News

Bryan Brown and Clare Bowen.

After appearing in all six seasons of Us musical drama Nashville, Clare Bowen has returned to Australia to star alongside Bryan Brown in Sbs’s Hungry Ghosts.

Matchbox Pictures’ four-part character-driven ghost story based on an original idea by Timothy Hobart explores three generations of Vietnamese Australian families, all haunted by the traumatic events of war.

Four weeks into a seven week shoot, the Shawn Seet-directed series opens on the eve of the Hungry Ghost Festival in Melbourne when a vengeful spirit is unleashed, wreaking havoc across the Vietnamese Australian community.

The large ensemble cast also features Catherine Davies, Justine Clarke, Ryan Corr, Ferdinand Hoang, Gareth Yuen, Jillian Nguyen, Hoa Xuande, Suzy Wrong, Gary Sweet and Susie Porter.

Brown plays Neil Stockton, a photographer famous for his collection of Vietnam War photographs which are featured in an exhibition that has ripple effects.

Bowen, who...

Hannah and Eliza Reilly.

Sisters Hannah and Eliza Reilly love the crime genre but wondered why Australia has never produced a TV series which tackles the subject from a female perspective, apart from Wentworth and Prisoner.

So when the writers-directors-performers met with experienced crime writer Niki Aken at the Engendered Masterclass hosted by Bunya Productions last December, they came up with the idea of a premium drama series about two sisters who quit their day jobs in their quest to become full-time criminals.

The Reillys then asked Yolanda Ramke (Cargo) and Sarah Lambert (Lambs of God), whom they had met on a Screen Australia/Australian Writers’ Guild’s Talent USA trip last September, to join the project entitled Partners in Crime.

Producer Julia Corcoran signed on and Screen Australia today announced it is receiving story development funding.

Not lacking in ambition, the sisters plan to produce eight episodes budgeted at...

Jessica De Gouw (L) and Laura Carmichael (Photo credit: Daniel Asher Smith).

Downton Abbey‘s Laura Carmichael and Jessica De Gouw are playing women from different sides of the tracks in Network 10’s psychological thriller The Secrets She Keeps.

Michael Dorman, who stars in Amazon Prime Video’s Patriot, Ryan Corr (Bloom) and Michael Sheasby round out the cast.

Adapted from Michael Robotham’s novel by Jono Gavin and Sarah Walker, the six-part series started shooting in Sydney and the Blue Mountains today, produced by Lingo Pictures’ Helen Bowden and Paul Watters.

The set-up director Catherine Millar is directing four episodes and Jennifer Leacey is helming two.

De Gouw is Meghan, who is married to Jack (Dorman), has two gorgeous children and a third bundle of joy on the way.

Carmichael is Agatha, who is pregnant, has a much younger ex-boyfriend in Hayden (Sheasby), is estranged from her mother and admires Meghan from afar.

Lucy Campbell.

Writer, director and producer Lucy Campbell is inaugural recipient of The Bird in Hand Nest Residency, an eight-week professional development program based in La and supported by Australians in Film (AiF), the South Australian Film Corporation (Safc) and Sa winery Bird in Hand.

Campbell wrote and directed online series The Big Nothing, co-produced short film Konya starring Ningali Lawford and Natasha Wanganeen, and has worked as a script editor and script co-ordinator on a wide range of productions including Wolf Creek, Upright, Pine Gap, The Hunting and Wanted.

Currently she is developing a feature film script with a Us production company, supported by the Safc, as well as a TV adaptation of The Big Nothing.

AiF and the Safc will curate a custom-made, eight-week residency program for Campbell in La, based at AiF’s Charlie’s, which will incorporate tailored mentoring, industry networking opportunities and access to AiF’s industry program.

Alison Bell, Kodie Bedford and Niki Aken.

Screen Australia has announced it will support a delegation of 13 creatives to travel to New York in March to attend the Australian International Screen Forum and participate in professional development and networking opportunities.

“There is an increasing appetite for Australian stories in the USA, most recently evident at the Sundance Film Festival where our films were making substantial sales,” said Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason.

“Talent USA is an important opportunity to showcase and promote some of our best creative talent to the North American market and help elevate their projects to be in the best position to compete and be seen internationally.

“Attending the Screen Forum will give these delegates an opportunity to hear from key Us players on latest trends, challenges and opportunities in the current global market. This year the Talent USA delegation will also benefit from the Forum’s ambassadors Deborra-Lee Furness,...

The Hunting.

Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh will head the ensemble cast of Sbs’s four-part drama The Hunting, which goes into production tomorrow in Adelaide.

Joining the two actors in the Closer Productions series are Sam Reid (Bloom, Lambs of God), Jessica De Gouw (Arrow, Deadline Gallipoli), Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher (The Heights, Safe Harbour), Pamela Rabe (Wentworth), Leah Vandenberg (The Letdown), Rodney Afif (Ali’s Wedding), Sachin Joab (Lion) Elena Carapetis (Look Both Ways), Anni Lindner (Wolf Creek TV) and newcomers Kavitha Anandasivam and Alex Cusack.

Created by Closer’s Sophie Hyde and Matthew Cormack, The Hunting (previously titled The Hunt) follows four teenagers, their teachers and families throughout the lead up, revelation and aftermath of a nude teen photo scandal. When two high school teachers discover students are sharing explicit photos of their underage friends and peers online, the revelation has unbearable consequences for the students and their families.