From the makers of The Librarians, Very Small Business and Upper Middle Bogan comes the new comedy feature MEDIA KIT As at 28 March 2014 Roadshow Films Georgina Thompson T 03 9829 0614 M 0409 019 877 E [email protected] © Gristmill Holdings Pty Ltd, Thorlane Pty Ltd, Film Victoria and Screen Australia Robyn Butler, Portia de Rossi, Lucy Durack, Lucy Fry, Hamish Blake, Erik Thomson, Angus Sampson NOW ADD HONEY Written by Robyn Butler, Directed by Wayne Hope Produced by Robyn Butler, Wayne Hope & Louisa Kors Executive Produced by Geoff Porz & Greg Sitch Honey Halloway (Lucy Fry), sixteen year old star of the Hollywood movie franchise, Monkey Girl, arrives in her home town of Melbourne for a quick work visit. But when her mother, Beth (Portia de Rossi), is unexpectedly sent to rehab, Honey’s visit turns out not to be so quick after all. Honey’s aunt Caroline (Robyn Butler) insists Honey stays with their family until her mother gets better. Ignoring husband Richard’s (Erik Thomson) protests and the fact that Honey’s a movie star, Caroline happily welcomes her niece into her suburban home. Relations between Beth and their other sister, Katie (Lucy Durack), have been strained and Caroline is sure Honey’s visit will bring the family back together in time for Katie’s wedding. Katie’s fiancee, Alex (Hamish Blake) agrees – mainly because he thinks Honey is super cute. Life quickly disintegrates into chaos as Honey adjusts to life without a stylist, chef and an assistant, and her cousins Clare (Philippa Coulthard) and Harriet (Lucinda Armstrong Hall) adjust to having a movie star hogging the bathroom. Honey can’t see that she’ll ever be part of a normal family but when she leads Caroline to uncover a family secret, nobody thinks this family is very normal at all. SCREEN AUSTRALIA presents In association with FILM VICTORIA, a GRISTMILL production NOW ADD HONEY Starring ROBYN BUTLER, LUCY FRY and PORTIA DE ROSSI LUCY DURACK, HAMISH BLAKE, ERIK THOMSON, ANGUS SAMPSON, BEN LAWSON, ROBBIE MAGASIVA, PHILIPPA COULTHARD, DAVID FIELD Casting NATHAN LLOYD CSA Mullinars Casting Hair & Make Up Designer DEBORAH LANSER Costume Designer SANDI CICHELLO Composer CRAIG PILKINGTON Sound Designer SCOTT FINDLAY Editor JOHN SCOTT ASE Production Designer PENELOPE SOUTHGATE Director of Photography BEN NOTT ACS Executive Producers GEOFF PORZ & GREG SITCH Producers ROBYN BUTLER, WAYNE HOPE & LOUISA KORS Written by ROBYN BUTLER Directed by WAYNE HOPE Distribution by ROADSHOW FILMS International Sales LIGHTNING ENTERTAINMENT Financed in association with Fulcrum Media and Media Super Produced with the assistance of Film Victoria Principal Investor Screen Australia Logos: Fulcrum Media, Media Super Logo, Roadshow Films, Gristmill, Lightning Entertainment, Screen Australia, Film Victoria © Gristmill Holdings Pty Ltd, Thorlane Pty Ltd, Film Victoria and Screen Australia © Gristmill Holdings Pty Ltd, Thorlane Pty Ltd, Film Victoria and Screen Australia 2 ABOUT THE PRODUCTION Now Add Honey is a comedy about what happens when you catch a falling star and put her in the spare room. From Gristmill, the producers of The Librarians, Very Small Business and Upper Middle Bogan, comes the new comedy feature Now Add Honey written by Robyn Butler and directed by Wayne Hope, with Butler, Hope and Louisa Kors as Producers, and Geoff Porz and Greg Sitch as Executive Producers. With a remarkable cast including writer/producer and star Robyn Butler, Arrested Development’s Portia de Rossi, Wicked! and Legally Blonde’s Lucy Durack, Vampire Academy’s Lucy Fry, comedian/actor Hamish Blake, and Packed to the Rafters’ Erik Thomson, the film also features the big and small screen comic Angus Sampson along with Ben Lawson and Wentworth’s Robbie Magasiva. Shot in Melbourne, Victoria over six weeks in 2013, Now Add Honey was filmed by cinematographer Ben Nott (Predestination, Daybreakers, Tomorrow When The War Began) with production design by Penelope Southgate (Kath & Kimderella, Crackerjack, Boytown), costume design by Sandi Cichello (Any Questions For Ben, 6 Plots, Three Dollars) with Deborah Lanser (Carlotta, The Night We Called It A Day, Oyster Farmer) as hair and make up designer. © Gristmill Holdings Pty Ltd, Thorlane Pty Ltd, Film Victoria and Screen Australia 3 “The brilliant comic cast far exceeded the limits of my imaginary voices” said the film’s star, writer and producer Robyn Butler, “it was an honour to work with such an amazingly gifted crew, led by my favourite director” she continued. Producer/director Wayne Hope said: “I married an awesome multi- tasker – it was such a funny warm script and Robyn, Portia, Hamish and the rest of the cast make up a dream comic ensemble.” With a release date yet to be confirmed, Roadshow Films will distribute Now Add Honey in Australia and