News

‘The Bureau of Magical Things.’

Shooting of the second series of Jonathan M. Shiff Productions’ The Bureau of Magical Things resumed in Queensland on June 29, one of the first to restart after the lockdown.

Directors Evan Clarry and Martha Goddard completed the first 10 of 20 half-hour episodes last week and Grant Brown is now directing the remaining 10.

The company’s founder tells If about the new shooting protocols, the extra costs involved and the need to rewrite scripts, and his fears that live action children’s TV is doomed unless the TV Producer Offset is doubled to 40 per cent.

Q: I assume you are using the COVIDSafe guidelines, adapted to the specific needs of your production?

A: Our Covid-Safe guidelines and on-set protocols are extensive and are based on the Australian Screen Production Industry Guidelines as well as those provided by Queensland Health and basic workplace safety requirements. There was extensive...

Julian Cullen and Kimie Tsukakoshi in ‘The Bureau of Magical Things.’ (Photo credit: Mark Taylor)

Screen production in Queensland is set to restart with the second season of Jonathan M. Shiff Productions’ The Bureau of Magical Things and a rom-com feature from the Steve Jaggi Company.

The cameras will roll on Shiff’s children’s fantasy, which was shut down in March, on June 29 on the Gold Coast.

On the same day, Jaggi and director Christine Luby will begin shooting This Little Love of Mine in Cairns. Scripted by Georgia Harrison, it’s a co-production with Nicely Entertainment, an La-based distribution and production company recently launched by former Gaumont exec Vanessa Shapiro.

Jaggi is producing with Kelly Son Hing and Spencer McLaren; the cast will be announced next week.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Shiff’s 20-part series is employing more than 200 cast and crew and injecting more than $8.5 million into the State’s economy.

‘The Bureau of Magical Things’.

A second season of Jonathan M. Shiff’s Aacta Award-winning children’s series The Bureau of Magical Things will enter production next month in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

With major investment from distributor Zdf Enterprises, Screen Queensland and Screen Australia, the series will air on Network 10 locally, as well Zdf Germany and Nickelodeon, who previously bought the first season for the Us and 170 other territories.

The 20-part second season will continues the adventures of Kyra, a teenage girl who acquired magical powers when caught in a clash between an elf and a fairy. In this new series, when Kyra and Darra embark on a quest to find a legendary lost temple, Kyra’s orb magic accidentally awakens a dangerous object causing fairy and elf magic to malfunction. As the danger escalates, Kyra must risk everything to deal with a threat that endangers the...

The Aftrs Open Summer School — now in its third year — has expanded to 17 intensive courses, including a new six-week doco school and a six-week film school.

These introductory and intermediate film courses running between November and January are designed for intensive learning and the chance to upskill in the rapidly changing media landscape.

Amongs the screen industry speakers and lecturers are writer/director David Caesar (Nowhere Boys, Underbelly, Dirty Deeds, Mullet), cinematographer Ross Emery (The Wolverine, Woman In Gold, I Frankenstein), TV writer Vicki Madden (The Bill, Water Rats, Blood Brothers, McLeod.s Daughters and Foxtel drama The Kettering Incident), feature film director Elissa Down (The Black Balloon, Offspring) and documentary director/producer Madeleine Heatherton (Call Me Dad, Bondi Rescue, The Nest,. Last Chance Surgery, Outback Truckies).

Also screenwriter Ian David ( Police Crop: The Winchester Conspiracy, Police State, Joh's Jury, Blue Murder, Killing Time, 3 Acts of Murder, The Shark Net,...

UK producer Kevin Loader joins comedy drama B Model, to be directed by actor Rachel Griffiths.

Now that it is likely to be set up as a UK/Australian co-production, prolific UK producer Kevin Loader (In the Loop, Hyde Park on Hudson, Le Week-End) has become part of the team behind the comedy drama B Model, to be directed by actor Rachel Griffiths.

Griffiths has directed two shorts, Roundabout and Tulip and this will be her first feature – providing the money can be raised.

Australian producer Louise Smith was reluctant to provide details of the project precisely because it is yet to be financed. The current draft of the script is being written by Samantha Stauss, co-creator of the series Dance Academy.

B Model is included in a list of 18 features that Screen Australia has injected a total of Us$500,000 worth of development money into in the last four months.

One of the...

Screen Australia today announced nearly $535,000 in development funding for 18 features including projects set in Canada, inner-city Berlin, Mexico City, Vietnam, the Middle East and medieval England.

The genres range from family and musical to comedy, drama, thriller, sci-fi and action. The funding will support eight new projects as well as further assistance for 10 titles.

Through its Talent Escalator programs, the agency is placing three producers in professional posts to improve their direct industry experience and supporting short film director Nicholas Verso in the next stage of his professional development.

Screen Australia.s Head of Production Sally Caplan said, .In this round it is encouraging to see such a great range of Australian stories receive support from filmmakers at different levels, some with international creative partners and several with international focus.

"We are also pleased to be able to support emerging local talent with international placements that will increase our industry...

Two Australian films will feature in competition at the Sydney Film Festival, while five local features will get their world premieres.

Dead Europe, directed by Tony Krawitz, and Lore directed by Cate Shortland will compete In Competition, which carries a $60,000 prize.

For both films the festival will be their world premiere, along with other local features Not Suitable For Children, Mabo and Being Venice.

Krawitz’s Dead Europe is written by Louise Fox, adapted from a Christos Tsiolkas novel of the same name. It is produced by Liz Watts of Porchlight Films and Oscar-winner Emile Sherman of See Saw Films. The film is about an Australian photographer who visits his ancestral homeland of Greece after his father’s death. It will be Dead Europe’s world premiere.

Also in competition is Lore, Cate Shortland’s first film since debut Somersault. Again produced by Liz Watts, the film is an adaptation...

Cate Shortland and Tony Krawitz, who are married to each other, both have films among the 12 titles in competition at next month.s Sydney Film Festival.

Lore, a drama set during World War II and based on the novel The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert, is Shortland.s feature film follow-up to Somersault, while Dead Europe, also set in Europe but a contemporary story adapted from a novel by Christos Tsiolkas, is Krawitz.s first dramatic feature film after his acclaimed short Jewboy and the recent documentary The Tall Man. Tsiolkas also wrote The Slap, on which the acclaimed television series was based.

The other debuts in the competition line-up include Korean filmmaker Yuen Sang-Ho.s The King Of Pigs, Us director Benh Zeitlin.s Beasts of the Southern Wild and Brazilian Kleber Mendonca Filho.s Neighbouring Sounds.

The veterans in the program include Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, with their...

Six teams have been accepted into Screen Australia’s Springboard short development initiative, with the projects Please Explain, Bon Scott, The Last Hurrah, Scratch the Surface, Cat Night Morning and Dieback.

The teams will participate in two workshops to develop their short and revisit their feature script. Three projects will go into production, with a budget of up to $150,000.

Springboard will be run by screenwriting teachers and script consultants Simon van der Borgh and Jonathan Rawlinson.

The six teams are:

Leanne Tonkes (p), Steve Kearney (p), Anna Broinowski (w/d) with political satire Please Explain Lizzette Atkins (p), Sophie Edelstein (w), Eddie Martin (d) with biopic Bon Scott Sheila Jayadev (p), Matthew Zeremes (w), Oliver Torr (w), Martha Goddard (d) with drama The Last Hurrah Jannine Barnes (p), Grant Scicluna (w/d) with psychological thriller Scratch the Surface · Annmaree Bell (p), Cj Johnson (w/d) with caper Cat Night Morning...