A psychological thriller about two female friends will become the first feature film to be produced by a partnership between Stan and Screen Queensland.
Premier and Minister for the Arts Annastacia Palaszczuk announced The Second, produced by a Queensland creative team, would have its $1 million production budget fully funded by Screen Queensland.
“The Queensland Originals Fully Funded Features with Stan program is an Australian-first and is part of our charge to lead Australia in innovative screen content production,” the Premier said.
“The Second will receive an ‘event’ theatrical and festival release and exclusive subscription video on demand (SVOD) distribution through Stan,” the Premier said.
“The Queensland Government is investing in new media and digital innovation and this fantastic initiative will propel Queensland creatives into a new digital space,” she said.
The Second is a psychological thriller about two female friends whose lives entwine in the pages of an elusive second novel. Mairi Cameron will direct with Stephen Lance as writer/producer and Leanne Tonkes as producer.
The deal was announced this week at the Cannes Film Festival.
Nick Forward, Stan’s Chief Content Officer, said the streaming service was continuing to increase its output of original content, and was delighted announce The Second as its first feature film.
“The success of No Activity and Wolf Creekhave shown the audience demand for high quality Australian productions and we are excited to be working with the best creative talent in the country to bring more Stan Originals to the screen,” he said.
“We’re delighted to be working with our partners at Screen Queensland in this exciting initiative. Congratulations to Stephen, Mairi and Leanne, and we look forward to working with them to bring their vision to life.”
Over the past eight months, four Queensland teams have been intensively developing a feature project from concept with a development team that included New York-based independent producers Amy Hobby and Anne Hubbell of Tangerine Entertainment alongside SQ and Stan.
The announcement of the selected team was made at the Cannes Film Festival at a special event with local and international filmmakers and international sales agents.
“We are proud of the work developed by the four filmmaking teams in the Fully Funded Features development workshops,” said Screen Queensland CEO Tracey Vieira.
“It’s been a rich collaboration between the teams, Screen Queensland, and our partners, and incredibly valuable to share creative ideas as the scripts came together and to see the teams draw on the insights and expertise of Amy and Anne, and executives from Stan.”
Special mention goes to the three other teams:
– Contact Lost by producer/writer Jade van der Lei and writer/director Josh Tanner
– The Kingdom of Me by producers Lucas Thyer and Jeff Tseng and writer/director Sean Gilligan
– and The Love Division by producer Christina Radburn and writer/director Tim Marshall and executive producer Paddy McDonald
The Second is a psychological thriller about two female friends whose lives entwine in the pages of an elusive second novel. Mairi Cameron will direct with Stephen Lance as writer/producer and Leanne Tonkes as producer.
The project will enter production in the second half of 2016.
– ENDS –
For all media enquiries: +61 7 3248 0500 | media@screenqld.com.au
