Happy Accidents Teams Up With New Zealand’s Kevin & Co on ‘The Sanctuary’ (Exclusive)
L.A.-based film and TV studio Happy Accidents is teaming up with New Zealand-based Kevin & Co on The Sanctuary, a new comedy series about an eccentric American billionaire living in hiding Down Under, The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively reveal.
Developed with Warner Bros. Discovery NZ, the eight-part series follows Hunter, a U.S. tech billionaire who sells off an innocuous app, only to discover the buyer is a Russian-affiliated private military company looking to weaponize his technology. Terrified, he goes into hiding in New Zealand, and finds himself caught between the FBI, Russian assassins and New Zealand’s most passionate bird conservationists.
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“Hunter decides to transform his luxury island retreat into a Department of Conservation (D.O.C.) sanctuary for the birds,” a plot synopsis reads. “But as his private paradise becomes overrun with both birds and bird lovers, he discovers that being a billionaire on the run isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
The series is created by Laura Daniel and Joseph Moore, a writing and performing duo who also go by their musical comedy alter egos, Two Hearts. Happy Accidents will be pitching the show to international buyers at the MIPCOM global television market in Cannes later this month.
Ginny & Georgia executive producer Holly A. Hines and former MPCA COO Eric Jarboe launched Happy Accidents earlier this year with the goal of working with international partners to produce and distribute a wide range of film and TV content.
Daniel’s acting credits include The Brokenwood Mysteries and Vince, and she appears regularly on comedy panel shows 7 Days, Have You Been Paying Attention?, and was the Season 2 champion of Taskmaster NZ. Moore’s credits as a writer and producer include series such as Guy Mont-Spelling Bee (NZ & AU), Taskmaster NZ, Taskmaster Australia and 7 Days. He has directed segments of Funny Girls and New Zealand Today, and has two feature scripts in development with the NZ Film Commission.
“The Sanctuary is the type of big, exciting comedy with heart that we know will have a wide international appeal,” Holly A. Hines and Eric Jarboe, co-founders and co-CEOs of Happy Accidents, said. “In Laura and Joseph, we have two of the very best comedy writers out there and we’re thrilled to be bringing their first international series to life.”
“Their ideas, vision and humor are evident across the episodes. And in Kevin & Co we have the perfect co-production partners whose ambitions match our own for bringing brilliant shows to the global market.”
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