Birthright cast members Michael Hurst, Maria Angelico, Linda Cropper and Travis Jeffrey with writer and director Zoe Pepper. Photo by Emma Vickery.

Screenwest and Screen Australia are pleased to announce Zoe Pepper’s debut feature film, Birthright, kicks off production in Western Australia today with an impressive ensemble cast.

The dark comedy stars Travis Jeffery (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Unbroken, Gallipoli) and Maria Angelico (The Newsreader, Strife, Sisters) as Cory and Jasmine, a professional couple in their 30s who are eight months pregnant. When Cory loses his job, they are forced to move back in with his retiree parents played by Linda Cropper (Offspring, Upgrade) and Michael Hurst (Hercules, Spartacus), until they get back on their feet. As their stay extends, Cory fixates on his parents’ wealth and decides the only way to achieve the success he always imagined, is to do something unimaginable.

Set in a single location, filming will take place in the Perth Hills over the next five weeks.

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The film is written and directed by Zoe Pepper (Lift, The Big Spaghetti) with producer Cody Greenwood (Under The Volcano, Girl Like You), co-producer Kate Neylon (Hotel Coolgardie, Below), executive producer John Maynard (Romulus, My Father, The Boys) and editor Luca Cappelli (You Won’t Be Alone, Acute Misfortune), as well as an all-star lineup of Western Australian crew including director of photography Michael McDermott ACS (Hounds of Love), production designer Ocea Sellar (Mystic Pines) and costume designer Texx Montana (He Ain’t Heavy).

“I’m incredibly grateful to have such a talented team backing my vision and working so hard to bring this story to life. The cast and crew are doing an amazing job. 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,” says Zoe Pepper.

Birthright was the 2022 recipient of Screenwest’s highly coveted West Coast Visions initiative, which is designed to uncover, inspire and develop talented and motivated WA filmmakers with distinctive visions to produce their debut feature film in WA. Through this initiative, Birthright secured $750,000 production funding from Screenwest and went on to secure Screen Australia production funding and Madman Entertainment as ANZ distributor.

Filming is scheduled to wrap on 1 March 2024.