Te Taipo: Shakespeare’s Othello set in NZ in 1794

Be part of an innovative, edgy NZ film and help nurture te reo Māori in Aotearoa NZ – Shakespeare’s Othello set in NZ in 1794.

The Pitch:

Tena Koe.

Te Taipo is a psychological thriller set in 1796, with all the intrigue, romance, action and drama of any contemporary story.

Te Taipo (Othello) is a pakeha ex – British naval officer now living amongst a hapu. It tells the tragic tale of his love for Teremoana (Desdemona) and the deceit created by Ikaaho (Iago) who convinces him that his love is unfaithful resulting in tragic circumstances.

We have a script that is currently of being translated into contemporary english from Elizabethan english, and from there it will be translated into te reo.

While based on Othello, this script has two distinctions – it is all in te reo and it is now immersed in a Māori world view. I have adapted the script and Brad Haami (acclaimed writer and current recipient of the Michael King writer’s award) has translated the story in a Māori context. This is now a New Zealand story – a pre-colonial psychological thriller!

In the last 12 months we have been working with producers from NZ and overseas but things have not moved – we have decided to produce it ourselves. We have attracted high calibre crew and cast, and intend to shoot in January / February 2011. This follows on from a stage play of the script we are producing in Auckland at TAPAC in October this year. This will give us an unprecedented 8 weeks with the cast to rehearse and work with the script before going into principle photography.

We have decided to go independent as we feel the integrity of the piece may get lost in the process that involves outside producers who do not understand our kaupapa.

In order to make this we need to raise $512k for our production budget.

We are keen to find investors that believe in the kaupapa of the project, who have an interest in seeing NZ stories on screen and who may have some capital that could be invested. We are a charitable trust with donee status so if classed as a donation, 1/3 can be claimed back. It could also be written off under sponsorship.

We are currently talking with Te Hana Community Development Charitable Trust about working with them at their new development in Te Hana and using that as a location for the film. They are recreating a 17^th century Maori pa and village which match our vision for the project. This is a wonderful location and authentic – this matches our kaupapa of representing the time accurately. These conversations are still at the early stages but we are confident that a relationship can be formed for this and other projects.

We are working towards filming in the late summer of 2011. The reason for this is that the cast will be fresh from a season of the play in November 2010 which offers up an unprecedented rehearsal time. The play is an adaptation of the film script, rather than of the original Shakespearian play.

We have worked a budget that is lean, but realistic. The play also offers us preproduction time, and costume and properties will be created that can be utilised in the film. The play is separately funded.

The team have experience in the creative arts and are committed to seeing stories in te reo told on our big screens in Aotearoa and around the world.

We plan to enter it in the foreign language film categories of the major festivals as these rely on submissions from each country rather than other selection processes. We are confident of producing a high quality film with outstanding cast and crew offering high production values and top performances.

Accomplishments to date:

As they say in this industry, you are only as good as your last project. In my case, that was “te Whare / The House” a low budget short film. Made in 2008, these are the festivals and awards since:

IMDB – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527758/

• Premiered February 2008 Maori Television (Prime Time Waitangi Day)
• Denver International Indigenous Film Festival 2008
• Northampton International Film Festival 2008 – Award Winner – Special Commendation (5 awarded out of 100 entries)
• Metro Film Festival 2008
• Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2009
• Parihaka 2009
• Aluta Film Festival Africa 2009 (also used as part of an outreach programme into schools)
• STEPS international Human Rights Film Festival 2009 – Awarded: Honorary Doctorate and Jury mention
• Honolulu International Film Festival 2010 – Award Winner – Silver Lei Award for Outstanding Film making

Development plans:

• Currently working on final version of the script
• Casting for the main roles has taken place – we have an Academy Award nominated actress in one of the lead roles
• Location scouting has occurred – the two key locations are nearly finalised
• Seeking a distributor
• Much of the development of the pre production is being done via the production of the play which is separately funded. This is based on the film script not the original Shakespeare work. During this time we get extensive rehearsals with the cast, props made, costumes designed and produced and script development accomplished. Filming will be made easier by the fact we have an unprecedented time with the actors working the script.

