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Wooden Horse, the acclaimed Australian independent production company behind Disney+’s “The Clearing” and CBC/ABC’s “Stuff the British Stole,” is unveiling its next project, “The Chaplain,” at this year’s Series Mania.

The project promises a captivating blend of drama and comedy, set against the bustling backdrop of an international airport. Its synopsis reads: “Airport Chaplain Tobias Wallace has a constantly ringing mobile, a drawer full of cash and a decidedly unorthodox approach to solving the daily crises of an airport. When new management threatens to terminate his contract, Tobias devises increasingly ingenious ways to keep his beloved chaplaincy – after all, it’s the only thing keeping his deeply submerged demons at bay.”

The series is the brainchild of showrunner Elise McCredie and Wooden Horse joint-ceo and series executive producer Jude Troy, who share co-creator credits for the project. McCredie, known for her work on “Stateless,” and Troy,...

Stuff the British Stole, the popular Australian-Canadian documentary series exploring the controversy surrounding cultural objects purloined by British colonialists, is set to be reimagined as a big-budget scripted heist series. The new version is backed by Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia (The Twelve, Love Me) and Wooden Horse (The Clearing, Mother & Son).

The partners describe the series, which will run for six, one-hour episodes, as “a provocative and sharply observed deep dive into the complexity of history, and identity, in our modern world through an irreverent and wryly humorous lens.”

The new drama is created and scripted by playwright turned rising TV writer Anchuli Felicia King, who wrote on HBO series The Sympathizer and The Baby, Amazon’s Deadloch and The Twelve for Foxtel. Ben Chessell (The Great, Giri Haji, Doctor Who, Deadloch) is attached to direct and also write episodes. The core creative team is joined by Kacie Anning (Class of ‘07, Upload,...

Wooden Horse company directors Jude Troy and Richard Finlayson speak about process of producing Disney+’s 'The Clearing' and the ABC’s 'Mother and Son', as well as factual projects 'Revealed: The Cape' and 'Stuff the British Stole'.

The post Wooden Horse breaks to canter with ‘The Clearing’, ‘Mother and Son’, ‘Rose Gold’ appeared first on If Magazine.

Hulu is all set to launch its brand-new psychological thriller series, The Clearing. The Australian drama thriller series is inspired by a haunting, real-life story about a local cult led by an ominous woman who manipulated children and teenagers. Based on the best-selling novel In The Clearing by J.P. Pomare, the Hulu original series is created by Elise McCredie and Matt Cameron, and directed by Jeffrey Walker and Gracie Otto. The Clearing follows a woman who tries to stop a dangerous cult from kidnapping children, but first, she must confront her own demons and past nightmares. A Discovery of Witches star Teresa Palmer headlines the cast of this new Australian series, along with Mare of Easttown star Guy Pearce and The Lord of the Rings star Miranda Otto in major roles. The stellar cast of the series also features some of the most recognized names in Australian film and television,...

Miranda Otto, Jesse Spence and Guy Pearce are among the high-profile stars featuring on Disney+’s debut slate in Australia and New Zealand.

Announced at an event at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the 2022/23 slate comprises three dramas, four documentaries and two lifestyle/general factual entertainment series. Several are for Disney+’s adult vertical Star.

On the scripted drama front, The Clearing is adapted from Jp Pomare’s novel ‘In the Clearing’ and is inspired by Australian cult The Family and its founder Anne Hamilton-Byrne, one of the few female cult leaders in history.

Teresa Palmer (A Discovery of Witches), Miranda Otto (The Usual Suspects) and Guy Pearce (Jack Irish) lead the cast, alongside the lies of Hazem Shammas (Safe Harbour), Mark Coles-Smith (Mystery Road), Tom Budge (Bloom).

Written and created by Matt Cameron (Jack Irish) and Elise McCredie (Stateless) alongside co-writer Osamah Sami (Ali’s Wedding), it comes from...

In today’s Global Bulletin, BBC acquires Anna Kendrick HBO rom-com “Love Life”; Rainmaker sells lockdown comedy “Staged” globally; Wooden Horse hires Coeli Cutliffe; Zinc launches Red Sauce label; Marrakesh workshop goes online; and Edith Bowman hosts BAFTA Scotland awards.

The BBC has acquired romantic comedy anthology series “Love Life,” featuring Oscar-nominee Anna Kendrick, from Lionsgate Television. The series has been one of the top performers on HBO Max, streaming in the U.S., and will be imminently on BBC One and BBC iPlayer as a boxset.

