Status: Vacant Treatment

STATUS: VACANT
A ghost town; an abandoned city; a desolate space.
A location that has become vacant due to a failed economy,
natural or human-caused disaster; floods, government action, war,
lawlessness or nuclear disaster.
FORMAT
PRODUCTION BUDGET
PRODUCTION COMPANY
13 x 30 minute factual series shot in 4K.
US $2 million
Showrunner Productions
Level 3/502 Hay Street,
Subiaco, Western Australia 6008
PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
INTRODUCTION
Commence filming March 2015
Thousands of deserted towns, cities and spaces can be found
around the world. Some are tourist attractions; others sit in ruins
in secret and not-so-secret corners of the globe.
The visible remains are sometimes not enough to tell us the story.
Who lived here? What moments in history occurred here? Where
did everyone go? Why?
We may be aware of key events surrounding why a once thriving
community is now a graveyard of architectural bones, rusting
relics and lost stories swirling in ashes and dust. But, what more
can be discovered about some of the world’s most intriguing
abandoned places?
Join us on a discovery of famous and infamous forgotten locations.
GUIDE
Nick Saxon.
A natural born Australian adventurer. This guy is passionate and
has packed in a lot of culture and experience into 30 years. When
he’s not taking a break surfing, he is somehow connecting people
- from reaching out to audiences all around the world with his
musical narratives to travelling the globe while hosting TV shows
such as World Traveller, on National Geographic International
Channel. He is wise beyond his years and will engage and inspire
audiences of all ages. Nick is inquisitive, thoughtful, and has a
thirst for discovery. He brings to the series his personal journey
across the forgotten globe.
CAST
The cast will consist of International archaeologists, historians and
anthropologists. Local ‘extras’ will be engaged where available.
SYNOPSIS
Status: Vacant is a stylised factual documentary series. Each
episode will take the audience on a mysterious journey through
abandoned locations across the globe – an Argentinian village
swallowed by floodwaters; a Chinese city built for a growing
population yet lying bare of human existence; the French town of
Oradour-sur-Glane the setting of unspeakable war-time horror or
the Western Australian mining town of Wittenoom destroyed by the
very substance mined beneath its desert earth.
Through visual investigation and integral conversation our Guide
becomes the conduit of the series. local historians, archeologists,
anthropologists and former occupants recount historical, political,
cultural and personal stories behind the abandonment of each
dramatic location. A solemn yet beautiful story unfolds within each
episode.
Status: Vacant is a visual feast; an adventure, a history lesson and
a tale of humanity.
Our Guide enters the frame embarking on a compelling journey;
an adventure in the discovery of a lost location, a desolate town.
Geographically hidden and often forbidden, the viewer will follow
and engage with the physical journey of arriving at each location
and exploring its rich history.
A silent, dramatic beauty exists within each location. Beyond the
veil of cultural and structural destruction lie stories of loss, anguish
and sorrow. Personal heartache for those lost and ill-affected
from the worst natural disasters the world has seen; feelings of
deep regret and economic abandonment that have befallen many
towns, leaving inhabitants with no other choice but to move on and
start again. What are their stories? How have they survived such
torturous situations and who of them have returned? We meet real
people and hear real stories.
The show will feature animated and illustrated maps with archival
footage and photographs of significant historical events throughout
each story. Dynamic CGI graphics will be used throughout the
series taking the viewer on a visual recreation. A landscape and
architectural walk-through of these silent, abandoned locations will
be created, rendering them as they once were or as they could be
today if disaster had never struck.
The series will use an encompassing model of investigation,
artefact analysis, history research and human storytelling upon
which these stories can be told.
E PISODE 1
Sa lt on Se a
CA LI FOR N IA
Hundreds of homes and several towns have
been abandoned, virtually untouched, as The
Salton Sea’s future is so bleak that walking
away is the only option. Today you can find
vacant homes with food still in the cupboard
and clothes in the wardrobe.
The Salton Sea was created by accident in
1905 when engineers redirected the Colorado
River for farming irrigation and a major storm
destroyed the canals.
It became the largest lake in California and it
was promised to be the new Palm Springs on
the water. During its heyday it wasn’t unusual
for Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis and even the
Marx Brothers to relax and party on its shores,
with many holiday makers heading south to its
shores for relaxation, fishing and water sports.
