Series two of the Australian political drama The Code is currently filming in Port Douglas with the location being portrayed as Port Douglas putting the region in the international television spot light.

The success of series one has seen the production being picked up in UK, Latin America, USA, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland and Canada.

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Shelley Birse creator, writer and producer of The Code is currently in Port Douglas for three weeks filming series two.  Ms Birse spent some time with Newsport to talk about the new series, exposing political truths through digital medium, how emerging technology is changing power structures and the flow on effect of filming in a great location.

Series one ends with the two main characters Ned and Jesse Banks upsetting some serious “apple-carts” the cost of which results in some powerful players arriving on their doorstep.  Allowing the powers to be to let the media circus move onto something new, Ned and Jesse Banks are left having to pay for their activities.

With a complex set of stories, series two sees Ned and Jesse Banks faced with extradition warrants from the USA after their role in the theft of restricted data.  They have the opportunity to work off that sentence by assisting the authorities in their attempt to track down the character who is operating on the “dark net”.  

“Because it’s a political thriller I won’t tell you who. But as the series unfolds what we will discover is that it is a much more complicated set of stories that the characters are involved in, all is not what it seems,” says Birse.

After having travelled in Israel Ms Birse says “series one was developed on the heels of the Arab Spring. There were young Australians in Israel who where really doing incredible things to get that story out and we felt that we were able to ride that currency for series one.”

Arab Spring is a moment in history when a young generation with their digital prowess and brains changed the course of history as a consequence, against a government determined to have that story remain hidden.

“Then, just as we had begun working on series two the Edward Snowden revelations started to come out and we were at a new level of consciousness about what was being done around the digital space and how much of our privacy we give away.  

“We felt in terms of the cyber angle for our story there was a reason to go there.  The danger of being a journalist felt like it had been again raised to the top of the list, they do such a heroic job,” commented Ms Birse.

With the copious amounts of research that takes place around writing a modern political thriller that centres on media manipulation, corruption and cover ups at the highest levels of government, Ms Birse advised that there needs to be some time for the fiction to take its own shape.  

“So much of what we are doing when we tell these types of stories is wanting it to be based on truth as much as possible and yet really needing to be careful we don’t end up in court. Particularly with the Snowden revelations and looking at the NSA programs that are in place, they’re just so resonate for what we are doing.

"So what we hope we are doing is delivering a feel from the headlines and yet also telling a story that is fictional and entertaining.  In lots of ways what I have witnessed is sometimes that we would be looking at stories and saying why aren’t people talking about this and then once you dig around those stories have been written and that relationship between drama and journalism can be a good marriage to a public who occasionally can feel a bit politically fatigued by the constant shock of terrible things going on," said Birse.

Careful not to dilute the power of good journalism through TV drama, Birse claims that “not for a second are these stories replacing those journalistic stories at all.  It’s about can we sing that song with a different voice and contribute a little bit to the debate,” advised Birse.

Having recently participated in the Sydney’s Writers Festival, Ms Birse commented that it was discussed that there was a sudden surge in political dramas and whether there was too much.  “I feel like having had such an absence of political drama in Australia for such a long time that I can’t see that there has been too much, as long as it is entertaining watching, we can’t have too much… I feel like the lack of political debate is more worrying.”

When asked if fiction was better than non-fiction at showing or telling the truth of what really happens in politics, Ms Birse advised adamantly that she did not think that was the case. Referring to hard core robust political journalism and investigative journalism as the architectural plumbing which holds people to account and changes the world causing enquiries, where the real leg work and capacity for change happens.  “I think drama does a great job at injecting emotion into it and sometimes people need emotion in order to engage with an idea.  There can be an attitudinal shift change by drama,” claims Birse.

With the new story experience currently in the making in Port Douglas and around the Shire, Ms Birse said that they have moved 180 degrees into new story terrain. With Port Douglas not being fictionalised and with the film scenes of our coastal region taking advantage of the mountains and sea, together with a significant set in the bush on a regional property,  will add further to the first series Australian landscapes attracting international appeal.  

“I have listened to people in LA talk about the show as an Australian production as an equal amongst those which are made on incredibly bigger budgets, but what they don’t have is this beautiful landscape and they don’t have Australian crews.  There was a lot of jaw dropping  when we talked about what Australian crews were able to achieve in the amount of time they do.  Everyone works at optimum and then some,”

Using local talent is a fundamental factor from the word go said Birse as well as encouraging any budding film makers, writers, directors or producers to consider work experience and volunteering.  “I think crews are very generous in their spirit and production companies are now more in the business of making sure new talent comes along so there are lots of internships and opportunities.”

Birse said their experience with the Douglas Shire for the entire production has been positive commenting that working with organisations that are saying “yes how can we help you” is a pleasant experience.

“When you are in a gorgeous location with an easy filming experience as well as easy to get around and is friendly and has a fantastic look on screen, when the production is over you’ve got fifty people getting on a plane talking about how great it was, then more and more location managers consider it as an option because it really worked,” said Birse.