Sonnigsburg: Day Twelve

Today, we completed principal photography on episode one of Sonnigsburg.

After twelve shooting days, we’ve filmed in Walhalla, Croydon, Richmond, Hampton, Highett, Ashwood, Maribyrnong, Glen Iris and Belgrave. We’ve posted heaps of photos to our Facebook page – both behind-the-scenes shots and stills from the show itself.

And the little bits of footage I’ve seen cut together looks amazing. Our director, Glenn Triggs, has done an incredible job directing the episode – and now has the fun of editing it together.

I’ve been involved in a handful of short film shoots before, but nothing quite on this scale. And while production happened on episode one, the scripts for episodes two and three went through a few re-writes. Don’t worry, actors – those scripts will be released to you soon. I know you can’t wait to see what happens next!

I do have to apologise to some of the actors, who were intent on being as surprised by upcoming scripts as viewers will be of the show itself – but I blurted out several spoilers on set, forgetting who knows what about upcoming stories. It’s great to have actors so enthused about what’s coming up. I think Ann Truong (Savannah) is our biggest fan so far. And I keep giving things away! Sorry, Ann.

As always with low budget filmmaking, we must all jump in and do what’s necessary. While Fiona Bulle is overseeing everything, Serenity DeAngeles and Gordon Boyd have taken on several roles each behind-the-scenes. You’ll see their names in the credits several times.

The twelve days of shooting have been spread over five weeks, to accommodate everyone’s schedules – both behind and in front of the camera. A couple of days of principal photography were directed by Alex Scott and myself. With the amazing support of all of the crew, in particular our Director of Photography, Bernard Winter, I was able to direct a couple of key scenes from the pilot.

Scenes that included smoke machines, lighting effects and crawling under Fiona’s parents house in Ashwood – directing is definitely glamorous. And I’m looking forward to doing more directing as production on the series continues. I definitely think that building up experience as a director will help me become a better writer, too.


Principal photography on episode two will begin in September. Keep an eye on the Sonnigsburg page on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram.


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