The Story of the UNDERTOW Story
One day in summer, a twenty-year-old girl said hello to a man sitting on the beach in Byron Bay.
This started a rather peculiar friendship.
She told him many stories of growing up in Byron Bay and the amazing things that had happened in her life.
Girl meets bad boy…
From a good family, she fell in love with the wrong guy and went down a dark path with him.
Nothing her friends or family did could stop her. She used, she stole, she lied. A once perfect young girl consumed by drugs and destructive love.
It was the dark underbelly of a beautiful town.
On the night of her 18th birthday party she discovered her boyfriend in the ultimate betrayal with her best friend. It pushed her over the edge.
Desperate to find her, and in an alcohol and drug induced rage her boyfriend took his car and crashed it into a tree. We will never know whether it was an accident or deliberate.
She awoke to find herself in rehab. At first resistant, she eventually found the strength to recover.
The man, Peter Spann, thought this was a fantastic tale, ideal to be turned into a film and wrote the first draft as part of a film school project in 2016, originally titled “Surfer Girl”.
Funding
Peter sought the backing of generous friends and with the help of the Executive Producer secured enough budget for a high production value short film where he could pay cast and crew and support local talent.
Screenplay
Before filming Peter realised the script needed development so engaged young adult fiction author Laura Bloom to write a revised screen play. They worked together in a highly unusual but effective manner to produce a book that the actors loved.
Film Community & Crew
This story wouldn’t be complete without a huge shout out to the film community in the Northern Rivers. We attached a full crew of highly professional filmmakers with exceptional resumes to make this film a reality. What an awesome area to be making movies!!!
People here really “get” what this film is all about – it honours the town, it honours the surf, it honours girls who surf and it still tackles a difficult topic with a positive message.
A Story of Hope
This is a story of inspiration and hope. It is a story of strength and resilience. And it is a story of love.
We hope that the film will be developed into a series by a streaming service or for television.
UNDERTOW the Film – coming October 2017
