Sci-fi series Resistance set to be filmed in SA’s Adelaide Studios

Major ABC TV children’s sci-fi series Resistance will begin its 23-week shoot in South Australia next month.

The decision to shoot the $14 million series in SA is a major coup for the traditionally film-centric state, which has not hosted a major TV series since the end of Macleod’s Daughters in 2009.


Resistance will be the first production to film at the newly-opened Adelaide Studios in Glenside, which cost $48 million to develop. The series was originally set to be filmed in Canberra two years ago.

“ABC TV is thrilled to be bringing this major children’s television series to Adelaide, especially as it will be the first production to be filmed in the stunning new facilities here,” ABC TV director Kim Dalton said in a statement.

“This will make Resistance not only an important and historic landmark for both ABC TV and South Australia but also for children’s television production in Australia.”

Resistance tells the story a small group of brilliant teenage resistance fighters, trained by a mysterious young billionaire, who are our last line of defence against an alien invasion.

The 26-part series will be produced by Andrew Dillon and Lesley Parker, and executive produced by Gary Kurtz. The co-production between Australia’s Persistence Productions and Canada’s Shaftesbury Films will screen on ABC3 in late-2012 and in YTV Canada.

A spokeswoman for the South Australian Film Corporation said 70 per cent of the $14 million budget would be spent in SA. The series will employ around 450 cast and crew, as well as around 500 locals supplying ancillary services during the five-month shoot.

The $13 million Wolf Creek horror sequel will also be shot in SA and use the Adelaide Studios in early-2012. Rolf de Heer's The King is Dead! was the last film to shoot at the old Hendon facilities and will be the first to use the new sound mixing theatre at Adelaide Studios.

SAFC chief executive Richard Harris said 30 local businesses plan to take up tenancy on the site, which includes two soundstages and a 96-seat screening theatre.

Meanwhile Dalton, who has come under recent union pressure for his decision to outsource more ABC production to the independent sector, said Resistance is just one of the 21 productions on the ABC Children’s Television 2011 production slate.

Sixteen of these productions are being produced with Australian independent production companies and add up to 157 hours of television.

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