Noticias

Back in 2012, 9.79* aired as part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 franchise. Daniel Gordon’s film focused on the 100-meter final at the Seoul Olympics, a race that was dominated by Ben Johnson, who then abdicated the crown after a positive steroid test, leaving Carl Lewis as the desultory victor.

In an era oversaturated with sports documentaries, the closest we came to a doc focused on Lewis, among the greatest track and field stars ever, was one that was really about The Other Guy.

Even after his career-ending long-jump victory at the Atlanta Olympics offered an opportunity for people to embrace Lewis fully, he was still seen as somewhere between unlikable and unknowable.

That contention is finally put to the test in Julie Anderson and Chris Hay’s new feature documentary I’m Carl Lewis!

Premiering at SXSW, I’m Carl Lewis! gives Lewis his due as an athlete. But more than that,...

Colin From Accounts co-creator and star Harriet Dyer has been tapped as a lead opposite Tim Meadows in CBS‘ single-camera comedy pilot Dmv, from Dana Klein, Kapital Entertainment, TrillTV and CBS Studios. Dyer’s casting would not interfere with her duties on the well-received Paramount+ comedy series Colin From Accounts, also produced by CBS Studios; the dates have been worked out so she will be able to do both should Dmv go to series and Colin From Accounts gets renewed for a third season.

Written by Klein based on author Katherine Heiny’s short story, Dmv is a workplace comedy set at the place everyone dreads going most: the Dmv. Our quirky and lovable characters are making minimum wage, doing a thankless job where customers are annoyed before they even walk in the door. Good thing they have each other.

Dyer will play Colette. The driving examiner with a huge heart,...

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,...

Exclusive: Stuff the British Stole, the Australian-Canadian doc series about the impact of British colonialism, is being remade as a six-part scripted heist caper.

Anchuli Felicia King, who wrote on HBO’s The Sympathizer and The Baby and Deadloch for Prime Video, is creating and writing the series, which is coming out of Australia and billed by producers as “an exploration of the the nuanced debate around repatriation through a sharply funny lens.”

Ben Chessell (The Great, Giri Haji, Doctor Who) is attached to direct and write episodes, with Kacie Anning and award-winning First Nations writer and playwright Dylan Van Den Berg also on the creative team.

Aussie indie Wooden Horse, which made Disney+ series The Clearing, is co-producing with Warner Bros International Television Production (Wbitvp) Australia, known for the likes of The Twelve, on which King was a writer, and Love Me.

At Sunday night’s BAFTA TV Awards in London, the most popular couple in the room won’t actually be British.

Given the U.K. reception to Australian series “Colin From Accounts” — which was acquired by the BBC in one of its smartest deals in years — that honor will likely go to Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, the real-life partners who created and star in the half-hour rom-com. The couple will be presenting a BAFTA during the ceremony, and afterwards, they’re available for selfies.

“If we land in the U.K. and people recognize us on the street, that’ll be massive, because it’s never happened to me,” says Dyer. “I’ve lived in L.A. for five years, and I’m on a network television show, and not a single person has gone, ‘Are you from “American Auto?”’ Not one. So I’m pumped. I want to...

Kevin Smith has revealed that he took a monthlong break last January to get treatment for his mental health. After recognizing that he was dealing with trauma stemming from childhood sexual abuse and body dysmorphia, which spurred what he described to People as a “complete break from reality,” the filmmaker checked into Arizona’s Sierra Tucson treatment center. Smith said he felt suicidal and asked a friend to help him get treatment.

Smith told the magazine that when he was 6, an older boy forced him into sex acts with a young girl.

