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Big Table Media, the production company behind the Crashers franchise on Diy among others, has been acquired by longtime executives Wendi Fontes and Geoff Davis. Fontes and Davis have assumed majority ownership from co-founder and managing partner Peter Holmes, who will remain with the company, and co-founder Bill Swan, who has announced his retirement. Fontes and Davis will lead the company as executive producers and co-owners.

“Peter and Bill not only built a strong foundation for us to build from, but also created a unique company culture which sets us up for success,” said Fontes. “We’re excited to have this great opportunity to do what we love, in our home city, with a great team alongside of us.”

Under the deal, Fontes and Davis have hired former Grb Studios executive Megan Reeves as Svp of Development.

Fontes started with the company in 2008, climbing the ranks to VP of Productions and Operations.

Big Table Media, the production company behind the Diy Network series “Crashers,” has been acquired from its founders by longtime executives Wendi Fontes and Geoff Davis.

Fontes and Davis have taken a majority stake in the Los Angeles-based company from co-founders Bill Swan and Peter Holmes. Swan is retiring while Holmes will remain with Big Table. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Big Table Media has about 20 full-time employees.

“Peter and Bill not only built a strong foundation for us to build from, but also created a unique company culture which sets us up for success,” Fontes said.

Said Davis: “It’s more exciting than ever to be part of the ever-changing media landscape we live in, and work with our great production partners to create premium content at an affordable price point.”

As part of the transition, Big Table has hired former Grb Studios executive Megan Reeves...

Co-founder Bill Swan is retiring from Big Table Media as part of a management buyout that sees Wendi Fontes and Geoff Davis taking majority control of the reality TV producer best known for Hgtv series like Rock The Block and Windy City Rehab.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but co-founder and managing partner Peter Holmes will remain with Big Table Media, while Fontes and Davis become executive producers and co-owners. "Peter and Bill not only built a strong foundation for us to build from, but also created a unique company culture which sets us up for success,” Fontes ...

The case for flexible release windows for Australian and other independent films has been reinforced by the weekend debuts of My Mistress and Rise. Transmission launched My Mistress, Stephen Lance.s debut feature about the affair between a vulnerable teenager (Harrison Gilbertson) and a French S&M mistress (Emmanuelle Béart), grossing $8,029 at seven Palace locations and $1,329 from the Canberra International Film Festival. Including receipts from Melbourne International Film Festival, the total is $19,020. .My Mistress is a brave debut feature which has sold well internationally to a number of key territories including the Us, UK, Russia, Hong Kong and Japan (somewhat of a coup for an Australian film),. producer Leanne Tonkes tells If. .We had our world premiere at Miff where screenings were sold out. It is a well-known fact that distributing independent films is challenging - getting the word out about a film's screening schedule and creating a groundswell to...

Two very different Australian films, Maya the Bee Movie and William Kelly.s War, had unconventional launches in cinemas last weekend.

Studiocanal opened Maya, the 3D animated feature adapted from the ABC TV series, on 154 screens.

The Australian-German co-production produced by Barbara Stephen, written by Fin Edquist and directed by Alexs Stadermann, grossed $79,000 on Saturday and Sunday.

.Given the limited sessions (1-2 per day) we're pleased with the result,. Studiocanal CEO Robert Slaviero tells If. .The Sunday number was better than Saturday which is a good sign. Hopefully it holds up next weekend..

The theatrical release of the family film voiced by Coco Jack Gillies as Maya with Jacki Weaver, Richard Roxburgh, Noah Taylor, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Justine Clarke and Miriam Margolyes, is a prelude to the December 1 DVD/VoD launch via Beyond Entertainment. As an alternate content title the traditional 120-day holdback does not apply.

Studio 100 Media has...

In a sign of the rising volume of film production, 25 features are eligible for the 4th annual Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) Awards in January.

That.s up from the 15 titles that were in contention for last January.s awards.

The contenders include Russell Crowe.s The Water Diviner, Julius Avery.s Son of a Gun, Stephen Lance.s My Mistress, Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson.s The Mule, Geoff Davis. William Kelly.s War and Jon Hewitt.s Turkey Shoot. Those titles will be among those unspooling at. the Aacta Awards Screenings program to be held from October 6-23 at Event Cinemas, Bondi Junction, and Melbourne.s Palace Cinema Como and Backlot Studios.

Universal is launching The Water Diviner on Boxing Day.. Son of a Gun is set for October 16 via eOne, Ifm/Filmways is releasing William Kelly's War on October 30 and Transmission opens My Mistress...

Phil Avalon, playwright?

Yes, the producer-writer-director-actor wrote his first and only play, The Backstreet General, after graduating from drama school in the 1970s.

The Vietnam-set play was staged at six venues and gave Avalon the idea for a film which he now aims to shoot next year. He.s updated the setting to the current day so he can introduce the theme of terrorism.

The plot follows a young guy named Lenny who is captured by terrorists in Bali, where he learns of a plot to assassinate the Us Vice-President during an upcoming visit to Australia. The protagonist escapes and tries to intervene to thwart the assassination attempt.