Key Challenges:

• Going against the grain and doing the film ourselves
• Finding suitable, affordable locations
• Not compromising the integrity of the project through self funding but not allowing self funding to compromise the integrity and quality of the project
• Utilising creative knowledge to problem solve issues that would be easy to solve if we were making a Hollywood blockbuster
• Ensuring the kaupapa is maintained and everyone on the project is looked after

Principals & Previous Experience:

Richard Green – Director/Writer/Producer

Apart from Te Whare:

Since 1994 directed over 14 commercial videos and broadcast material including Windows 95; Bunce Motors; Manukau City Council (2); Cornucopia; Direct Contact; Arcadian Films; NZ Green Party; Auckland Philharmonia(Spike Video); Orthotic Centre.

Film Training

1993 South Seas Film and TV School

• Presenting and Interviewing A+
• Directing A+
• Production A
• Scriptwriting A-
• On Screen Acting B+

Theatre – Directing

1986 – 1988 5 productions for MTS; Levin Little Theatre and Theatre Arts Workshop

1988 Summer Production – The Coarse Actors Show – Cabrillo Playhouse, CA, USA.

1991/2 Bullshot Crummond and Macbeth – Glen Eden Playhouse

1996-current 18 Productions for Ugly Shakespeare Company National Tour (Also writer on these projects) www.ugly.org.nz

1997 Macbeth – Hawkes Bay Summer Shakespeare

1998 Midsummer Nights Dream – Hawkes Bay Summer Shakespeare

Brad Haami – Writer

Bradford Haami is originally from Whakatane and is affiliated to the Ngāti Awa tribe of that region. He is a journalist, a researcher, a published author/writer, a TV producer, director, as well as a script editor for Films with Maori content. He is currently co-director with Ngamaru Raerino and Pio Terei of 4 Winds Films Ltd. He began in the television industry as a journalist with Maori programmes at Television New Zealand in the mid 1980s for shows such as Koha, Marae, Waka Huia, the inaugural Maori sports awards. He was one of the original directors and creators of TVNZ youth music show Mai Time. In the freelance world he has been involved in the documentaries, ‘Tapu’ (TV ZOO, 2000). Pukukata: The Last Laugh (Greenstone Pictures) a documentary on Maori Humour that gained the highest rating for any documentary for TV 1 in 2002. He also co-produced Tokyo Bros (Drum Productions October 2002) and directed a one hour documentary Nga Tokotoru (The Film Ltd August 2002). He was the reporter and Maori advisor for a documentary on the life of essential Maori entertainer Dalvanius Prime and he was the exec producer for a documentary on Transgender social worker ‘Mama Tere’(Visionary Television). More recently he has been a director/writer for the TV 3 youth show Pacific Beat Street the most aired show on NZ weekly television. (Drum Productions 2008/2009) In the drama world Brad was co-writer, co-creator, and co producer with Carey Carter of the successful 20 part Maori drama thriller series Mataku.(south Pacific Pictures/4 Winds Films Ltd 2001-2005) He also co-wrote and directed Po raruraru (July 2001 – Aroha Productions) as part of the recent Aroha drama series. He has been a story-line contributor to the half hour satirical show ‘Spin Doctors 1,2,& 3’ (August 2001). He was associate producer/Maori advisor and director of one episode of the 10 part Maori docu/drama series ‘Taonga’ which aired on TV 1 in 2006 (Greenstone Pictures 2005/6). He was producer of a short film called ‘The Rap’ (Directed by Joseph Lee 2008) and presently of Waimarie a long term Maori drama series in development for MTV (4 Winds Films 2007-2009). Brad has been a Maori script consultant and editor to many television drama and feature filmscripts including, Shortland st, Mercy Peak, Mataku, Kaitangata Twitch, Prey of Birds, Matariki and a number of over seas films including ‘The Man Who Lost His Head’ (SPP and Greenlit productions UK 2007) ‘Behind the Tattooed Face’ (Polywood Productions 2006/7) and Tracker (Digital Films Ltd 2009). He has lectured for many schools, institutes and organisations on the subjects of Maori storytelling in film and television, writing, Maori history and Maori epistemology. Brad has also worked in a number of other creative arenas. From1998 – 1999 He was Maori consultant to the Creative Director of the Maori Natural History Gallery at The Auckland Museum and in 2006 he was employed as Matauranga Maori consultant to Te Papa’s new Whales of the South Pacific exhibition which opened in December 2007.He has published books and essays some of which are; “Dr Golan Maaka: Maori Doctor” (Tandem Press 1995); “Mate-tau: Traditional Maori Love Stories” (Harper Collins1997), Haami & Roberts,“Genealogy as Taxonomy”, International Social Science Journal no.173, Sep 2002 (UNESCO/Blackwell Publishing), Roberts, Haami, Benton, Satterfield, Finucane, Henare & Henare, “Whakapapa as a Maori Mental Construct: Some Implications for the Debate over Genetic Modification of Organisms,” The Contemporary Pacific, Vol 16, Number 1, 2004, pp1-28 (University of Hawaii Press), Putea Whakairo: Maori and the Written Word (Huia Publishers 2004). He was the main author alongside Tuhoe Isaac and self-published ‘True Red, The Life of an ex-Mongrel Mob Leader’ (True Red 2007). More recently he also researched and wrote “Urutahi – Guidelines for Working with Maori Communities in Film and Television’ (Nga Aho Whakaari 2008).He is currently in development producing a long term Maori drama series for Maori Television and writing a book on Whale traditions of the Maori. Current recipient of the Michael King Writers Fellowship for 2010