Close To The Edge

Thomasin McKenzie and Devon Terrell (“Rap Shit”) star in “Totally Completely Fine,” a series co-production between Sundance Now and Australia’s Stan, which has now started production in Sydney. McKenzie plays a young woman whose life was a mess even before she inherited her grandfather’s coastal clifftop house and became tasked with helping people who come too close to the edge. Strangely though people respond to her chaotic, nihilistic brand of psychology. The series was created and is executive produced by Gretel Vella, who co-wrote the show with Keir Wilkins (“Surviving Summer”) and Emme Hoy (stage play “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”). The series is produced at Fremantle Australia by Alice Willison (“The Other Guy”), with Nat Lindwall as executive producer. The series is directed by Lucy Gaffy with Adrian Chiarella (“Dwarf Planet”) directing episode four. It is financed with the assistance of Screen Nsw...

AMC Networks’ Sundance Now has commissioned “Totally, Completely Fine” and “Sanctuary” as two new titles joining the streaming platform’s 2023 slate of original projects.

Written, created and executive produced by Gretel Vella, “Totally, Completely Fine” explores the complexities of grief, the power of friendship, and the ways our sadness can unite us. Inspired by true events,the six-part dark comedy follows 20-something Vivian Cunningham (Thomasin McKenzie), whose life is a mess but nevertheless winds up tasked with helping people who come too close to the edge as she endures her own comedic catastrophes like accidentally burning down her brother’s vegan food truck with a bacon-flavored vape.

Devon Terrell (“Rap Sh!t”), Brandon McLelland (“The Other Guy”), Rowan Witt (“Book of Mormon” – Original Australian Cast), Contessa Treffone (“Doctor Doctor”), James Sweeny (“Total Control”), Max Crean (“Mystic”) and Brigid Zengeni (“The Good Liar”) join the JoJo Rabbit star among the cast.

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...

Hugo Weaving heads the diverse cast of “Love Me,” a romantic drama series that is now in production in Melbourne, Australia.

The show explores modern love as experienced by different family members at different stages of life. It is adapted from the Swedish series “Älska Mig,” created by Josephine Bornebusch.

To be presented as a six-part series with 43-minute episodes, the show is directed by celebrated Australian director Emma Freeman with lead writer Alison Bell, and writers Leon Ford, Adele Vuko and Blake Ayshford.

“Love Me” is a Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia production in association with Aquarius Films for the Foxtel Group’s streaming service Binge. Major production investment came from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria.

Binge is an SVOD service launched in May last year by Foxtel, the News Corp. Australia and Telstra-owned pay-tv service in Australia. It offers on-demand and live entertainment across the lifestyle,...

Amazon Prime Video launched a slate of seven new local originals at a showcase event in Sydney today, including projects from Made Up Stories, Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films, Matchbox Pictures and Guesswork Television.

Among the commissions are documentaries Burning and Warriors On The Field, four-part docuseries Head Above Water, drama series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, and comedy series The Moth Effect, Deadloch, and Class of ‘07.

Amazon Studios Asia Pacific head of originals Erika North; Prime Video Australia head of content Tyler Bern, and Prime Video Australia head Hushidar Kharas were on hand to introduce the upcoming projects, as well as offer the first glimpses of previously announced originals Back to the Rafters, Luxe Listings Sydney and Kick Like Tayla, as well as season two of The Wilds, currently shooting in Queensland.

At the same event, the streamer announced the global acquisition of Nine Perfect Strangers, ex. US and China.

Aquarius Films has acquired development and production rights to dystopian sci-fi thriller novel The Subjugate and is teaming with Anonymous Content to produce a TV adaptation.

Written by award winner Amanda Bridgeman, the Subjugates book series is set in 2040, watching as a series of murders sends shockwaves through the religious community of Bountiful. Heading to the city to investigate the crimes are two homicide detectives, who are met with little other than open hostility. While the obvious suspects are “The Subjugates”—violent offenders who are turned into town servants, known as Serenes—unsettling wrinkles in the case emerge, as the detectives set out on parallel investigations.

Aquarius Films founders Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford will produce the long-format series, along with Luke Rivett and Ryan Cunningham of Anonymous Content.

