From Miranda Brown Publicity
Pre-production has commenced on DANGER 5, a new six-part, action/comedy television series commissioned by SBS with the support of the South Australian Film Corporation and the BigPond Adelaide Film Festival.
The series was championed by the SAFC after its creators Dario Russo and David Ashby came to their attention in 2008 with the low budget internet series, ITALIAN SPIDERMAN, which was produced with support from the SAFC and has since gathered a huge following on the internet.
Described as a ‘pulp magazine inspired 1960s interpretation of the Second World War’, DANGER 5 follows the adventures of five specialist secret agents assigned with the task of eliminating Hitler: Jackson from the USA, Tucker from Australia, Claire from Great Britain, Pierre from Europe and Ilsa from Russia.
The first television action/comedy series to be created in South Australia using entirely local key creatives and production crew, DANGER 5 signals an exciting new wave of activity for the local TV industry.
The show has been written and created by Dario Russo and David Ashby of SA based production company Dinosaur Pty Ltd. Dario is also directing the series and co-producing alongside Kate Croser of Cyan Films. David will also be starring in the role of Jackson.
The DANGER 5 production team will be collaborating with a number of SA based companies including Heesom Casting who are currently working with the team to finalise the cast, and local SFX company Explosive Effects, who will be providing the numerous effects featured throughout the show.
"Dario and I are thrilled to have the support of our investors in putting together this original, off-beat comedy series based out of Adelaide,” said Producer, Kate Croser. “We're working with a talented young crew and DANGER 5 is providing many of them with their first opportunity to head a department in a TV series. We're also excited about introducing audiences to a striking cast of undiscovered actors."
Caterina DeNave, Executive Producer Drama & Comedy, SBS, said: “DANGER 5 demonstrates SBS’s commitment to new, original home-grown production. I’m delighted we can offer this daring and exciting new program to Australian audiences.”
“It is exciting to watch and support the career trajectory of Dario Russo who is a unique talent”, said SAFC Chairman, Cheryl Bart. “DANGER 5 is an important project for South Australia. It will be the first TV series for the writers, director, and producers in their roles. It will create work opportunities and invaluable experience for the local industry and hopefully lead on to future television opportunities in this state.”
“DANGER 5 marks the SAFC’s first foray into longer form television production for some time, and we hope it marks the beginning of greater things to come. We aim to become as successful in television production as we already are in our feature drama and documentary filmmaking and digital content creation,” said SAFC, CEO Richard Harris.
DANGER 5 will commence production on 18 October 2010 and will be launched at the BigPond Adelaide Film Festival in February 2011 with the first television broadcast on SBS anticipated for later the same year.