A new, home-grown screen production is underway in Victoria, creating jobs and injecting millions into the local economy.
SBS drama series The Airport Chaplain is an eight part series, starring Australian screen legend Hugo Weaving (Slow Horses, The Royal Hotel) and Shabana Azeez, breakout star of the Golden Globe winning HBO US drama series The Pitt, along with Claudia Karvan (Bump, Halifax: Retribution) and Thomas Weatherall (Heartbreak High, The Narrow Road to the Deep North).
The Airport Chaplain explores the world of a bustling international airport through the struggles and triumphs of the workers who keep it running. The story is inspired by a real life experience the series’ co-creator Jude Troy (The Clearing, Mother & Son) had with Melbourne Airport’s own Chaplain, Martyn Scrimshaw.
The production will inject over $8 million into the Victorian economy and create an estimated 170 jobs for Victorian screen workers including three placement opportunities that will upskill emerging female screen practitioners.
The Airport Chaplain is filming in and around Melbourne on purpose-built sets that recreate the interiors of airport terminals. Post-production and visual effects work will also take place in Victoria.
The series is co-created by Troy and Elise McCredie (Stateless, Jack Irish, The Clearing), and written by McCredie, Sarah Bassiuoni (Critical Incident), Mithila Gupta (Four Years Later) and Vidya Rajan (Why Are You Like This, Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe).
It is directed by Bonnie Moir (Run), and Tig Terera (Swift Street), produced by Jude Troy and Alexandra Cameron (The Cape, Mother & Son) and Executive Produced by Elise McCredie and Jude Troy.
The Airport Chaplain has received support through VicScreen’s Victorian Production Fund and will premiere on SBS later this year. The series comes hot on the heels of the Gerard Butler action thriller Empire City, which is currently filming in Victoria, as well as mystery drama High Country: What Lies Beneath.