Press release from Lauren Elliott
The Film & Television Institute (FTI) has announced Perth filmmaking team Matthew Lovkis, Lauren Elliott and Henry Inglis are the proud recipients of a $70,000 digital film production budget thanks to Western Australia's annual Hyperlink scheme.
The trio's comedy series The Legend of Gavin Tanner was selected as the 2012 recipient by an expert industry panel from five outstanding West Australian writer/producer/director teams who were short-listed from thirteen impressive applications.
"In what was a remarkably competitive round, we are delighted to be able to support The Legend of Gavin Tanner. This project has tremendous potential, which we hope will ultimately propel this very talented team to ongoing successes via the commercial networks." said FTI Production Support Manager, Lynda Doulas.
“We are blown away. We're all really passionate about producing great Australian comedy and we cannot wait to bring Gavin Tanner's world to life.” said Lovkis, Elliott and Inglis.
Gavin Tanner is a Maddington-residing, Eagles-supporting, weed-dealing, self-proclaimed legend who spends his time supporting the local community. He is the creation of Lovkis, who has described the series as Chopper meets Kath & Kim.
Creator, writer and star Lovkis has been developing the Gavin character and concept since 2009 and the team plan to use their Hyperlink funding to produce a web series to build an online audience with a view to pitching a half hour TV series to Australian networks.
Lovkis is currently working on the Gold Coast as Series Writer for Channel Nine's Big Brother, following writing roles on Beauty & the Geek and Balls of Steel.
Director Inglis, is best known as the creator and star of comedy series Henry & Aaron andis currently developing a half-hour TV series together with producer Elliott and co-creator Aaron McCann. Their viral sensations a Snap! secured over 2 million hits on YouTube in February 2012 and resulted in the team being signed by Hollywood's leading talent agency, CAA.
In addition to her producing roles on Henry & Aaron and now Gavin Tanner, Elliott is the co-director of West Australian PR company, Muse Bureau which specialises in public relations for the creative industries. Her clients include Perth Theatre Company, WAAPA, Revelation Film Festival, Rottofest and PICA.
The annual HyperLink scheme is a digital production partnership between ScreenWest and FTI, which assists Western Australian creative Writer/Producer/Director teams to develop their production, storytelling, financial and project management skills to professional industry standards.
In addition to the $70,000 digital film production budget, the successful trio will also be offered mentoring with an industry professional.
The Gavin Tanner series will go into production over summer with a view to releasing the series online in 2013.
The trailer for Gavin Tanner can be seen at www.gavintanner.com and Gavin is already an active member of the online community, posting daily insights, tales of personal drama and goodwill announcements at www.facebook.com/gavintanner.awesum