer has written a killer theme song,” she said.
“A couple of networks have opened the door and said they want to see it, so we’ll just have to finish it and wait and see.”
Almost the entire cast, except for the big wig city father and step mother and the nasty school girl, who all come from Sydney, is made up of locals.
“It’s pretty amazing to have such a wonderful local cast,” she said.
“If the program gets picked up using Kangaroo Valley as the
location the town would benefit in a similar way to Barwon Heads, Victoria, where the program Sea Change was shot.
“It could be a huge thing for the Valley and surrounds if it goes
into full production – a massive injection of money and loads of opportunity for the town for part of the year.
“It could have fantastic financial benefits for the area.”
The film industry is nothing new for Ms McIntyre. Her most recent short film, The Telegram Man starring Jack Thompson, Gary Sweet and Sigrid Thornton, won the BAFTA Los Angeles Award for best foreign short and was a 2012 nominee for best short in the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.
And if you would like to keep up to date with the show’s progress check out the Eldest of None TV Show Facebook page.