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Us studios have bought the format rights to Offspring, Fat Cow Motel and East West 101. Word of the deals emerged today during panel sessions at Spa.s Screen Forever conference. Endemol Worldwide Distribution has sold Offspring to Us producer Mandeville Television, which has done a script deal with the ABC network. Mandeville Television president Laurie Zaks told If that if the show gets the go-ahead it will be produced by herself and Mandeville principals David Hoberman and Todd Leiberman. She said she hoped the show.s creators, John Edwards and Imogen Banks, will be involved in the Us remake. During a panel on Selling Formats to the Us, Hoodlum Entertainment.s Tracey Robertson said a format deal for mystery Fat Cow Motel has been signed with the ABC network, negotiated by her Us agent ICM. In turn she said ABC has funnelled the project to ABC Studios and a writer has been attached.

It seems controversy leads to awards. The two big winners at last night.s inaugural Aacta Awards were thriller feature film Snowtown and TV drama series The Slap. Both renowned for their controversial nature, the film and TV series netted four and five gongs respectively.

Snowtown, about Australian serial killer John Bunting who befriends a 16-year-old, was honoured in the Best Direction (Justin Kurzel), Best Adapted Screenplay (Shaun Grant), Best Actor (Daniel Henshall) and Best Supporting Actress (Louise Harris) categories.

The last two awards were particularly impressive as neither actor had appeared in a feature film before. While Henshall had previously acted in such shows as Out of the Blue, it was Harris. first ever acting role.

The four gongs awarded last night at the Sydney Opera House brings the film.s tally to an impressive six Aacta Awards after receiving Best Editing (Veronika Jenet Ase) and Best Sound (Frank Lipson Mpse,...

Director Stephan Elliott took the opportunity to deliver a serve to film critic Jim Schembri at the inaugural Aacta awards at the Sydney Opera House last night. Elliott bit back at Schembri’s review of A Few Best Men, which branded the film ‘unreleasable’. Despite Schembri’s review, the film opened with solid box office takings last weekend. In a lengthy rant, Elliott slammed Schembri for “personal attacks” within the review of the film as he lashed out at people unwilling to support the Australian film industry. Elliott told the audience that his tirade would be removed from Channel Nine’s delayed broadcast of the awards as producers had flagged this, along with several other categories, to be excluded prior to the show.

The Aacta ceremony, delivered minus a host, saw box office champion Red Dog take home the best film award but the biggest success of the night was...

The Hunter has lead the Aacta Awards with 14 nominations including best film.

The film, by Daniel Nettheim, is also up for best direction, adapted screenplay, cinematography, sound, production design, costume, original music score, and visual effects. Meanwhile, Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill and Morgana Davies are all up for acting awards.

The film has currently made just over $1m at the local box office.

It’s the first year for the re-launched AACTAs, formerly the AFI awards.

The technical awards will be given out at a luncheon on 15 January at the Sydney Opera House, with an evening ceremony for the more ‘public-friendly’ awards held at the Opera House on 31 January.

Running against The Hunter for best film is Red Dog, Mad Bastards, The Eye of the Storm, Snowtown and Oranges and Sunshine.

The Eye of the Storm, was second in the nominations race with 12, of which six are...

The Australian Writers’ Guild has announce the nominations for its 44th Awgie Awards.

The writers of Australia’s best stage, screen and radio scripts have been nominated across 23 awards, including Shaun Grant (Snowtown), Alice Addison (The Hunter), Jonathan Teplitzky (Burning Man) and Tony Krawitz

(The Tall Man) all screening at Tiff.

Awg President, Academy Award nominee Jan Sardi said in a statement, ‘The foundation of all great productions is the script. Each year the Awgie Awards recognise and celebrate the creators of those foundations, the writers. The nominations for this year’s Awgie awards clearly demonstrate the high standard of Australian performance writing. Some of the writers honoured today are familiar names, underscoring the consistent excellence of their work and ongoing contribution to our industry. Equally exciting are the new names and titles reflecting the breadth and vibrancy of Australian scriptwriting talent.”

As well as announcing the winners of the below categories,...

East West 101 has returned to Australian television screens. The Sbs show's leading cast members Susie Porter and Don Hany, who play Patricia Wright and Zane Malik respectively, said that they are looking forward to starring in the police series again. According to The Daily Telegraph, the show was almost axed after producer Steve Knapman worried that he couldn't compete with the success of the first series. Porter said: "They were not going to go ahead with season two because they couldn't get their angles to the stories right. So it was kind of touch and (more)...

Knapman Wyld’s police drama for Sbs, East West 101, has won an Accolade Award of Excellence in Los Angeles for the upcoming third and final season.

“For the second year in a row we are thrilled East West 101 has been awarded with an Accolade Award. Sbs is incredibly proud of the series; it is captivating television with brilliant writing and direction, as well as a stellar cast and crew. To continue to be recognised in the world wide market is an attribute of this brilliant show, said Sbs Director of Television and Online Content Matt Campbell.

Producer and co-creator Steve Knapman said the company was very pleased to win the award for the second time.

“Knowing the hard work that goes into the series from the cast and crew – recognition on an international scale is the best award of all,” he said.

One of the most acclaimed TV series of recent years, East West 101, is trying to expand its audience and become a mainstream hit with its third and final season.

The jewel in the Sbs drama crown is a series about a major crime squad investigating crime in multicultural Sydney. “When we first started East West 101 we were living in a post 9/11 world, so it was very much about fear of Islam. The second season was about boat people and attitudes towards illegal immigration and what lengths governments and people would go to deal with that. Season three is about how the war goes on in Afghanistan and the effects of combat on service men and civilians and how that is reflected in Australia,” explained producer Kris Wyld.

“The series questions, what makes a hero? Is there even such a thing as a hero,” added Steve Knapman.

The first...