“The Subjugate explores topical themes of rehabilitation, recidivism and advancing technology in a captivating near-future science fiction thriller and is perfect...

Rose Byrne’s Dollhouse Pictures has joined forces with Australia’s Aquarius Films to develop Sally Piper’s best-selling-novel “The Geography of Friendship” as a limited TV series. The deal, announced on International Women’s Day, represents the coming together of two female-led production houses.

“Geography” is psychological thriller which sees three female friends return to the scene of a fateful hike they took together decades earlier. While they originally set out for an adventure in the bush, it became clear that they were not alone. On returning years later, each woman has to make life-changing choices and reexamine the actions which caused the friends’ estrangement.

“Geography” will be adapted as a 6-part show with episodes of one hour each by Giula Sandler (HBO Max’s “White House Farm”). Dollhouse’s Gracie Otto (Stan’s “Bump” and “The Other Guy”) is attached to direct. Writer Krew Boylan (“Simply Red”), Aquarius...

Andy Canny scooped Best Editing in a Feature Drama for The Invisible Man at the 2020 Ellie Awards yesterday, backing up his recent Aacta win.

Geoff Lamb took home Best Editing in Drama for The Commons, and Deborah Peart Best Editing in Comedy for Upright.

The annual awards, presented by Australian Screen Editors (Ase), were held online this year due to Covid, hosted by comedian Steph Tisdell.

In addition to the celebrations, the event also saw Ase president Fiona Strain announce after five years at the helm that she will be handing the reins to vice-president Danielle Boesenberg from February.

“She has been a calm, intelligent presence in the executive committee and will bring thoughtfulness and a commitment to diversity as we serve a very wide a range of members from students through assistants and others who have been in the industry over 40 years,” Strain told If.

In her speech at the event,...

The Casting Guild of Australia (Cga) has named its ten ‘Rising Stars’ for 2020: Luca Sardelis, Lily Sullivan, Yazeed Daher, Sophie Wilde, Ayesha Madon, Patrick Jhanur, Daniel Monks, Ratidzo Mambo, Thomas Weatherall and Bridie McKim.

It’s the sixth year the guild has compiled the list, which has previously identified talent such as Eliza Scanlan, Katherine Langford, Tilda Cobham-Harvey, Geraldine Viswanathan and Alexander England.

Cga President David Newman said: “Each year all Cga members nominate and then vote for 10 emerging artists they see as Rising Stars, those who we believe are most likely to cut through at an international level.

“In 2020, these actors have gone from all work stopping, thinking they may never work again to now being presented as some of the most promising of their generation – what a roller coaster! We’re extremely proud to present 10 emerging artists who aren’t only amazingly talented but also represent the...

The casting directors behind Babyteeth, Measure for Measure, Paper Champions and The True History of the Kelly Gang will square off in the feature film category at the upcoming Casting Guild of Australia (Cga) Awards.

Bert and Amanda LABONTé will host the virtual ceremony on Facebook November 28, recognising casting across all mediums including film, TV, advertising, theatre and online.

In TV drama, the casting directors behind Mystery Road (season 2), The Heights (season 2), Neighbours and Wentworth (Season 8) have each been recognised with nods, while in the running for the TV Miniseries & Telemovie category are those who worked on Deadhouse Dark, Halifax: Retribution, Operation Buffalo and The Secrets She Keeps.

In contention in the TV comedy race are Black Comedy (season 4), How to Stay Married (season 2), The Other Guy (season 2) and Upright.

Leading the nominees overall are Nathan Lloyd and Natalie Jane Harvie with four nods each, while Kirsty McGregor, Stevie Ray,...

Zac Efron has joined survival thriller “Gold,” an original film out of Australian streamer Stan.

Shopped to buyers at next week’s American Film Market (AFM), the film turns on two strangers traveling through a desert who stumble upon the biggest gold nugget ever found. When dreams of unimaginable wealth take hold, they devise a plan to protect and excavate their bounty with one man leaving to secure the necessary equipment.

