Crime pays for local production

Producer Ian Collie of Easy Tiger Productions has optioned crime novel Scrublands for a potential TV series.

Set in a drought-sticken Riverina town, the book by author Chris Hammer tells the story of a young priest calmly turning a gun on five parishoners and a year later a journalist hopes to discover why.

Collie, whose productions include Jack Irish, Rake, Sunshine and Doctor Doctor, says crime fiction has long been a staple of film and television “but what’s interesting is that the demand for such programming never seems to wane in contrast to other genres like rom-coms, soaps or maybe medical dramas.

“It generally has the key DNA for good drama – a battle between good and evil, generally involves deceits, cover up and lies, has the investigative and mystery angles – whodunit and even whydunit. And, of course, the search for justice for the victims or victims’ family and friends. And there is that fascination with criminal and aberrant behaviour – and perhaps the ‘but for the grace of God,'” he told Fairfax Media.

“But also we are living in more uncertain and somewhat violent times, whether it still be the tragic cases we read all too frequently about domestic and drug-fuelled violence or the randomness of terrorism.”