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The Green Book / Screen Auckland

"In terms of people coming here to film, I think people will find a very willing and can do attitude amongst filmmakers and the community in general ..."

Grant Major - Production Designer, Lord of the Rings, (from Location Auckland DVD)

Outrageous Fortune

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Outrageous Fortune is an award-winning drama series produced by South Pacific Pictures, New Zealand's largest producer of film and television. Set and shot on location in West Auckland, the show chronicles the journeys of the Wests, a close-knit family with a proud tradition in thievery, larceny and petty crime.

What

© 2007 South Pacific Pictures Ltd. | Photograph: Jae Frew

OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE is a comedy-drama series about the wrong sort of people trying to do the right thing when the rewards for going straight are neither immediate nor bountiful. It is a bold, fresh series which is by turns bawdy, action-packed, satirical and trashy - but only ever a heartbeat away from reality.

Created by James Griffin (Sione's Wedding, Serial Killers) and Rachel Lang (Maddigan's Quest, Mercy Peak), OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE is currently shooting its fourth season which will air in New Zealand on TV3 in 2008.

The series stars Robyn Malcolm as Cheryl West, Grant Bowler as her ex-husband Wolf, Antony Starr as twin brothers Van and Jethro West, Siobhan Marshall as Pascalle, Antonia Prebble as Loretta and Frank Whitten as Grandpa West.

OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE is a ratings winner and has become a cult hit in New Zealand where it has also won a swag of prestigious television awards and has attracted much critical acclaim.

The show has been sold internationally to television networks in Italy, Slovenia, England, Ireland, South East Asia, Canada and Australia.

The series format has also been sold overseas: Honest is a six-part UK adaptation of the show starring Amanda Redman which was produced by Greenlit Rights for ITV1; while in America, the ABC network is in the process of developing a US series based on the OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE format.

Who

Studio	South Pacific Pictures
Producers	John Barnett, Simon Bennett, Rachel Lang, James Griffin, John Laing, Carmen J. Leonard
Cast	Robyn Malcolm, Grant Bowler, Antony Starr, Siobhan Marshall, Antonia Prebble, Frank Whitten

How

OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE is unique in that the series is set in the very location that the production is filmed. In fact, over the four series filmed to date, the region of West Auckland has become like another character in the show.

South Pacific Pictures, the production company behind OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE, is based in the West Auckland suburb of Henderson and operates from a purpose-built studio complex.

OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE‘s key interior sets have been constructed in two of South Pacific Pictures' four studios while exterior scenes are shot on location in and around West Auckland.

The production has always received good co-operation from local government and businesses in the area and as the show's popularity has grown from year-to-year, support from the general West Auckland population has also grown.

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