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Our journey began two years sgo when it was suggested that a movie and / or docudrama could be made about our family shipping tycoon and the ill-fated SS WARATAH, lost with all hands in Indian Ocean in 1909 – a event often referred to as The Titanic of the South would make an enthralling, compelling, audience captivating story. With an extensive library of orginal research, family diaries and experiences from adventurers who have tried unsuccessfully to locate the ship, the idea and commitment was borne. With Titanic, it was a love story with a wreck thrown in. WARATAH is an adventure on the life of the main protagonist opening and closing with the horrific scenes of the capsizing ship and cries of lost souls taken to their watery graves. A Court of Enquiry tries to determine where any fault lies with testimony from expert witnesses, past passengers and crew of the ill-fated vessel. The story with flashbacks follows the life of our protagonist from relatively humble beginnings to building one of London’s finest and most modern shipping lines for the much coveted upmarket emigration services between UK and Australia, Who was this Danish upstart who dare take on London’s shipping elite and “damn win!”. Personal tragedies, ship builder negligence, battered and bruised our hero as he fulfilled his dream in building a Ritz style shipping line, three years before the White Star Line and Titanic. Passengers embarking on the ill-fated voyage had their stories to tell. Where were they going, what were their reasons for travelling? Escapism, adventure, and opportunity all caught up in the drama. Australia suffered the highest casualties of 72 souls, closely followed by UK. The planned co-production between Australia and UK draws on their countries’ story equity. A key part of the production will be the on-going search and wreck identfication, which if found will generate an intense global interest in resolving this mystery of the Southern Ocean. BAPNZ with partners has assembled one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most experienced wreck search and identification teams. Using the latest technology there is confidence that the ship will be found – but nothing is guaranteed. Although it is hard to quantify, we anticipate the budget to be around US$8mn to US$10mn range for the feature movie and less for the six episode docudrama – either for streaming and TV networks. Naturally if the production can be done for less in terms of casting, SPX, production locations and taking advantage of production tax offsets BAPNZ will endeavour to achieve this. It has been over 20 years plus since a true martime period drama of this quality hit the red carpet. We are currently seeking funding and co-production partners to bring this exciting, enthralling adventure to global audiences. The dynamic co-authored screenplay, as per norm under constant review, is ready to go.