The First Seeds Sown
We want to take a moment to thank the Herald Sun for their support. As an independently funded project, the support of the Herald Sun has expanded our opportunities to hopefully find a streaming platform who will help us make the last step to seeing Vendetta 19 put into full production. The pilot episode will be available in select cinemas this summer, with cast and crew present, and we look forward to seeing you all there!!
In 2024 production began on the pilot of a new TV streaming series the depicts the full lead up to the 1919 Fitzroy Vendetta.
Moving through the late 1890s with the rise of push gangs, the rise of the opium dens and Chinese lotteries, the dominance of the police unit known as the terrible 10 in 1900, the female matrix moved in to the landscape of the criminal underworld by 1905, and then the ultimate bloodbath that led to only one person remaining alive and not in prison, Vendetta 19 presents the most incredible Australian true crime story of all time.
As the Vendetta raged across Melbourne’s inner suburbs until the end of 1919 leaving only Squizzy Taylor as the most notorious organized criminal and True Crime figure alongside the likes of Al Capone’s, Ned Kelly, and the Kray twins.
Vendetta 19 will drop in selected cinemas across Melbourne and Adelaide in October 2024. Please share to your networks and follow Vendetta 19 for updates
On the set of Vendetta 19, we have never lost sight of the fact that the content we are creating is a true story about real people who have families who are alive today and deeply connected to the work we are doing. Preserving their dignity and being able to present these stories in a way that gives truth and unbiased sympathy to all parties is extremely important to us.
We were truly blessed to have Josh drop by and meet the cast. As the great grandson of Squizzy Taylor, Josh has a deep connection to the production and has taken an intelligent and deep interest in what we are doing. We are extremely grateful to have him spend some time with the star of our show, Tom Levi, and talk about some of the finer qualities of his great grandfather. Make sure you give a gesture of thanks to the families who have contributed so much to this production.
Dolly’s descendants also dropped by to meet with Shylie Arzouan playing Dolly Gray and meet the rest of the cast. We were blessed to get a photo with both families, decades after their ancestors had made their mark on Melbourne in the 1900-1920s.
It’s at this inspiring moment, halfway through the filming of Vendetta 19, we remind all of you just how much we appreciate you. The following that we have gathered, and the people who have supported us to get here in the first place is amazing. please remember to share our posts and if you have the means, please remember to support us with a donation. Vendetta 19 has been completely crowded funded, with no support or grants from external organisations. Your gifts and contributions are essential to making this in amazing product!!
https://www.gofundme.com/…/help-fund-a…/donate…
Is infamy as powerful as fame? Or is fear a better weapon? Playing the role of Dolly Gray, Shylie Arzouan has stepped into the role with a combination of charm and terrifying charisma as the wife of one of Australia’s most iconic organised criminals of all time, it should perhaps be said that Squizzy Taylor was the husband of this truly formidable woman.
Vendetta 19 hits selected cinemas this October.
Did we mention that shooting for Vendetta 19 starts each day at 4am? And while you would be right to assume that this would be enough to make anyone grumpy, we have been blessed with some amazingly generous, upbeat and talented actors, and the smiles on their faces tell it all!! Unlike the actual misery that went down in Edwardian prisons, our cast are a jolly bunch and we are thrilled by what they each bring!
Vendetta 19 drops in October 2024. You can contribute to the making of this exciting project boy donating to the GoFundMe at: Donate to Vendetta 19 – The Screenplay Pilot (gofundme.com)
(Written by Roy Maloy)
This has been a long journey. So long, in fact, that it feels like a lifetime ago since I began. I began this project as a reaction to a conversation I had. One of my closest friends is a fierce protector of women’s spaces in all areas of life, and she told me something that actually shocked me. I was discussing my work with her, and that I am proud that I have been able to re-include a number of women into the collective memory of Australian crime history and emphasise the power they possessed at that time. And then my friend asked if I had come across The Bechdel Test.
