If you've ever turned on a television in regional Australia, you would have borne witness to a barrage of low-budget commercials - often featuring screaming local business owners or extraordinary deals on farming supplies.

But a company on the New South Wales mid-north coast is trying to change all that and bring a touch of Hollywood action and drama to local advertisements.

The Big Movie Company works out of a backyard shed in Port Macquarie.

Director Brad Diebert, producer Tania Marino and special effects expert Ted Treasure once worked in the film industry in Sydney but found each other when they made the sea change north.

One of their most recent completed projects is a Mad Max-inspired ad for a local soft drink company.

The budgets for the ad and the movie are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but as Ms Marino explains, in regional television world it is a high-end production.

"There's clients that don't want to spend a lot and there's clients who really are just prepared to throw some money and get a kick out of it themselves and enjoy the collaboration with us," she said.

Ian Turner, the managing director of Saxby's Soft Drinks, hopes the ad will help their product stand out nationally.

"We are a fifth-generation family business, started by my great, great-grandfather in 1864, so 151 years this year," he said.

"We employ over 50 people locally and have been doing ginger beer since the beginning. That is our standard staple drink and what we are best known for.

"It's very hard to get a budget that works nationally. In our industry we are like the second hand in the clock. We have a very small section of the market."

Loading...

Ms Marino said the aim was always to come up with action-packed stories that draw the audience in on an emotional level.

"That's where media is going. Less advertising and selling to more about trying to drag in your audience. Sell a story. And then your brand is in there somehow," she said.

Their latest project for a local pie company has the Big Movie crew experimenting with explosives and pies in their backyard.

Angelia Linney of Ridgey Didge Pies said they wanted to create an ad that was outside of the box.

"We did that to create a lot of brand awareness for us which has been fantastic and it has generated so much interest with our customers and it is exactly what we were looking for," she said.

For Ted Treasure, who cut his teeth on films like Mission Impossible, the joy of his craft remains absolute.

"It's the myth, it's the Hollywood thing you know, the Hollywood dream, being there and doing it. Creating something," he said.

"Even in Port Macquarie. Hollywood comes to town."

For Brad Diebert and Tania Marino, Hollywood is still the goal.

"Look anything is possible. We are 'manifesters', we have goals and dreams and why can't we achieve them if we focus on them and if we put a lot of our energy into something why not make it happen," Ms Marino said.

Watch Ginny Stein's report tonight on Lateline at 9.30pm (AEST) on ABC News 24 or 10.30pm on ABC TV.

Loading...