News

Week of meetings for nine sponsored writers.

A contingent of leading Australian screenwriters is in Los Angeles for a week of Hollywood meetings and to attend the Us launch of Showcase, an online platform for writers from NCIS showrunner Shane Brennan’s Scripted Ink.

As Scripted Ink opens a Hollywood office, Brennan has flown over nine sponsored screenwriters to help promote the all-Australian online platform, Showcase, designed to support writers and connect them to the marketplace.

Showcase launches on Monday (24) at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood and offers international producers and financiers the opportunity to browse through more than 150 curated ideas and connect with their creators.

Sigrid Thornton and Aaron Pedersen.

Screen Australia has announced $4 million worth of production investment for one film, two television series and three online projects. They include a film adaptation of book Penguin Bloom, starring Naomi Watts and produced by Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories; a second season of ABC series Mystery Road; Nine’s Seachange reboot; and Roborovski, a Vr project from Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Dev Patel.

Penguin Bloom, to be directed by Glendyn Ivin, is based on the book by Bradley Trevor Greive and has been adapted for the screen by Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps. It follows the true story of a family from Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Watts is Sam Bloom, a young mother who has a near-fatal accident that leaves her unable to walk. As her family struggles to come to terms with their new situation, an injured magpie chick dubbed “Penguin” enters their lives and helps them to cope.

‘Little J and Big Cuz’.

Ned Lander Media’s animated series Little J and Big Cuz is the winner of the inaugural Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network (Sdin) Award.

The Sdin Award was created to honour Australian producers and projects which have made a significant contribution to diversity and inclusion, on and off screen, within the Australian screen industry. Little J and Big Cuz, commissioned by Nitv, is the first animated series specifically targeted at Indigenous children aged 4-6.

The announcement was made at Screen Forever yesterday by Sdin chair Courtney Gibson.

“For decades Ned Lander has been producing screen works in complete creative collaboration with Indigenous screen practitioners, going right back to the feature Wrong Side of the Road, made with the bands No Fixed Address and Us Mob. The creation of the first-ever Australian animated series targeted to an Indigenous audience, Little J and Big Cuz, is a continuation of that collaborative approach,...

Aaron Pedersen as Jay Swan in 'Goldstone'..

Detective Jay Swan, the protagonist in Ivan Sen.s films Mystery Road and Goldstone, is headed to the small screen.

Aaron Pedersen will reprise the role in Mystery Road - The Series, alongside Judy Davis as a small town cop, for the ABC and international distributor All3Media International.

Directed by Rachel Perkins and produced by Bunya Productions. David Jowsey and Greer Simpkin, the 6-part mystery/drama starts shooting in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia in late August..

The plot follows Swan as he investigates the disappearance of two young farm hands on an outback cattle station. One is a local Indigenous footy hero, the other a backpacker. Working with local cop Emma James (Davis), his investigation uncovers a past injustice that threatens the whole community

It is a rare Australian screen role for Davis, who was last seen...

Claire van der Boom. (Photo: David Cook)..

The ABC.s new medical drama.Pulse.goes into production in Sydney today.

The series, from Clandestine Beyond, is inspired by a true story of a transplant patient who became a doctor, and is created by Kris Wyld, Michael Miller and Mel Hill..

Set in a western suburbs teaching hospital, Claire van der Boom (Sisters of War) stars as Frankie Bell, a second year practising doctor who, eight years after her own kidney transplant, is set to start on a renal rotation..

Pulse will also star Andrea Demetriades (Janet King), Owen Teale (Game of Thrones), Liam McIntyre (Spartacus: War of the Damned), Susie Porter (Puberty Blues), Arka Das (Top of The Lake), Penny Cook (A Country Practice), Blessing Mokgohloa (Hunters), Pallavi Sharda (Lion) and Renee Lim (Please Like Me).

The series is produced by Wyld and Antony I. Ginnane, with Beyond Entertainment.s...

Marta Dusseldorp as Janet King..

The third season of Screentime.s ABC drama Janet King, starring Marta Dusseldorp, goes into production this week.

Joining the established cast of Damian Walshe-Howling, Peter Kowitz, Christopher Morris, Andrea Demetriades, Anita Hegh and Hamish Michael for the third instalment will be Don Hany, Robert Mammone, Susie Porter, Andrew Ryan, Huw Higginson, John Bach, Steve Le Marquand, Arka Das and Adam Demos.