If you are unfamiliar with it, the Bechdel Test is a measure for gauging the representation of women and their roles in cinema. A number of very impressive female movie makers and actors had pushed for some time to be able to fill roles or at least see roles developed in film and television that didn’t simply require the woman to stand by and be saved by a man. I had never come across this before, and it had never occurred to me.
As I googled different aspects of this, I came across the work that Geena Davis (of Thelma & Louise fame) was doing. Geena has set up a foundation to support movies and writers who create pieces that position women in screenplays to have main roles, equal dialogue and not be represented as flimsy, desperate and pathetic humans, as Hollywood has a habit of portraying them as.
On somewhat of a whim, I reached out to the foundation, not even expecting a response, but I sent them an email telling them about a few people that they may like to look into as options for creating film content. These included the people I had researched such as the Madam of Melbourne, Dolly Gray, the sly grog baroness Bridget Mahoney and the most prolific bordello madam in Australian history Minnie Clark. I don’t think I actually even expected a response. But when I did receive a response, it was not only a massive surprise, but it also challenged me in a way I had never been challenged before. The response was not only personable and supportive, but it put to me the question I should’ve been able to ask myself. The person who wrote to me asked why I hadn’t already written a piece like the one I was telling them to write. If I had all the information, what was stopping me from writing a screenplay myself, with these kinds of characters represented the way they should be?
Their response begins a chain of events that invest me completely in the goal of writing this piece. For those of you who are new to my work, I have a very prolific output. I try to write between 2000 to 3000 words every day, which has resulted in me publishing between three and four books every year for many years now. Being able to move from research, non-fiction, and fiction was also an incredibly rewarding challenge that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Skip forward three years, and the screenplay had been sitting in my Google Docs for a long time. It was something I thoroughly enjoyed writing, as nine full seasons, but it remained something I didn’t have any idea what to do with next. It turned out that it was one thing to write the piece, but entirely another to understand how it goes from being written into an actual screenplay production. I’ve begun the process of applying for grants over a two-year period, but again and again was rejected by 17 of them. All of them told me that I didn’t have the ability to produce a screenplay. It was only when I met producer Gracie Kay and cinematographer Stuart Jaymes that this project fully fell into place.
This Saturday we will go into filming for the third time, and we will try and capture more of the scenes that I have written as a part of this screenplay. This Saturday we will be filming scenes that depict the power of one of the key players from Vendetta 19, and showing a very authentic style of underworld activity run by Dolly Gray. The scenes show her in a position of power over men, seeking retribution and making a particular man pay for his wrongs. This scene is also extremely likely to be on point for its authenticity, historically and socially.
I want to finish this piece by again, thanking everybody who has contributed to the crowdfunding side of this project. The costs from project has been funded by myself out of my own pocket from the money I make in my day job. I have included below a link for the GoFundMe that was set up sometime ago in the hopes that some of you might have the ability to contribute towards the costs of this incredible project. I’m committed to seeing this across the line at my pocket, but anything you can also contribute to will help enormously at this time.
One of the most untold stories in Australian History is that of the women who ran Melbourne’s Underworld in the lead up to the 1919 Fitzroy Vendetta.
In a time when women were enslaved and victimised openly, Dolly Gray organised a landscape that would support her ability to support and empower working girls to have slightly more control over their industry and fates. Her role through the story of the 1919 Vendetta is such that if she were not a part of it, the Vendetta would never have escalated to the bloodbath it became. The role of people like Dolly in our community is as important as the suffragette movement and it has been imperative therefor that we were able to find and cast an actor who could do justice to the role. And we can proudly say that we have found the perfect candidate in Shylie Arzouan.
Enchanted by the magic of storytelling, Shylie Arzouan first fell in love with theatre as a little girl. This early passion grew into a dedicated pursuit, leading her to become a dynamic actor.
Reviews describe Shylie as an “actor that brings all her characters to vivid life regardless of stage time”, “one of the evening’s highlights” and “the most startling, unexpected impact”, and we look forward to seeing high praising reviews of her work in Vendetta 19.