But this oasis in the desert was not going
to last as it slowly turned into a major
environmental disaster. The sea slowly
began to shrink and became too salty killing
millions of fish and turning the region into a
desolate area. What you think is sandy white
beaches are in fact crushed fish bones. People
started to move away and major real estate
developments grinded to a halt and the dream
of an oasis was shattered.
Now people visit The Salton Sea to experience
the haunting devastation for themselves
and to remember what is once was before it
completely turns to dust and blows away.
SERIES 1
EPISODE 2
Ep ec u en
A R G EN TI N A
A picturesque holiday resort boasting ‘eternal springs’
of magical properties was once bustling with wealthy
European tourists season upon season, until a dramatic
storm hit. Epecuen is the town that drowned.
EPISODE 3
Bhangarh For t
IN DIA
The mystical temple city of Bhangarh Fort built in the
17th Century by order of King Madho Singh is rich in
legend and myth. Long told stories of black magic and
curses cast ensured complete human abandonment
from the most haunted place in India.
EPISODE 4
Py ram i den
N O RWAY
A soviet ghost town in the Arctic Circle, the coal
mining town of Pyramiden stands stoic and alone. The
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 saw Pyramiden slip
into financial disrepair, the town was abandoned as if
overnight. A glimpse of Soviet culture, architecure and
political history are all that remain.
EPISODE 5
C ra c o
I TA LY
This medieval stone village perched atop the
mountainous coastline of southern Italy was once an
important defensive outpost, religious and agricultural
town left desolate and crumbling, plagued by recurring
earthquakes and landslides. Craco is now nothing but a
ghost town.
EPISODE 6
Ora d our Su r- G la n e
F R A NC E
The small French village of Oradour-Sur-Glane became
the setting of unspeakable horror. During WWII in a case
of mistaken identity all 642 residents were massacred
by German soldiers, the village left burnt and blood
stained. A silent and desolate ruin stands still in time.
EPISODE 7
Gunkanjima
Isl an
JA PAN
Known as Battleship Island, Gunkanjima was populated
from 1887 to 1974 as a coal mining facility during
the industrialization of Japan. The rise of petroleum
during the 1960’s saw the closure of coal mines leaving
Battleship Island an abandoned, silent and decaying
concrete ruin.
EPISODE 8
Fordl and ia
BRA Z IL
Fordlandia was Henry Ford’s short-lived dream of
creating the largest rubber plantation in the world
in servicing the booming motorvehicle industry. Now
abandoned and at the mercy of nature, its buildings
remain testament to his bizarre attempt to transplant
a vision of American culture and lifestyle into the
Amazonian jungle.
EPISODE 9
Sh i C h e n gU n d e r wa t er C i t y
C H I NA
A Chinese city left to ruin after a dam flooded the valley
it lay in. Shi Cheng has been buried beneath the waters
of Thousand Island Lake for the past 53 years, lost
in a watery grave. This underwater time-capsule lies
undisturbed and frozen in time.
EPISODE 1 0
Kolm a n sko p
N a mib ia
SO UT H A F R ICA
An eerie ghost town once thriving on the excavation
of diamond mining in the southern Namib desert. On
exhaustion of excavation and the global effects of WWI,
the wealth that drove Kolmanskop declined dramatically
driving its predominantly German population to flee.
Arid desert sands are its only survivors, slowly creeping
into every corner of this silent, deserted town.
EPISODE 11
Le tchwor th
V i l l age Asylu m
N ew York U NITED
STAT ES
Nestled by the Hudson River amongst leafy forest,
the Letchworth Village Asylum has fallen silent, now
soulless bar the lingering ghosts of residents who’ve
passed. Forced to close its doors because of vulgar
mistreatment and experimentation of its ‘feeble-minded’
patients, its buildings are now abandoned, decaying and
desolate. A sad history remains.
EPISODE 12
W i tte noom
AU ST RALIA
Once a thriving blue asbestos mining town of the 1950’s
and 60’s, Wittenoom is still regarded a continued health
risk long after mining ceased. The threat of falling victim
to mesothelioma, lung cancer and the asbestosis that
claimed the lives of hundreds of former miners remains
present danger. Enter at your own risk.
EPISODE 1 3
Fuk u sh i m a
JA PA N
This nuclear ghost town was deserted in 2011 caused
by a devastating earthquake and tsunami with the
subsequent nuclear catastrophe. The town is frozen
in time with empty streets and buildings making it a
scene from a horror film. The nuclear reactor, which
exploded, is still leaking radiation and is only a few
kilometres from the town centre. While the radiation is
low enough for short visits it is still unsafe for anymore
to return home.
