Darlington movie shoot: WA movie Birthright filming starts in Perth

The film and TV production boom in WA is showing no signs of slowing down from last year’s historic pace, with Birthright, a new black comedy, set to commence shooting today in the Perth Hills.

The debut feature for WA director Zoe Pepper stars Travis Jeffery (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) and Maria Angelico (The Newsreader) as Cory and Jasmine, a young professional couple about to welcome the birth of a child.

But, when Cory loses his job, the couple are forced to move back in with his retiree parents, played by Offspring’s Linda Cropper and Hercules star Michael Hurst.

What is initially meant to be a short stay until the pair get back on their feet soon stretches into something far longer, and Cory becomes fixated with the wealth disparity between himself and his Boomer parents, provoking him to do something unimaginable.

This dark tale of generational inequality will likely resonate with audiences young and old, with the former citing free higher education and cheap property as an unfair Boomer benefit, while the latter might see an example of entitlement they feel is all too common among Millennials.

Either way, there’s a market for the film, which is why it was the 2022 recipient of Screenwest’s highly coveted West Coast Visions initiative, designed to unearth, develop and encourage WA filmmakers to produce their maiden feature film in their home state.

Through this initiative, Birthright secured $750,000 in production funding from Screenwest, assisting Pepper and acclaimed local producer Cody Greenwood (Under the Volcano) to secure Screen Australia production funding and lock in Madman Entertainment as the film’s distributor in Australia and New Zealand.

“It’s quite surreal to see this world I’ve concocted come to life. I’m equal parts terrified and excited to kick off filming,” Pepper said.

Birthright is the first major production to begin filming in WA this year, but will soon be joined by a new feature from WA director Zak Hilditch, featuring Daisy Ridley of Star Wars fame.

It continues a record period of screen production in the State, which last year included Nicolas Cage’s visit to WA to shoot The Surfer and Sam Neill’s arrival for Season 2 of The Twelve.