Film Ink
26 Feb 2023
Australian-based production company New House Cinema has optioned the film and television rights to award-winning American author Renee N. Meland’s post-apocalyptic novel The Ocean in the Fire.
The Ocean in the Fire is the story of the Holloway family who live in an isolated apocalypse-ready compound they call home after being ostracized from the small town where they once resided. When a horrifyingly lethal global pandemic ravages the United States, they soon find the same townsfolk who ridiculed and harmed them arriving at their compound gates desperate for salvation – now, it’s up to the Holloways to decide their fate.
New House Cinema producer Matt de Casanove, whose previous work includes the South-Korea/China/Australia World War II biographic drama co-production Borderliners (2019) starring Squid Games’ Heo Sung-tae, was attracted to The Ocean in the Fire as it’s not just a run-of-the-mill end-of-the-world action story; but because Renee’s work has an appealing societal tension to it conveying unique characters which she often pushes into scenarios that challenge aspects of familydynamics, teenage adversity, gender, and community anxieties previously less-so explored within the genre.
Renee N. Meland’s other work includes Sawyer Green previously optioned by Los Angeles based Waterfall Films, and Drafted previously optioned with director James Bamford (CW’s Superman & Lois, 2021) attached to direct. The Ocean in the Fire author who is most known for the popular The Extraction List book series, is also amultiple festival award-winning screenwriter.
Although still early in development, New House Cinema is considering production locations in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, however with the highly attractive Screen Australia Producer Offset and other tax incentives available it is likely principal photography will occur in Australia, with a combined cast from theUnited States and Australia.
Production attachments and additional details will be announced in the coming months.