EXAM PL E EP
Ep e c u e n
A R G E N T IN A
EXAMP LE EPISO D E: EPECUEN, A R G ENTINA
[Episode opens with vision shot through the eyes of our Guide viewing
an eerie, desolate, silent, soulless and alien location – slowly panning
new surroundings. Where are they? What is this place? How did it
come to be this way?]
[Camera pan comes full circle resting on our Guide]
It’s a bright, cold day; the middle of winter. The sun sits high in the
pale sky filtered by a sea of scattered white cloud. Ghost-like trees
twisted and drained of life scatter the landscape; rusted, broken,
corrosive streetlights and crumbling staircases descend the water but
lead nowhere. A white crust covers every surface exposed. Our host is
blanketed in blinding white.
Guide speaks to camera – placing us geographically in the fertile
lowlands of South America, The Pampas, in the former glamorous
Lakeside Resort, Epecuen – now the post-apocalyptic landscape of an
Argentinian town that drowned.
[graphics: 3D map of Argentina zoning in on The Pampas, closer still
pinpointing Lake Epecuen]
Resting between fertile farmland and Mountain Lake, Epecuen boasted
natural salt baths with saline levels second to that of the Dead Sea.
[Moving vision: soft sunlight filtering through grain fields / aerial view
of lush mountain landscapes basking in scattered cloud]
Due to this natural phenomenon, train carriages that once carried
grain to the outside world now brought tourist upon tourist to their
streets. Thousands of European bodies floated buoyantly, bathing and
rejuvenating in its ‘healing baths’. This was Argentina’s ‘Golden Age’.
[Archival footage: Epecuen train station bustling with tourists/
Europeans lolling in the baths, flooding the town boardwalk with life
and energy]
EPIS O D E 1
E X AMPLE EP
Vi ll a E p e c u e n,
A rg e nt i na
Ep e c u en
A R GEN TI N A
KEY CREW
to be advised
Guide explains how this desolate landscape can be found – buy your way
onto a leaky fishing boat from Buenos Aires, strap yourself onto a wind
car and let the brisk Argentinian breeze El Conchabado race you across
ancient luminous salt lakes or sneak yourself and your rucksack into a
train car full of grain while the authorities are looking the other way.
[Cut to footage of our Guide on their chosen path to Epecuen]
Once a village resort bursting with 20,000 tourists per season, Epecuen
has been left vacant, silent and soulless. Why?
PRODUCTION BUDGET
[Juxtapose archival stills: tourists, landmarks – train station,
The budget for
businesses, playgrounds etc. with drone vision of those same
Status: Vacant is currently
being constructed.
landmarks as they are now – visually appear war-torn, destroyed,
a forsaken waste-land]
Enter Local Expert
Walking the eerie, motionless streets, the bright sunlight ricocheting off
the blinding white salt-laden rubble of destroyed buildings that once
stood proud, Local Expert explains, this lake named Epecuen by the
Mapuche tribes who once populated the surrounding lowlands of central
Argentina, has 10 times more salt for every cubic centimetre than in any
of the oceans across the world. Hotels, shops and restaurants were built
along the shore during the 1920s to cater for the wealthy visitors from
Buenos Aires and beyond.
[Archival stills: tourists rambling along the colourful main streets of
town, past businesses, hotels, gelato shops etc. juxtaposed with Guide
1 walking the same now deserted, crumbling streets coated in
white salt]
Visitors spent summer after summer submerged in the “eternal
springs”, soaking up the therapeutic powers of these magical waters.
[Guide locates what was the large, decadent Villa pool; climbing
the stairs of the eroding slippery slide descending into a corrosive
concrete pit / cut to archival stills of the same aerial view – the
pool glossy, bright blue water, full of life] [Sound effects: children
laughing, squealing, splashing water]
Epecuen had been experiencing multi-decadal weather variations
through the 70s and 80s resulting in wetter than average winters, with
no canal system these continual wet winters caused the lake to swell.
[3D weather graphics]
On November 10, 1985 a severe storm hit, blustery winds created a
seiche beyond the dam walls.