This season, Janet will confront .a hornet.s nest of illegal gambling, organised crime and money laundering, while investigating the tragic death of a young sports star..

Written by Greg Haddrick, Felicity Packard, and Niki Aken with Alexa Wyatt as writer/script producer, the season will be directed by Peter Andrikidis, Grant Brown and Catherine Millar.

Janet King is produced by Karl Zwicky and Lisa Scott with Hilary Bonney and Marta Dusseldrop as associate producers. Screentime.s Haddrick, ABC.s Sally Riley and Kym Goldsworthy are executive producers.

Noah Taylor and Yael Stone (and soundie) on set. (Photo: Sean O'Reilly)

An old shed on Glebe Island wharf, littered with boat-building machinery and tools, sets the tone for one of the dramatic final scenes of Sbs.s new four-part series, Deep Water, starring Noah Taylor and Yael Stone..

Stone and Taylor play detectives investigating a brutal murder case which appears to be connected to the real-life gay hate crimes that swept through Sydney in the .80s and .90s.

But it was a more recent murder which spurred Blackfella Films. producers Darren Dale and Miranda Dear to get the series moving.

Dear and Dale, coincidentally were both in Potts Point, Sydney, when a particularly violent murder took place.

.He [Darren] was leaving and I was heading in and we both saw fire engines, ambulances, police cars and Darren stopped at the Atm near the building and heard from residents what had happened,...

Marta Dusseldorp as Janet King.

The ABC has given the greenlight to a third season of Janet King, with shooting expected to begin in the second half of this year..

The show stars Marta Dusseldorp and is produced by Karl Zwicky, and is made with the financial assistance of Screen Nsw, with Dcd Rights handling international sales. . .

Screentime.s Greg Haddrick and the ABC.s Kym Goldsworthy and Alastair McKinnon are executive producers, with Hilary Bonney and Dusseldorp as associate producers.

.We are delighted to have audience favourite Marta Dusseldorp bring her immense talents back for a third season of thrilling drama in Janet King", ABC TV.s Acting Head of Fiction Alastair McKinnon said.

Screentime.s Head of Drama Greg Haddrick commented that .Janet King has been embraced by audiences and critics alike, and we look forward to her continued quest for justice with an innate ability to unravel...

Noah Taylor in the Spierig Bros' Predestination.

Noah Taylor and Orange is the New Black's Yael Stone will star in Sbs.s new four-part crime drama series, Deep Water, produced by Blackfella Films.

Joining them in the crime thriller are Stone's husband Dan Spielman (The Code, Accidental Soldier, Offspring), William McInnes (The Time of Our Lives, The Slap), Danielle Cormack (Wentworth, Rake, Miss Fisher.s Murder Mysteries), Craig McLachlan (The Doctor Blake Mysteries), Ben Oxenbould (The Kettering Incident, Old School, Rake), Simon Burke (Devil.s Playground), John Brumpton (Catching Milat, Miss Fisher.s Murder Mysteries) and others..

Sbs are billing Deep Water as its first "cross-genre, cross-platform event which will include a four-part drama series, a feature documentary and unique online web series and content".

The series is executive produced by Sbs.s Sue Masters, produced by Blackfella Films. Miranda Dear and Darren Dale and written by Kris Wyld...

Network Ten has commissioned a comedy/drama which follows six teenagers at a remote research station on Aboriginal land who investigate the apparent disappearance of a leading scientist.

The Timeshifters (26×24′) is a co-production between Essential Media and Entertainment and Brisbane-based Carbon Media, budgeted at $15.4 million.

Formerly known as Camp Crazy, the series is described as journey of discovery that blurs reality, mythology and time. Each episode works independently within an over-arching story.

The narrative posits that a powerful Black Opal talisman was stolen from a secret cave hidden deep in the rainforest 10 years earlier, shiftng the delicate balance of power within the spirit world.

The teens are forced to become Timeshifters, connect with the land, uncover the dark secret of the research facility and find a way to travel back in time to make sure the Black Opal is never disturbed again..

The series creator, Essential partner/head of kids Carmel Travers,...

