“We hadn’t worked with Jay before and were delighted to find him to be creative with a keenly perceptive eye” comments Preston.

When Jay Cassells returned to Queenstown after 20 years based in Australia as an entertainment and intellectual property lawyer he had already been involved in a number of New Zealand and Australian film and television projects including Roger Donaldson’s Sleeping Dogs, Sam Pillsbury’s The Scarecrow, the 20th Century Fox animated feature Fern Gully, and John Clarke’s satirical series The Games.

He is a partner in Huntaway Productions, a production company established in 1999 with Sam Neill and John Clarke. In 2000 Huntaway Films was established to associate produce Perfect Strangers with Gaylene Preston Productions.

Cassells is presently producing The Murray Whelan Series, two tele-movies, Stiff and The Brush Off, starring David Wenham and directed respectively by John Clarke and Sam Neill.