Efron plays the man left behind, who comes up against unforgiving desert elements, ravenous wild dogs and mysterious intruders, all while wondering whether his partner is ever going to come back for him. Principal photography on the movie will begin in Australia this month — where film and TV production has been able to continue relatively unscathed during the Covid-19 crisis.

London-headquartered Altitude Film Sales will co-represent domestic sales on the film with CAA Media Finance. “Gold” will be released...

Luke Combs’ “Forever After All” won a hotly contested battle for Number One on the Rolling Stone Top 100 Songs chart, beating out Ariana Grande’s new single “Positions.” Combs’ muscular love ballad, which he co-wrote with Drew Parker and Robert Williford before releasing it as part of the deluxe reissue of What You See Is What You Get, earned nearly 25 million streams and close to 50,000 downloads. “Positions,” which amassed more streams than “Forever After All” but lagged behind it in downloads, debuted at Number Two.

“Forever After All” marks the...

Luke Combs was named the Top Country Artist at the 2020 Billboard Awards, held on Wednesday and broadcast on NBC. During the event, Combs also gave a live performance of his new single “Better Together.”

Accompanied only by a masked piano player, a suited-up Combs gives a faithful rendition of the tune, which he penned with Dan Isbell and Randy Montana for his 2019 album What You See Is What You Get. The song closes out the original version of the album (though not the upcoming deluxe edition with bonus tracks) and draws comparisons between ideal pairings,...

Production is underway in Adelaide, South Australia, on seasonal comedy film “A Sunburnt Christmas.” The film is set as an original production for local streaming platform Stan.

Directed by Christiaan Van Vuuren (“Bondi Hipsters,” “The Other Guy”), the film is the story of a single mother struggling to raise her children on their family farm. Their hardscrabble life is interrupted by the arrival of a runaway criminal who smashes his way into their property and their lives.

The cast is headed by Daniel Henshall (Snowtown, Bloom), Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom, Ride Like A Girl), and Ling Cooper Tang. Child actors include Lena Nankivell, Eaden McGuinness and Tatiana Goode.

“Sunburnt Christmas” is an Every Cloud Productions film, in association with Highview Productions, from an original concept by Gretel Vella, Eillot Vella and Tim Walker. Lisa Scott of Highview Productions is producer, with executive producers Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox for Every Cloud,...

Monica Zanetti’s screenplay of Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt), Ben Lawrence and Beatrix Christian’s Hearts and Bones and Ally Burnham’s Unsound have been nominated for best original feature in the 53rd annual Awgie Awards.

The contenders for the feature film adaptation prize are Thomas M. Wright and Erik Jensen’s Acute Misfortune, Lisa Hoppe’s H is for Happiness, Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps’ Penguin Bloom and C.S. McMullen’s The Other Lamb.

The TV series prize promises to be a close race between episodes of Glen Dolman’s Bloom, Michael Petroni’s Messiah for Netflix, Belinda Chayko’s Stateless, Samantha Strauss’ The End and Pip Karmel’s Total Control.

Timothy Hobart, John Ridley, Jeremy Nguyen, Alan Nguyen and Michele Lee’s Hungry Ghosts will square off against Matthew Cormack and Niki Aken’s The Hunting for best miniseries.

In the TV serial category it must...

Luke Combs’ new song “Without You,” one of five bonus tracks on his upcoming What You See Ain’t Always What You Get deluxe album, is a stirring ode to the people who have shaped him into the man he is today. But what further sets the song apart is the inclusion of Amanda Shires. The solo artist, multi-instrumentalist, and member of the Highwomen and Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit, provides prominent fiddle — and earns a “feature” credit — on “Without You.”

It’s not the first time she and Combs have...

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.

Lily Sullivan in ‘I Met a Girl.’

Gravitas Ventures will launch Luke Eve’s romantic drama I Met a Girl in the US as a Premium VOD release on September 11, followed a month later by VOD on a dozen digital platforms.