[Aerial footage of storm clouds rolling quickly, rain pouring, lightning
striking the sky, aerial mountainous landscapes]
This wave burst through the rock and earthen dam inundating much of
the town that very day. Over a number of years this slow creeping flood
eventually emerged victorious leaving the town, its buildings, vehicles,
trees, tourism and future dead in its tracks standing 10 metres under
highly corrosive saltwater.
[Archival stock footage of town landmarks - the Azul Hotel,
Matadero slaughterhouse, the cemetery, Avenida de Mayo (main
street) overwhelmed by floodwater]
The 5,000 townspeople fled – men, women and children walked with
what belongings they could carry to the neighbouring town of Carhue,
their devastated lives would have to begin again.
[Stock footage of citizens fleeing]
Guide and Local Expert walk silently, emotively inhaling the
devastation of their surroundings – peering into crushed and rusted hull
of cars, stepping over strewn bricks, collapsed corrosive metal frames,
demolished walls of buildings and homes where lives were once lived.
Every avenue running south still vanishes into the water, three flamingos
(local bird of the area) drift down the Avenida de Mayo past half sunken
ruins, their vibrant pink feathers glowing against the stark, white crust
covering every exposed surface.
[Music: Eerie, melodic, emotive music plays evoking a sense of
desolation, loss, despair]
EPIS O D E 1
EXAMPLE EP
Vi ll a E p e c u e n,
A rg e nt i na
Ep ec u e n
A R GEN TIN A
KEY CREW
to be advised
Local Expert speaks in depth to our Guide regarding cultural heritage
and historical landmarks throughout the now derelict town from the
perspective of a thriving ‘Golden Age’ – a time when the economy
was booming and immigrants poured into Buenos Aires from Spain,
Italy, Germany and Eastern Europe to live and work on the port.
Music, frequenting smoky nightclubs and brothels were rife amongst
immigrants giving rise to the famous dance – the tango. The government
pushed for further growth, extending railway lines and encouraging
agriculture of the fertile southern lands. During this period the magic of
Epecuen was discovered, quickly becoming a famous ‘spa village’ and
PRODUCTION BUDGET
The budget for
Status: Vacant is currently
being constructed.
tourist destination.
[Archival footage/stills: people dancing the tango in a smoky club,
tourists enjoying the ‘salt baths’ of Epecuen] [Music and sound
effects reflecting dancing and life]
This glory would not last, climatic change would see to that. The
floodwaters took hold slowly enough for evacuation and no loss of life
but too quickly to defend against. Epecuen has spent the past quarter
of a century lost; only now emerging from its watery grave, thanks to a
reverse in the multi-decadal weather variations, as if a curse was lifted.
[Archival footage: aerial shots of the town re-emerging]
The town largely destroyed, but in part preserved providing an insight of
its past, its people and their lives within it.
[Key architecture – cemetery, barren stark white streets lined with
rubble, stair cases leading nowhere, twisted trees emerging from
their salt bath]
Local Expert exits
[Guide engages 2 locals in making an emotional re-connection with
the town. One has not set foot on the streets of Epecuen for 25
years. How will she react? Will she be able to locate her family home
amongst the rubble?]
The other is the sole inhabitant of this ghost town. What stories of
despair and loss will he tell? What memories will be recounted?]
[Sound effects and music will be used to recreate a sense of
desertion, loss and isolation with use of archival stock footage in
recreating lives that once were]
Enter Local 1
Malena was just a girl when the floodwaters descended upon her family
home, she recalls an immense panic in the streets as the waters broke
the earthen dam walls, racing toward them, inundating everything in
its path – bicycles, vehicles, playgrounds, homes, forcing its way into
their lives. The waters steadily rose and rose again. “We believed it
would subside, but it never did, it only grew worse – we carried in our
arms what we could and led our horses, cows and pigs to Carhue, our
neighbouring town. We had to start again.”
[Archival stills: floodwaters inundating the town landmarks, washing
over vehicles left stationary in the streets]
Walking past the rusted metal gates of the town cemetery, Malena
stops, gazes across the field of wild grass strangling broken, toppled and
crumpling tombstones. Physically shaking, she remembers the horror of
the floodwaters ravishing the graveyard with such ferocity that residents
did not have a chance to salvage the remains of their loved ones, coffins
amongst other debris simply floating away. She takes deliberate,
respectful steps over the rubble, searching the debris with her eyes and
hands. “My grandfather is buried here”, she whispers, “I wonder if he still
remains?”
