NZ Herald: Documentary maker hopes for overseas sale
Founders of the Du Val Group, Charlotte and Kenyon Clarke, in the original reality series “The Property Developers”.
Original Source: NZ Herald
The boss of a film production company which made the series about Du Val’s founders is still confident of selling the six-part documentary overseas despite the receivership and Financial Markets Authority and police action.
Brad Stent, Queenstown-based founder and executive producer of Oaia Road Entertainment which made The Property Developers, this week indicated foreign interests might be keen to buy the series but he was uncertain about the impact of this month’s action in New Zealand.
“As things are still unfolding in terms of the news surrounding Du Val and the Clarkes, there’s not much I can add currently until we have a little more insight and information ourselves over the coming weeks as I’m sure you can appreciate,” Stent said on Monday.
Overseas interests might buy the six-parter, with each episode 30 minutes long and showcasing the life of the Instagram-posting couple with their four children.
“At this stage, we do not have a firm release date set. However, it’s likely that the show will air offshore initially before being aired in New Zealand. We will be updating interested parties via the waitlist as soon as we have a release date confirmed,” he said.
Questions put to him about who had paid to fund the series went unanswered.
Oaia Road has described the series as “an original non-scripted reality series following the aspirational, real-life journey of two charismatic entrepreneurs, Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke”.
It added: “The series gives an insight into how this dynamic power couple merge family life and business together seamlessly, giving viewers an all-access pass to the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, including being a woman in business within a male-dominated industry.”
The company said the series was “currently in distribution” but did not say in which countries or with which businesses.
Oaia Road Studios was incorporated in 2020 and Oaia Road Distribution was incorporated last year. Stent is the sole shareholder of both, through holding company Oaia Road Entertainment Group Limited.
On his company’s website under a photo of the Netflix logo, Stent wrote that starting anything new came with challenges and hurdles.
“Basically, if you enter the arena then be prepared to get a little battered and bruised along the way,” he wrote.
“We embarked on the journey of launching a new distribution company after an opportunity arose to secure the distribution rights for a new reality television series The Property Developers which we also produced in-house through our production company, Oaia Road Studios.”
Oaia Road Distribution would actively seek out global distribution deals and partnership opportunities for its original productions and creative assets, he said.
Stent indicated selling the series hasn’t been easy.
“The reality is that it’s a saturated market and it’s certainly been a slow and humbling journey so far.
“In saying that, we’ve really enjoyed building new connections across the world in both Australia and Europe initially, and feel extremely grateful for all the new introductions that some wonderful people across the industry have made for us so far,” Stent wrote.
Oaia said it was also producing Saving Our Wai, “an original documentary film following the residents of Taipa, a small town in the Far North of New Zealand, as they battle the local council to reduce significant pollution in the region’s waterways”.
It was also developing Hidden Worlds which “takes viewers on a magical journey to some of the most stunning locations on earth, from Hawaii to Iceland, exploring the myths and legends of folklore, culture and contemporary life”.
On August 2, the FMA and police visited the Clarke’s home in Remuera and were filmed and photographed removing items.
The High Court put Du Val companies and Du Val Capital Partners into interim receivership at the request of the FMA.
This Friday, receivers at PwC are due to release their first report on 64 companies and limited partnerships.
A statement from the FMA said interim receivers were generally appointed to seek clarity around the financial position of a company or group of companies. PwC’s John Fisk, Stephen White and Lara Bennett were interim receivers.
In 2021, the Herald’s Spy column reported how the series was in production.
That said the show would take a peek behind the scenes at what it took to succeed in the development game, along with giving real solutions for the current New Zealand housing crisis.
The article said the couple had some of the best local industry producers creating the show, including “make-up artist to the stars” Chay Roberts, famous for enhancing the looks of Michelle Blanchard and Gilda Kirkpatrick on the series Real Housewives of Auckland.
The wardrobe department had celebrity stylist Lulu Wilcox bringing local designers for Charlotte’s high-fashion looks and Crane Brothers achieving the same with Kenyon, Spy reported.
Source: NZ Herald
Article by Anne Gibson