The original plan was a cinema release for the film starring Brenton Thwaites, Lily Sullivan, Joel Jackson, Peter Rowsthorn and Zahra Newman.

But in light of widespread cinema closures, producer Adam Dolman tells If: “Gravitas wanted to release the film as soon as possible to take advantage of the growth in the VOD business.”

Scripted by Adam’s brother Glen Dolman (Bloom), the plot follows Thwaites’ Devon, a 20-something aspiring musician with schizophrenia, who relies on his older brother Nick (Jackson) to get by. On a downward spiral, Devon is saved by Sullivan’s Lucy – a mysterious girl who is just as impulsive and romantic as he is.

When she vanishes,...

‘Bump.’

Stan today unveiled five Stan Original productions – two drama series, a true crime docuseries, a film and a comedy special – as part of an ambitious plan to ramp up local commissions.

The Nine-owned streamer said it plans to invest in more than 30 productions per year within five years, drawing on Nine’s production facilities and via co-productions with international partners including Hollywood studios and international networks.

It will continue to build on relationships with state and national screen agencies including initiatives such as the Stan and Film Victoria Development Fund and the Screen Queensland and Stan Premium Drama Development Fund.

The slate announced today includes Every Cloud Productions and Balloon Entertainment’s eight-part murder mystery Eden; Claudia Karvan, Kelsey Munro and Roadshow Rough Diamond’s 10-part half-hour drama Bump; and After the Night, a four-part true crime docuseries from Eq Media Group and Salon Pictures, created and directed by Thomas Meadmore.

Kacie Anning.

When Kacie Anning met Greg Daniels, creator of the Us version of The Office, over breakfast in Los Angeles he discussed a futuristic comedy series he was developing.

He related his vision of the show and she responded with her ideas. That was in 2018. Several months later, Daniels made her the biggest offer of her career: direct two episodes of Upload, which had been commissioned by Amazon Prime Video.

Last year Anning went to Vancouver to work on the production, which, co-incidentally, had Simon Chapman as the Dop and Daina Reid among the directing cohort.

Now streaming on Amazon, Upload is set in the near future when people who die can be uploaded into a digital afterlife – if they can afford it.

Robbie Amell stars as Nathan, a young app developer who winds up in hospital after his self-driving car crashes into a truck. After a hasty conversation...

Joel Edgerton will produce and star in Thomas M Wright’s ‘The Unknown Man’.

Amid turbulent times for the sector, Screen Australia has some positive news, announcing production funding for three feature films, four television series, a children’s series and two online projects.

Overall, the projects, including Thomas M Wright’s The Unknown Man, produced by See-Saw Films and Anonymous Content, and starring Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris, will share in $8.5 million of production funding.

Other projects include family drama The Midwife from Playmaker Media for Nine; a comedy created by Kitty Flanagan called Entitled for the ABC, and the debut feature film from artist Del Kathryn Barton, Puff, produced by Causeway Films.

“We’re blown away by the projects in this slate and it’s great to see such a wide range of genres. I am particularly delighted to support Puff, the directorial debut of renowned artist Del Kathryn Barton,...

Fiona Press and Kelton Pell in ‘The Heights’ (Photo credit: Ashleigh Nicolau).

Something remarkable happened to Fiona Press when she played Hazel Murphy in the first and second seasons of the ABC serial The Heights.

For the first time in the actress’ 37-year career after graduating from Nida, Press felt she wasn’t just a “survivor,” despite more than 50 screen credits and dozens of plays.

“Hazel is the role of my life. Until she turned up, I don’t think I realised I had a career,” she tells If. “As a female of my type in the Australian industry, to survive is actually a career. I’m a jobbing actor.”

Matchbox Pictures’ Warren Clarke, the showrunner who co-created The Heights with Que Minh Luu, tells If: “The choice to cast Fiona really came from how grounded her audition was. We knew this character would be a foundation stone for 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...