Avalon will produce and direct and has co-written the script with Gold Coast-based writer Greg Clayton, with development assistance from Screen Queensland. He is confident of funding the $5 million budget from private investors and the producer offset.

.I had Ffc approval...

William Kelly.s War, a drama set during WW1, will premiere in Cannes in May and be released in Australian cinemas in September.

Based on a true story, it.s the saga of two brothers and their cousin who leave their outback home to go to war and come back to find their family is under siege from a gang of bushrangers.

The writer-director is Geoff Davis, whose only previous experience as a feature director was a micro-budgeted 2003 film, Laughing Stock, a comedy about a middle-aged rock band whose life turns sour, which featured Bud Tingwell.

Davis works for a software company and has spent years in multi-media so he was familiar with digital effects and the post production process.

The producer, Phil Avalon, is in talks with sales agents to represent the film when it premieres at the Cannes market.

Davis. sons Josh and Mat play the brothers, Billy and Jack Kelly,...

This may turn out to be a premature and fanciful call but 2014 is shaping as potentially one of the strongest years for Australian films, commercially and critically, in recent memory.

There are numerous grounds for optimism, starting with the overwhelmingly positive responses and, in some cases, deals for Tracks, The Railway Man, Wolf Creek 2, Felony and Canopy after their world premieres at either the Toronto or Venice film festivals.

Given the talent attached, the slate of films now shooting or in post-production looks highly promising, including Kill Me Three Times, The Rover, Son of a Gun, I, Frankenstein, Predestination, Charlie.s Country, Fell and Now Add Honey.

Added to that are several films from experienced filmmakers that are due to roll soon: Cut Snake, The Dressmaker and Paper Planes.

Industry figures whom If consulted are bullish about the prospects for the year ahead. There is a .very good reason for such optimism,...

Financier/executive producer James M. Vernon has an unusual problem in the Australian film industry: he says he has more money to invest than there are viable projects.

Vernon.s Media Funds Management (Mfm) has co-financed a raft of films including Mark Lamprell.s Goddess, Fred Schepisi.s The Eye of the Storm, Simon Wincer.s The Cup, Stephan Elliott.s A Few Best Men and the soon-to-be-released Brian Trenchard-Smith-directed action thriller Absolute Deception.

Among the Mfm co-funded films in post-production are the Spierig brothers. supernatural thriller Predestination, Russell Scott.s 3D IMAX documentary Hidden Universe and Geoff Davis. WW1 drama The Stolen.

The most recent project Mfm co-funded was Trenchard-Smith.s action comedy Hard Drive, shot on the Gold Coast and starring John Cusack and Thomas Jane.

Typically Mfm provides up to 100% of the producer offset, up to 100% on pre-sales and gap financing based on qualified sales agency sales estimates.

Some 20 minutes of Patrick, director Mark Hartley.s re-imagining of Richard Franklin.s 1978 Australian psychological thriller, was screened for Us and international distributors at the Cannes Film Market.

Producer Antony I. Ginnane was pleased with the feedback and is hoping the film will be selected for the Toronto International Film Festival in October, which he believes would be the launch pad for a raft of sales.

In Cannes the international sales agent Bankside Films sold the pic, which stars Charles Dance, Sharni Vinson and Rachel Griffiths, to distributors in Turkey and the Middle East. Patrick will premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival in July and will open in cinemas in October via Umbrella Entertainment.

Ginnane produced the original, which starred Robert Helpmann, Susan Penhaligon and Robert Thompson. It was a breakthrough for the producer as it was snapped up by theatrical distributors worldwide. It made a ton of money...

Gold Coast-based veteran writer, producer and director Phil Avalon is currently developing a World War I film, The Stolen, with director Geoff Davis. After more than two years. production, the film is close to completion.

The Stolen follows an unknown soldier who grew up on a farm in Queensland, signing up at a very young age to join the war. He returns home only to find that his family destroyed by bushrangers who have killed his father and kidnapped his sister.

Avalon first heard of the film through actor and good friend Tony Bonner, who appeared in his last film, surfing drama Liquid Bridge (2003), which also starred Ryan Kwanten.

.Bonner had been in the film for a while at that time., Avalon recalls. .He suggested that I have a look at this project. So I had a look at the scripts and the vision of the director Geoff Davis. And...

The award-winning GI Film Festival (Giff), the nation’s only military-themed film festival, is pleased to announce the full schedule of events for the 2012 event, which will feature premiere military film screenings, celebrity appearances, red carpet parties and more. The festival will take place Monday, May 14 through Sunday, May 20, 2012 in Washington, DC. For ticketing information and the program schedule, visit www.gifilmfestival.com

The 6th annual Giff film line-up offers 42 film screenings representing every branch of the military and spanning five wars. Over the course of the six-day event, the festival will offer 23 narrative films and 19 documentaries covering every genre conceivable . from action and adventure to drama and romance. And with at least a dozen World Premiere screenings, Giff offers plenty of opportunities to discover emerging directors, writers, producers and actors. Giff is proud to welcome many promising and established military veteran filmmakers as well.

“We were overwhelmed by the...