Dane Millerd has many reasons to celebrate after firstly securing a streaming deal with US channel Showtime and now Paramount Plus for his new film Avarice.
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Millerd, who helmed and produced There's Something In The Pilliga in 2015, also co-wrote Avarice and is an Associate Producer on the project.
The WA shot film Avarice will now join Yellowjackets, Billions, and Dexter among many others on Showtime's slate after the US network acquired the action thriller.
Produced and directed by John V Soto of Filmscope Entertainment and Tim Maddocks of Maddfilms, Avarice follows a champion archer (Gillian Alexy, The Americans) and her husband, Ash (Luke Ford, Animal Kingdom), who go on vacation with their daughter to a remote holiday home.
One night they are subjected to a terrifying home invasion by a team of mercenaries headed by Reed (Alexandra Nell) and Kane (Ryan Panizza). Kate must fight back using her specialist archery skills to defeat their captors and save her family.
"The script was penned by Adam Enslow, Andrew Slattery, John V Soto, and myself and was originally birthed from a draft of another script I had written in 2015," Dane said.
"John read it, liked it and asked if we could develop it further and now we have Avarice.
"That process started in 2017."
The Screenwest-supported production was shot in mid-2021 over four weeks during COVID, with Backlot Films set to distribute the title in Australia this year.
"So watch this space!"
International sales agent Epic Pictures, who negotiated the North American rights deal with Showtime, has since sold Avarice to Germany, China, UK, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East. The film currently also sits in the top 40 worldwide on Amazon Prime.
"I'm incredibly humbled and can't thank everyone who worked on the film and supported me enough," Millerd said.
As for what's next, Millerd remained relatively tight lipped but hinted at a series on infamous female killer Katherine Knight.
"It's a project many know I've been working in behind the scenes for a while and now we just about have everything and everyone in place to develop and produce this series," he said.
"It's an exciting time and it's great to see my hard work pay off.
"This industry isn't easy to crack and can be brutal and there are no guarantees especially if you don't put in the work.
"There's nothing overnight about it and at times it can feel like you're a kid with a hobby but I've stuck with it and hopefully now I start to see some results."
