Hot Chocolate

THE FILM: Hot Chocolate is a short drama by David Hay shooting in May 2019.

NEW GOAL! We are now aiming for a total of $6500. When we created this campaign we seriously underestimated the generosity of our local community. We put aside a month for crowd-funding and we were fully funded in less than three weeks. The additional funding will go towards hiring better technical equipment, increasing the set-design budget, and spending more time in post-production, giving a greater level of polish to the final product. 

Hot Chocolate tells the story of Maddie (22), a young woman who arrives home, only to discover the body of her flatmate. Nothing in her life has prepared her for this and to make matters worse, her sister Nina (8) is waiting in the car outside. With no time to think, let alone prepare, Maddie has to come up with the best course of action to do right by her late friend, and protect the innocence of her little sister.

THE TEAM

David Hay is an award winning film and television director. Following the success of Cold Fish, 2017, Hot Chocolate will be his second short film set in Dunedin. For this project he is collaborating with long-time television producer Tess Whelan and the multi-talented Amie Richardson as executive producer.

Contributing their creative talents to the project are production designer Andy King, casting director Cindy Diver, editor Ben Lamar, and DOP Dominic Fryer.

For full bios, see the profiles in the updates section below.

THE GOAL

Thanks to the small cast, contained setting and the crew's connections with Dunedin's generous film community, we've come up with a modest budget that will realise our vision.

We've determined we need to raise $4500 to cover production costs. This money will go towards gear and vehicle hire, cast and crew expenses, props, set dressing and feeding everyone.

Beyond producing a world-class short film, our goal is to foster the film-making community here in Dunedin. We want to engage with our best creatives, actors, workers, amateurs and professionals to nurture future collaboration and get more projects off the ground in our city.

GET INVOLVED

We've already received generous support from NHNZ, Petridish, Aart on St Andrew, Jared Hunter Mason Photography, and BrandAid, but we still need your help to make this film a reality.

By donating, you're joining the Hot Chocolate team. Every backer will be listed in the credits and, when we premiere at Cannes, you can hit up David and Tess for a free hot chocolate.

From all of us on the Hot Chocolate team, Thank you so much for pitching in.