New Zealand. Roadshow Films Managing Director said “Roadshow Films is thrilled to be distributing Now Add Honey in Australia and New Zealand. Robyn and Wayne are remarkable talents. Their work for the ABC has been outstanding and much loved by Australian audiences. We are excited to be part of their journey from the small to the big screen”. A leading independent television and film production company, Gristmill is helmed by the highly sought after comedy content creators Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope. Since the company’s inception in 2003, Gristmill has created and produced critically acclaimed and popular narrative comedies, The Librarians, Very Small Business, Stories From the Golf and, most recently, Upper Middle Bogan for ABC1. Consistently recognised for its funny, original and compelling voice, Gristmill is able to recruit the very best comic talent, engaging both established and emerging actors, writers and directors to work with Butler and Hope. Alongside making its first feature, the company is also delighted to be producing a new comedy series, Little Lunch, for ABC3 in 2014, and is currently in production of the second season of Upper Middle Bogan. © Gristmill Holdings Pty Ltd, Thorlane Pty Ltd, Film Victoria and Screen Australia 4 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT “It’s impossible for me to trace the birth of Now Add Honey. It’s because I’m married to the writer, Robyn Butler. And for as long I’ve known her, she has banged on to me - sorry - talked to me - about stories of mothers and daughters and daughters and mothers and mothers and mothers and… you get the picture. The theme seems to be both her mind’s cryptic crossword and her heart’s comfort zone. In the early years of our relationship I would become insecure when, in an intimate restaurant setting, I would notice that repeatedly, her gaze was not directed at me, but at something just slightly over my left shoulder. Was she disturbed by my occasional flurry of dandruff? No, she was people watching, which I would discover was her favourite sport - by far. It’s so hard to get the conversation back to the intimate/are we getting it on tonight pathway when Robyn ponders the state of the two women deep in the background. ‘The younger one is crying and the other is gulping her wine, she seems angry and embarrassed’. What follows is usually an imagined scenario, ‘it’s a daughter telling her mum she can’t continue in her vet’s degree despite their shared love for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.’ I haven’t been seated facing the middle of a café for years and it’s useless trying to take a seat that doesn’t face the wall. Her radar will just get restless. She needs to multitask on me and the demographic behind me. Their age, their status, their look, their mood, their demeanour. It’s all grist to her mill. So I suspect the first time I heard about Now Add Honey was whilst I was also admiring some wallpaper. I wanted to direct the film because I felt an immediate connection to the story. For me, Now Add Honey is a coming of age story for a whole extended family. What causes change in a family’s life fascinates me. More often than not, we seem to need a curve ball to deliver real change because the increments of time make us prone to sit in what we know. Now Add Honey takes the zeitgeist scenario of a child star tragically transitioning in to sexy pop starlet - played with equal measures of sass and heart by Lucy Fry - and uses her as the catalyst for complete family upheaval. It pits two women, at opposite ends of the age spectrum together. © Gristmill Holdings Pty Ltd, Thorlane Pty Ltd, Film Victoria and Screen Australia 5 Honey, the pop starlet, grapples unknowingly with being sexualised from a young age and Caroline, a working mother who is surprised to realise, that middle age seems to be the finish line for her sexual potency. Robyn’s script renders these deep emotional states with a cracking story and a joyous comic tone. The tone in particular drew me to directing the film, as the use of humour as a coping mechanism in a family felt very familiar to me. The film moves quickly through the confusion of family upheaval and constantly reveals the warmth that people ultimately display when faced with the real needs of others. This is all brought to life by a cast of people I classify as ‘funny bones’. People like Portia de Rossi, Hamish Blake, Lucy Durack, Angus Sampson, Ben Lawson (and of course, Robyn Butler) who just have ‘the funny’ in them. They, seemingly effortlessly, inject the film with their delicious comic points of view and make the family’s troubles seem enjoyably familiar. Another moment of Robyn’s I remember whilst staring at a café’s brick wall was what she wanted out of the film.