Simon Baker will make his feature directing debut, Matchbox Pictures will adapt another Christos Tsiolkas. novel for the ABC and Endemol Australia will produce a female-driven drama for the Nine Network in projects funded by Screen Australia.

Among other funding recipients are a TV spin-off of Tomorrow, When the War Began, a Nowhere Boys telemovie for the ABC and a relationships comedy directed by Tim Ferguson and Marc Gracie.

In total Screen Australia is investing $13.4 million in 12 film and television projects which will trigger production worth $64.3 million.

Baker (The Mentalist) will direct and star in the screen adaptation of Tim Winton.s novel Breath, scripted by Top of the Lake.s Gerard Lee.

The producers are Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, The Notebook), Baker and See Pictures. Jamie Hilton (Backtrack, The Little Death).

Arclight is pitching the 1970s-set project to prospective buyers at the Cannes Film Market. The novel focusses on two teenagers,...

Political thriller The Code took the major Awgie award as well as the trophy for best original miniseries at the Australian Writers. Guild awards on Friday night.

The six-hour series, which premieres on ABC on September 21, is written by Blake Ayshford, Shelley Birse and Justin Monjo and produced by Playmaker Media. The major Awgie recognises the best of the night's winners across stage, screen, new media and radio.

The feature film award went to Adelaide writer Matthew Cormack for his first debut feature 52 Tuesdays, the gender-bending drama hailed as .bold and structurally adventurous..

Winner of the best documentary prize was Sally McKenzie for A Woman.s Journey Into Sex.

Andrew Knight was rewarded for his script for Essential Media and Entertainment.s telemovie The Broken Shore, adapted from the Peter Temple novel. Writer/director Peter Duncan won best TV series script for Essential.s Rake.

Niki Aken and Felicity Packard...

Kim Mordaunt won the Australian Writers. Guild best original screenplay award for his debut film The Rocket and Cate Shortland and Robin Mukherjee got the feature film adaptation prize for Lore at the Awgie awards held in Melbourne on Friday night.

David Roach and Warwick Ross.s Red Obsession took the award for public broadcast documentary screenplay.

Underbelly again won best original mini -series and Robert Connolly.s Underground: The Julian Assange Story was named best telemovie adaptation.

The $25,000 Foxtel prize for a significant and impressive body of work in television went to Jacquelin Perske, whose screenwriting credits include The Secret Life of Us, Love My Way, Spirited and Little Fish.

The Good News Week writing team received a ninth Awgie for the final season of the series.

Playwright Alana Valentine picked up three awards including most outstanding script of 2013 and the inaugural David Williamson Prize.

Australian Writers. Guild president Jan Sardi said,...

Screen Australia has announced $17m investment across 14 projects including feature films and both adult and children’s television.

The investment is expected to trigger $97m in production.

The list of productions include: black comedy The Mule by co-writers/co-producers Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson with direction from Tony Mahony about a drug mule caught by authorities and Antony I Ginnane’s remake of Patrick, directed by Not Quite Hollywood’s Mark Hartley.

Also on the list is The Grandmothers, written by Christopher Hampton (A Dangerous Method) and director Anne Fontaine (Coco Avant Chanel) and starring Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel and James Frecheville in the adaptation of Doris Lessing’s novel.

For TV, the telemovie Underground by Matchbox Pictures, written and directed by Robert Connolly tells the story of a teenage Julian Assange hacking computer systems; and two TV productions by John Edwards Southern Star, a serialised version of...

SYDNEY -- Melbourne playwright Melissa Reeves took the main prize at this year's Australian Writers' Guild awards, held in Melbourne Friday, for her play "The Spook", while Michael Frank was the surprise winner for best screenplay for the independent film "Ra Choi". Set in 1965 in Victoria, "The Spook" is based on a true story about a teenager who was recruited as "a sparrow" to spy on the local communist party branch and did so for 22 years. Frank's drama beat recent award-winning contenders such as "Little Fish" and "Look Both Ways". Winners in the television category included Kym Goldsworthy for "Dinosaur Hunt", Kevin Nemeth for "Tracey McBean", Louise Crane-Bowes for "Home and Away", Louise Fox for "Love My Way" and John Alsop for " R.A.N." "The Glass House" won best TV comedy while Tony Krawitz won best original telefilm for "Jewboy". Best adaptation went to Peter Duncan for "Hell Has Harbour Views".