Shylie has embodied a variety of roles in the independent theatre scene, playing the lead as Cleo in “Cleo’s Stratos” (2023) and Lola in “Hunger” (2023), presented by She Writes at Theatre Works. Shylie showcased her versatility with a one-woman performance as Ros, playing multiple characters in Cracked Actors Theatre Script in Development Award-winning production of “Happy Ever After” (2022).
Her supporting roles include Emmylou in “Rain Falling on the Abattoir” (2022), as well as Rosa in “The Family Tree” (2022) and the comedic caricature of mother in “The Fly” (2022). Shylie also played Throat in “Kill All Climate Deniers” (2022), written by Greenroom award winner, David Finnigan.
Outside of acting, Shylie is studying psychology, enjoys working with children as a nanny, a high school musical director as well as making art in her spare time. Her creative heart and passion for learning enrich both her personal and professional life.
Vendetta 19 drops in October 2024.
Staying true to the narrative of Dolly Gray’s life is equally as important to us in the production of Vendetta 19 as the casting of the characters in the screenplay. The story of Dolly Gray travels alongside a number of women from all walks of life. As is the case in the modern era, working girls come from all walks of life, and it was important to us to depict the truth as seen in the bordello scenes to show a variety of women who were filling these roles.
Joining the cast is an impressive actor named Amber Louka, who will be representing the women who take on such work, while finding it extremely difficult to do so. No easy fete, and her acting skills have been put to the test throughout the rehearsal period to bring magic to the screen.
Amber Louka is an Egyptian-Australian actress and creative based in Naarm/Melbourne.
Graduate from the National Theatre Drama School (Australia) with an Advanced Diploma of Acting, she was also the recipient of the Cybec Scholarship Award in her final year of study. She has studied at other highly acclaimed acting institutions, including; The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), The Australian Film & Television Academy and 16th Street Actors Studios.
Since her graduation, Amber has performed in a number of stage and screen productions; Colony, a passion film project with Lilydale Films (directed by Ric Forster), A Tomb With A View, a theatrical production which received rave reviews at the Essendon Theatre Company (directed by Les Morley-Hart), Jinx, a short film that made its debut on the Melbourne International Film Festival streaming service MIFF Play (directed by Harry Brakha), and Cabin 217, which received several film festival nominations (directed by Julia Sammut & Stacey-Lea Clark).
Amber’s always had an immense dedication to the arts and a passion for bringing truthful stories and relationships to audiences. Her next endeavour on the highly anticipated Vendetta 19 series will be no different.
Award winning author Roy Maloy will make his directional debut, with Gotcha Productions, in the infamous world of Squizzy Taylor. The pilot episode drops in October 2024, and is not one to be missed!
The casting of Vendetta 19 was never going to be easy. Critical to the production was the casting of the role of none other than Squizzy Taylor. It was also a difficult casting project for the sake that the role was casting a young Squizzy Taylor. However, as fate would have it, we were lucky enough to land an actor who we think is the absolutely ideal candidate for the role.
Tom Levi was born and raised in the countryside of Ballarat, Victoria and has resided there ever since. Tom first came into the acting scene at the age of 15 when he began studying with an international acting coach.
Two years later came Tom’s first acting role in a bit part for the feature film ‘The Dealer’. Ever since then Tom has acted in many short films, small parts in multiple indie feature films, commercials and many other projects. In the last year and a half however, things have started to go on the rise for Tom as he’s been cast in two feature films in major roles. One being the role of Harry Osborn in ‘Spider-Man: Seasons of Fate’ which is currently in production, the other being a horror slasher film currently in pre production. And to add to that list, Tom is now playing one of the most infamous gangsters of all time, as Squizzy Taylor.
Besides acting, Tom has co-created a small indie production company with two friends called Melbourne Underground Cinema Kollective (MUCK) where they are currently working on multiple short films and will eventually branch into feature films.
Production began a week ago, and we can now say that Tom’s acting skills are far above and beyond those we were expecting, and we are blown away by how well suited to this role he is.
