ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT with Shane Cortese

Netherwood

I have a huge amount of respect for all artists in New Zealand but I’m often blown away by those who love their industry so much they will stop at nothing to produce work for themselves and others.

Two of them are my Shorty Street alumni Owen Black and Will Hall.

Both are incredibly talented actors and had strong memorable short stints on our nation’s soap opera. It seems to be the key to longevity in our business here. Ply your trade on the soap, make an impact through good choices, learn as much as you can on set everyday and leave within a two-year period.

Both Owen and Will did that, although Will also made an impact prior to his Ferndale stint as the lead in the initial “ Insiders Guide To Love” series, where he picked up Best Actor at the then titled Qantas Film and Media Awards.

The two lads became firm friends on the set of Shorty and following their stints, became involved in the romantic idea of making a Kiwi Western.
Owen came from Waipara in Canterbury and wanted to set the film down there. He had approximately 40 pages of his script roughly mapped out on paper before handing it over to experienced scriptwriter John Argall, who suggested the theme of the movie should be a western, and set about completing the screenplay.

It takes a lot of courage to get projects off the ground, more so when you do it without waiting around to apply for NZ on Air or Creative New Zealand Funding.

The lads had confidence and faith in their movie and with fine business heads on their shoulders went about pitching the idea to the corporate market for sponsorship and private investment.

How much do you need to make a movie? To make a character driven one in New Zealand, approximately $200,000.

That’s not small change, but with conviction and confidence Owen and Will got that money together and with great pride announce the film is 100 percent independently funded. No tax-payer money was used.

The film is fantastic, funny, charming, dark, with two fantastic performances by our leads and with Miriama Smith as the love interest. It tells the story of Stan (Black), a lone Drifter passing through the Eponymous town Of Netherwood. Its not long before he is butting heads with Mex (Hall). After Stan takes a job pruning trees for an old mate of his father’s things get complicated. He falls for the mysterious Maria (Smith) and finds himself in the middle of a long- standing land dispute between his new boss and Mex’s father, the local baron Duncun Moore. With Hothead Mex angry and on the prowl it’s not long before this feud escalates into a tense and violent showdown!

With the thirst for New Zealand Movies getting stronger overseas, Netherwood will have an extended life and without doubt satisfy the investors and re-ignite the passion for self-funded movies.

I strongly recommend you seeing Netherwood when it’s released, not because it’s a very good Kiwi Film, but because it’s a very good film fullstop!