New Zealand’s funniest people are once again teaming up to make you laugh. Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, directors and stars of the hilarious vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, are working on developing a spin-off series of the movie. The Hollywood Reporter had the story.
The spin-off, titled Paranormal Event Response Unit, will follow oblivious police officers Karen (Karen O’Leary) and Mike (Mike Minogue) – two minor characters from the film – as they protect the citizens of Wellington from all sorts of supernatural beasts.
Clement and Waititi’s previous television credits include the HBO musical comedy series Flight of the Conchords. Clement has also starred in several films, including Men in Black 3, Rio, and the upcoming Disney film Moana. Waititi wrote and directed the cult classic film Eagle vs. Shark (also starring Clement), and is currently directing Thor: Ragnarok for Marvel.
Paranormal Event Response Unit has been granted 1$ million towards the production of six 30-minute episodes. The money is being provided by broadcast funding agency NZ On Air.
“Comedy is serious business and notoriously hard to get right. We are delighted that Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi are bringing their talents to smaller screens”, said Jane Wrightson, chief executive of NZ On Air.
Paranormal Event Response Unit will air locally in New Zealand on channel TVNZ 2. There has been no word yet on whether the show will be broadcast in North America. Hopefully Netflix will get wind of this and correct the situation as soon as possible.