New six-part drama series Ladies in Black has just wrapped production in Adelaide, South Australia, featuring an all-star cast led by renowned US actor Debi Mazar.
Filmed at the South Australian Film Corporation’s Adelaide Studios and at locations around Adelaide, Ladies in Black follows on from the 2018 film of the same name and draws inspiration from the much-loved 1993 novel, with the women from Goodes Department Store flinging open their shop doors to the fabulous 1960s.
Directed by Gracie Otto (Netflix’s Heartbreak High, Disney+ The Arftul Dodger), it stars Debi Mazar (Younger, Entourage), Miranda Otto (Talk To Me, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Lord of the Rings) and Jessica De Gouw (Arrow, The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson) and has major investment from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) and Screen Australia.
The Bunya Entertainment series is the second to be funded through the $5.2 million ABC SAFC Content Pipeline Fund delivered by the South Australian Government, following the return season of children’s series Beep and Mort from Adelaide’s Windmill Pictures. Beep and Mort S2 premiered last month to audience acclaim, with season one already picked up by Sky Kids in the UK.
“It is incredibly exciting to secure Ladies in Black for South Australia.” explained South Australian Arts Minister Andrea Michaels. “We want to tell Australian stories to the world, and we are achieving this through our $5.2 million partnership between the South Australian Film Corporation and the ABC.”
“Along with the significant cultural benefits of supporting our stories to reach Australian and global audiences, our investment is creating hundreds of jobs for our local screen sector, and driving high quality production outcomes which showcase South Australia’s world-class film and television production capability around the world.”
South Australian Film Corporation CEO Kate Croser agreed stating, “We are thrilled to support Ladies in Black to be made in South Australia under the new ABC SAFC Content Pipeline Fund. As the second production to come out of the fund, this fabulous, quintessentially Australian series will really showcase the diverse capability of our Adelaide Studios production facility and South Australia’s screen industry workforce.”
The series is written by Greg Waters (The Twelve) who also serves as script producer, Sarah Bassiuoni (House of Gods), Joan Sauers (Wakefield) and Randa Sayed (Halal Girls).
Ladies in Black also features an ensemble cast of talented Australian actors including Kate Box (Deadloch, Wentworth), 2022 NIDA graduate Clare Hughes, Azizi Donnelly (Secret Society of Lies), Julian Maroun (Aftertaste), Carlos Sanson Jr (Bump), Tom Wilson (Heartbreak High), Sacha Horler (The Letdown), Huw Higginson (Total Control), Russell Dykstra (Rake), Thom Green (Of an Age), Hamish Michael (The Twelve), Krew Boylan (Simply Red), Ngali Shaw (The Twelve), Hazem Shammas (The Clearing), Peter O’Brien (Tidelands), Gemma Ward (While The Men Are Away) and Todd McKenney (Significant Others).