NZ On Air supports Christchurch Quake drama series

Media Release from NZ On Air

Tuesday 11th September, 2012

NZ On Air supports Christchurch Quake drama series

NZ On Air is pleased to announce support for Hope and Wire, which will screen on TV3.

The Platinum Funded six-part drama series is set in Christchurch in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes.

“This is an incredibly important project” says NZ On Air Chief Executive Jane Wrightson. “It is set around the most significant event in New Zealand’s recent history and we are pleased to commit this investment to telling a version of Christchurch’s story.”

Hope and Wire comes from one of New Zealand’s most celebrated film and television makers, Gaylene Preston. The filmmaker counts Home by Christmas, Bread and Roses, Perfect Strangers, and Earthquake, a documentary for TV3 on the 1931 Hawkes Bay quakes, on her list of credits.

She will be producing and directing the series, which she has co-written with Dave Armstrong. It will also be produced by Chris Hampson and executive produced by Sue Rogers.

“It would be hard to find a family in Aotearoa New Zealand that has not been affected in some way by the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes in Canterbury” Gaylene Preston says. “My formative years at the Ilam School of Fine Arts give me many fond memories of a city that exists now only in memory.”

The filmmaker is looking forward to collaborating with the local community to realise this complex project, and has established a relationship with the Film Department of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury.

Informed by research into the life of the people and the city, Hope and Wire presents a fictionalised mix of strong characters - families that fly apart, others that come together - to illuminate the best and the worst of what happens when a city literally loses its heart.

MediaWorks TV Head of Drama and Comedy, Rachel Jean says TV3 is proud to be broadcasting the first drama series based on the experiences of the Christchurch people.

“With major television and radio offices in Christchurch, MediaWorks is very much a part of the Canterbury region and it is just so important to us to tell, and keep telling, the stories of the quake and its aftermath,” she says.

“In the hands of Gaylene Preston, one of our foremost directors, Hope and Wire will be one of those television series that define a moment in our national history.”

NZ On Air says Hope and Wire is a strong addition to the line-up of top quality dramas the Platinum Fund has supported in recent years.

ENDS

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