Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight and Ben Grant speak with journalist Caris Bizzaca on the Screen Australia podcast about producing their Official Australia-New Zealand Co-production Cleverman.

Season 1 and 2 of the ABC series Cleverman were produced with New Zealand’s Pukeko Pictures. Blight and Grant reveal how the partnership came about and the benefits of working with the New Zealand MOU (Memorandum of Understanding). They also discuss Official Co-productions in the television space and why we’re at an interesting time in Australia.

“The status of having an Official Co-production I think does give more certainty to prospective financiers and people looking at being involved, so I think the more that we could explore that… I think that would be a really good thing and should be a priority, to be frank,” Grant said.

“It’s a great way to bolster your budget, to share creative intelligence… like [we] had the privilege of working at Park Road Post for the whole of post-production,” Blight said.

Blight said they’re open to more Official Co-productions, but would like to see more active treaties and MOUs with other countries.