“These relatives buried here in this graveyard built our town. They have
been drowned for 25 years, their tombs reduced to rubble,” Malena
explains. “They now deserve our respect more than ever, if nothing else
we must return to visit them.”
[Tight camera shot of Malena brushing a thick layer of salt from a
corroded headstone revealing letters beneath]
EPIS O D E 1
EXAMPLE EP
Vi ll a E p e c u e n,
A rg e nt i na
Ep ec u e n
A R GEN TIN A
KEY CREW
to be advised
Enter Local 2
Guide finds 83 year old Pablo Novak, the only resident of current day
Epecuen, wheeling his rusted bicycle through the vacant streets littered
with debris. He stops beneath the corrosive, twisted metal frame and
demolished brick walls of the church that once stood proud.
[Moving stock footage: a church – its congregation in celebration;
Argentinian hymn playing]
He tells the story of the day within this sacred structure his father
PRODUCTION BUDGET
The budget for
Status: Vacant is currently
being constructed.
turned to him as a young boy and said, “There was once water resting
high here in this Church. Cycles repeat themselves my son – if there was
water before, there will be again.”
[Archival stills: water bursting through dam wall, aerial shots of
Epecuen being flooded, the church being swallowed by this
creeping flood]
Pablo remembers fondly the ‘Golden Age’ – the wealthy tourists, the
bathing bodies, music filling the air of the boulevard, music he had never
heard before. “There was dancing, laughing, singing”, he says, “many
beautiful women, but no more, now there is only me.”
[Music: tango] [Sound effects: people chatting, singing, laughing,
dancing… fades out to silence]
Pablo walks our Guide through the silent debris of his partially
destroyed farmhouse. Stepping through gaping brick walls, the kitchen
is nothing but a cavenous space – furnished with a small table, single
chair and brick stove. The bedroom stands vacant, nothing but a single
mattress lying solemnly on the cold, white, salted floor.
[Drone follows Pablo entering his home in this unconventional way –
the viewer seeing it as he does, panning the empty, quiet rooms]
Clambering atop of broken rubble; this mess was once Pablo’s lounge
room. His faded leather armchair is no longer recognisable; memories
of being enveloped in its comfort and telling fairytales to his young
children cuddling close to his chest are all he has. He picks up brick after
brick from the piles swimming around his ankles, pointing to markings
inscribed he explains, “these bricks, like so many lying throughout the
town in their new resting places, were made with my bare hands, as
my father had done before me.” “We built this town together.” Speaking
emotively to camera, “I dreamed it would be rebuilt, I dreamed I would
see it again. I have lost hope, but I will never leave – this is my home, it
will always be my home.”
[Tight shot of Pablo’s emotive face; camera frame moves capturing
his still hand resting in silence] [Sound effects/audio: throughout
dialogue create Pablo’s former life – sounds of children playing,
laughing, kitchen – cutlery clinking etc.]
Episode ends with our Guide recounting key historical, cultural and
anthropological facts discovered on this journey and the heart warming
encounters with locals forced to leave the home they loved. This is the
story of one towns demise, a tragic natural disaster claiming the homes
and existence of its people.
Memories are all that remain.
Our Guide traverses the deathly silent streets of this vacant, eerie town.
Before our very eyes Epecuen begins to come alive once again. Colour
breathes into this soulless village with every step; the streets fill with
people; shop fronts burst with activity; lush playgrounds are abound
with giggling children bathed in golden light. A snapshot of what could
have been. Could it be a place of economic wealth and flourishing
human existence once more?
[CGI: recreation of this lost town in present tense – our Guide walks
through a simulated version of what Epecuen could be today if
natural disaster had never struck; businesses flourishing; tourists
flocking to its ‘healing baths’; a return to the ‘Golden Age’. What could
Epecuen have become?]
[A vision of hope is recreated]
MEDIA
C O NTACT
As i a, Australia, Europe ,
East ern Europe , Unite d State s
& G lobal D e als
Natalie Lawley
M AN AGI N G DI RECTOR
[email protected]
N ew Ze aland, A f ric a,
Scand i navia & Latin A me ric a
H am ish Lewis
SA L ES & B U S I N ESS DE VE LOPME N T
[email protected]
Canada Sale s
A nthony Mrsnik
[email protected]
All Rights available including Format