Pyros follows a young, impressionable boy must navigate treacherous ringleaders during a fiery crime spree while evading the police task force sent to bring them all to justice. Meanwhile the anarchy is juxtaposed by an investigative journalist interviewing community members recounting the crimes and the consequential impacts.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Pyros is an emotionally-charged drama short with thrilling action, cinéma-vérité and relevant themes addressing how youth crime is impacting Australian rural communities. Inspired from Rodwell's upbringing in rural communities and his first-hand experiences documenting first responders witnessing the good, the bad and the ugly on the emergency frontlines.
Designed for the big and small screen, Pyros aims to captivate Australian and global audiences across film festivals, broadcasters, streamers and galleries with impactful storytelling and high-end production values targeting 2024/25 releases. Pyros serves as a cohesive proof-of-concept to generate marketplace interest for a larger body of work in development which expands upon the story, characters and themes in-depth.
Pyros is expected to shoot in Orange NSW with established cast and crews in 2024. The production is collaborating with local arts, business, council and tourism sectors to bring this exciting story to life regionally and discover the wealth of untapped talent to appear on screen and/or behind-the-scenes.
In 2022, Pyros was supported by grants from Create NSW (via Arts OutWest) and Regional Arts NSW for script development and commissioning concept art for visualising the story, characters and world-building.
Presently, Pyros is a recipient of the 2023/2024 MATCH Lab facilitated by Creative Australia, a dollar-for-dollar match funding program for independent artists and groups undertaking fundraising campaigns for artistic projects. Pyros is raising $11,500 to strengthen the transition from development to production where funds will be used for pre-production and the first block of filming. At the end of the fundraising campaign, Pyros will receive $10,000 in matched funding from the Federal Government as part of the MATCH Lab program.
If you're interested in supporting Pyros, please consider making a tax-deductible donation towards the fundraiser here on the Australian Cultural Fund.