Waititi, Clement partner on Kiwi comedy

Auckland-based prodco Augusto is producing a comedy series with Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) and Oscar winner Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) attached.

Taika Waititi (photo: Gage Skidmore via CC)

Ass revolves around the life of a depressed and broke puppeteer who reluctantly accepts to work with his ex-fiancée on a top-secret gig. The job sees them fill in for a famous donkey actor on a popular American political comedy after the superstar animal goes missing.

The comedy was created by comedian Cori Gonzalez-Macuer and screenwriter Louis Mendiola, whose script has been picked up by Augusto for television adaptation. Daniel Story and Cass Avery are producing.

Clement will direct the series, with Waititi exec producing. The New Zealand creatives are both exec producers on FX comedy series What We Do in the Shadows, based on the 2014 film of the same name that they wrote and starred in.

Discussions are currently underway with US showrunners and VoD platforms regarding the distribution of Ass, which is set to begin production next year.

Gonzalez-Macuer said: “I’ve worked on a few things over the years, but this project feels like it’s actually going somewhere. It’s an awesome combination of working with Louis, a production company that is actually investing in us, and now, with Taika and Jemaine involved, it’d be pretty weird if we fucked it up.”