A young director has his sights set on shooting his debut short film which is set to star local comedian Joe Daymond.
Connor Pritchard, 23, is raising funds to get the project off the ground after penning a “hilarious and surreal twist” script about a first date gone wrong.
The idea for his flick, titled 'In The Zone', came to him randomly and was inspired by his own tendency to zone out.
Comedians Joe Daymond and Courtney Dawson are lined up to fill the roles of the two leads and he has assigned a strong crew who are hoping he meets his funding target.
The plot will focus follow the main character, David – Daymond – who finds himself transported to a parallel dimension – known as the ‘Zone Out Zone’ - while daydreaming during a first date gone wrong with Dawson.
He meets a quirky receptionist along the way but chaos and mayhem ensues when he tries to get back to reality.
Pritchard and Daymond had become good friends after working on other projects, and he was introduced to Dawson.
He told 1News: “I know they both have the comedic chops to bring their characters to life.”
Over two days in early May he’s hoping to bring the short film to life, with a plan to release the final cut a few months later.
Pritchard said: “After submitting it to film festivals, we'll have a screening in Tāmaki Makaurau and then release it online.”
The move is a side-step to his normal line of work in music videos.
He’s known within the New Zealand music industry for shooting with some of our top local artists like SWIDT, Six60, The Black Seeds, Baynk, Raiza Biza and JessB.
He says transitioning to a short film has brought some big lessons, like how much work it takes to make a film happen.
Pritchard said: “As someone who has mostly worked on music videos, making a short film has been a challenging yet exciting experience.
“It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get a film project off the ground, especially when you're working with a limited budget.
“It takes dedication, hard work, and collaboration with a talented crew to make something from nothing.”
With just four days to go, Pritchard has achieved 86 percent of his $5,000 funding goal on Boosted to cover actors, crew, film expenses, locations, set design and film festival entries.
If the target is not met, those who have pledged so far will get their money returned to them.
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