Mark Lapwood – Cinematographer

See www.marklapwood.com

Tainui Tukiwaho (Te Arawa, Tuhoe) – Producer

Tainui Tukiwaho is a graduate of the Unitec Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts and has been working as a professional actor over the past decade on screen and in theatre. Tainui took over as Director of SmackBang in 2008 with Charles Unwin.

Tainui has been directing and producing works for SmackBang since early 2008 for the annual Playright festival and for many of our weekly productions in the K-Road Project at Te Karanga Gallery on Auckland’s Karangahape Road. He has had success as an independant director of Catalyst Theatre’s A City of Souls in September 2008. Also in 2009 as Producer and Assistant Director of Renee Maihi’s debut work, Ngā Manurere, working with Katie Wolfe as Director. He has recently come off directing The Example for the 2010 Short and Sweet New Zealand Festival and has directed the 2010 Ugly Shakespeare Schools tour based around MacBeth and Othello. He is also currently in pre production as producer of Kevin Duncan’s Flipside in March 2010 and Albert Belz’s Raising the Titanics developmental season in June 2010.

Tainui has a passion for and great knowledge of Shakespeare’s works. Tainui has performed in As you like it in 2000 with Director Raymond Hawthorne. In 2003 and 2005 he played various charaters in Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet for the Ugly Shakespeare Company’s national schools tour . In 2005 Tainui directed Much Ado About Nothing for Mt Albert Grammer School. In 2008 Tainui read two of Te Haumihiata Mason’s translated sonnets for National Radio in and was invited to attend the Bridge Project’s tutorial for professional practitioners of Shakespeare’s work, held by Simon Russell Beale.

Amber Curreen (Ngapuhi) – Co-Producer

Amber has been working as an actor in screen, and more recently theatre, over the last nine years. Amber joined SmackBang in 2009 and is currently facilitating the new development sector of the company. She has successfully organised and facilitated an array of workshops and play readings for SmackBang over the last seven months. Amber is an intermediate level speaker of Te Reo Maori and will function as the onsite facilitator and SmackBang representative at the weekly classes and will be developing her production skills as co-producer Te Taipo.

What they want from an investor:

We are looking for people who are keen to see NZ stories and film be successful, who have an interest in the creative arts, who see the investment as one which is not just financial, who want to support and nurture some of the best rising talent in the film industry in NZ and who believe that te reo Maori is an important part of our heritage to be nurtured.

We would be happy for 10 investors of 50k or 5 of 100k or 1 of 500k. All investors will get an Executive Producer credit.

Who the offer is open to:

Suitably experienced angel investors who are eligible persons as defined in the Securities Act or who would otherwise be exempt from the requirements of Part II of that Act.

Contact details:

Richard Green – Producer
Mob: +64 21 655 633
Email: Richard@ugly.org.nz