Filming resumes in Adelaide with ABC comedy Aftertaste
InReview
Aftertaste – a six-part ABC comedy series starring Erik Thomson as a volatile celebrity chef trying to rebuild his career – has become the first major production to resume filming in South Australia since the pandemic shutdown began.
The series, which originally had the working title Yes, Chef!, is being created by Adelaide-based Closer Productions and resumed shooting today with 110 South Australian cast and crew.
Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni said in a statement this morning that the return to business was due to the “rigorous work” the South Australian Film Corporation had done to support the series’ producers.
“SA Health has also played a vital role in enabling production to restart safely, and we warmly thank the additional 10 interstate cast and crew for their cooperation and willingness to adhere to SA Health regulations and quarantine requirements,” he said.
Aftertaste will also employ almost 200 extras. It will film across Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills region over the next five weeks, and is scheduled to premiere next year on ABC.
According to Closer Productions, Port Willunga-based actor Thomson plays Easton West, “an internationally renowned yet volatile celebrity chef whose spectacular fall from grace sees him return to his home town in the hills of Adelaide, where he endeavours to rebuild his career and restore his reputation, with the help of his talented, young, pastry-chef niece (Natalie Abbott)”.
The series was created by Julie De Fina and Matthew Bate and is being directed by Jonathan Brough (Rosehaven, The Family Law), with the cast also including Rachel Griffiths, Wayne Blair and Susan Prior.
SAFC CEO Kate Croser said the use of a risk assessment tool commissioned by the corporation and developed by Deloitte had been crucial to ensuring Aftertaste could meet COVID-safe requirements.
“The risk assessment tool has been instrumental in navigating the path back to production, and providing the framework and structure needed to get this production up and running within COVID-Safe guidelines,” Croser said.
“We congratulate Closer Productions on this home-grown ABC primetime comedy commission, the first for a South Australian company, and their determination to get this great new series on screen.
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“They are paving the way for other productions to start shooting in South Australia.”
The Federal Government’s $250 million COVID-19 package announced in June included $50 million to kickstart film and TV production, with a major barrier for producers being the difficulty of accessing insurance due to the pandemic.
Two major movies set to be filmed in South Australia that have had their production schedules affected by the pandemic are crime thriller The Unknown Man, starring Joel Edgerton, and Run Rabbit Run, written by Adelaide-born author Hannah Kent and starring Elizabeth Moss.
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