Stars also include Zoë Chao (“Downhill”), Peter Vack (“Someone Great”), Sasha Compere (“Miracle Workers”) and Jin Ha (“Devs”).

The series was acquired for the BBC by Sue Deeks, head of program acquisition. It is produced by Lionsgate Television and Feigco Entertainment. The series is from creator Sam Boyd “(In A Relationship”), who co-showruns with Bridget Bedard (“Transparent”). Boyd and Bedard serve as executive producers alongside Anna Kendrick,...

Coeli Cutcliffe.

Coeli Cutcliffe has joined Jude Troy and Richard Finlayson’s Wooden Horse, where she will serve as development manager.

Most recently Cutcliffe was a development executive at Porchlight Films, where she worked for three years until the company closure in June 2020. Prior to this she was an executive at Southern Star, where she worked with John Edwards for almost a decade on shows such as The Secret Life of Us and Love My Way.

At Wooden Horse, Cutcliffe will be responsible for working with established and emerging creatives, and developing Australian stories for global audiences. The company currently has projects in development with Stan, ABC, and Sbs.

Joint CEOs Finlayson and Troy said: “We are thrilled to have Coeli join the Wooden Horse family. She is highly regarded within the creative community and her development skills a great asset as we continue to expand our slate of distinctive and diverse stories.

Rachel Okine.

Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford’s Aquarius Films has stepped up its feature film and TV drama development slate, collaborating with such creatives as Justine Flynn, Del Kathryn Barton and Huna Amweero, Clementine Ford, Anya Beyersdorf, Roger Monk and Rhys Graham.

The production company gained momentum after hiring former eOne and Hopscotch Features executive Rachel Okine in the newly created role of managing director.

Okine joined in March, just as the pandemic struck. After a pause when, she says, Aquarius’ focus on growth switched to survival mode, the development pace picked up.

The Unusual Suspects, a four-part crime caper for Sbs co-funded by Screen Australia starts pre-production next week. A whodunit set in the Filipino domestic worker community in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, it’s scripted by Jessica Redenbach, Roger Monk (Nowhere Boys) and Vonne Patiag (Halal Gurls).

Parent Up, a Korean/Australian kids spy comedy, is in...

Samantha Strauss on the set of ‘The End.’

Two days ago Samantha Strauss spent much of the day under the doona, literally crying about the state of the world.

Yesterday Strauss, one of the country’s most successful screenwriters, was back at her computer, working on multiple projects in development for Made Up Stories and Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films, Joanna Werner and See-Saw Films, including a second season of The End.

“I’m incredibly lucky but it is such a time of unparalleled shitness. I still have some scripts to deliver so that will tide me over for a while.” she tells If.

“It does feel like there’s a responsibility for us content makers to work our arses off right now and have a whole lot of local content ready to be made, just as soon as this hell is over.”

Meanwhile writer Shaun Grant is at home in Los Angeles,...

Richard Finlayson and Jude Troy.

Former director of ABC television Richard Finlayson has joined Jude Troy’s Wooden Horse as director and joint CEO.

The duo is developing a raft of projects including an adaptation of Jp Pomare’s novel In the Clearing, a psychological thriller about two women who belong to a cult in rural Victoria, inspired by the infamous Australian cult The Family.

Troy and Finlayson plan to meet with the Kiwi-born, Victorian-based Pomare next week and are yet to attach a writer.

The slate includes a UK-Australian co-production created by Giula Sandler and projects scripted by Jane Allen, Sarah Lambert, Tim Lee, James O’Loghlin, Alison Bell, Tristram Baumber and Natesha Somasundaram.

Founded in 2018 by Troy, the former executive VP of TV production and acquisitions for eOne Australia, Wooden Horse co-produced with Aquarius Films the second series of Matt Okine’s comedy The Other Guy for Stan.

The...

Exclusive: Top Australian TV execs Jude Troy and Richard Finlayson have launched a new production company and have set an adaptation of cult story In the Clearing as one of their first projects.

The pair have established Wooden Horse, which is designed to produce premium scripted Australian stories for a global audience.

Troy is the former Head of TV Production and Acquisitions for eOne Australia, while Finlayson is the former Director of Television at public broadcaster ABC and COO at Sbs.

Based in Sydney, Australia, the pair are currently working on the second season of Matt Okine’s comedy The Other Guy, commissioned by streamer Stan and airing on Hulu in the U.S, in association with Aquarius Films, and are developing a feature adaptation of Okine’s debut novel Being Black n’ Chicken n’ Chips.

The company has also set its first two original projects. It has secured the...