Exclusive: Harriet Dyer (The InBetween) is set as a lead in NBC single-camera comedy pilot American Auto, from Superstore creator Justin Spitzer, Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment and Universal Television.

Written by Spitzer, American Auto is set at the headquarters of a major American automotive company in Detroit, where a floundering group of executives try to rediscover the company identity amidst a rapidly changing industry.

Dyer will play Sadie, an ambitious type-a head of communications at Payne.

Spitzer executive produces with Kapital’s Kaplan and Dana Honor.

Dyer will next be seen in Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man for Blumhouse-Universal, set to hit theaters next week. She recently starred in The InBetween which ran for one season on NBC, and also appeared in The Other Guy and No Activity for Australian streaming service Stan. She’s repped by Atlas Artists, UTA, Rgm and Jackoway Austin.

Stan’s ‘The Other Guy’ season 2.

Stan and Film Victoria today launched a comedy fund designed to help Victorian writers and producers develop Australian comedy with world-class scope and scale.

The joint initiative initially will provide up to $30,000 each for up to four Victorian writers or writer/producer teams to deliver a 30-minute pilot script and series outline.

The teams will be given the opportunity to participate in a workshop with a pre-eminent comedy writer to build their concepts into a pilot. The successful projects will premiere on Stan.

“We want stories that respond to Stan’s creative brief and feature relatable characters with unique dilemmas fueling the comedy for a multi-season run,” Film Victoria said.

Stan’s brief, which references such shows as Catastrophe, Fleabag, Younger, The Moodys and Broad City, calls for serialised comedy, romcoms and comedy-dramas, but not sitcoms, stand-up or sketch comedy.

This marks the second...

Rachel Okine.

Aquarius Films has appointed former eOne and Hopscotch Features executive Rachel Okine in the newly created role of managing director.

Okine joins the production company founded by Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford after spending two years as London-based head of acquisitions for Stx International.

Previously she was Paris-based VP of international production and acquisitions for Studiocanal.

Based in Sydney, her remit will be to drive the company’s growth as it aims to produce 3-5 projects annually and to manage its partnerships with Universal, Warner Bros. Australia, Anonymous Content, Netflix, Stan, the ABC and Sbs as well as seeking new partners.

The development slate includes feature adaptations of Matt Okine’s debut novel Being Black ‘n Chicken, and Chips, based loosely on his pubescent years and the loss of his mother Roslyn to breast cancer when he was 12; Dominic Smith’s New York Times best-seller The Last Painting of Sara De Vos,...

Aquarius Films, the Sydney-based production company that has credits including 2019 Tiff pic Dirt Music and Garth Davis’ Oscar-nominated Lion, has appointed Rachel Okine as its new Managing Director.

Okine was most recently STXinternational’s head of acquisitions between 2017 and 2019. She was previously Paris-based as Vice President of International Production and Acquisitions for Studiocanal and London-based with Film4.

At Aquarius, Okine will look to drive the company’s growth as it aims to have three-five projects in production per year going forward. She will also manage its established partnerships with Universal, Warner Bros. Australia, Anonymous Content, Netflix, Stan, Sbs Australia and ABC Australia, as well as seeking new partners.

Aquarius was founded by Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford. The company’s recent work also includes The Unlisted, a 15-part sci-fi TV series for Netflix and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which was triple-nominated at the Aacta Awards.

Its upcoming slate features Guy Pearce...

Seasoned industry executive, Rachel Okine has joined Australian film and TV production company Aquarius Films as its managing director. Until last year she was with Stx International in a position covering U.K. theatrical and international sales.

Okine began her career in the acquisitions department of FilmFour in London in 2001. Returning to Australia in 2002, she joined independent film distribution company, Hopscotch, moving from marketing to production. She later became Paris-based VP of international production and acquisitions for French-owned studio and distributor Studiocanal, where she acquired titles for the French, German and Australia / New Zealand markets.

Aquarius, which has strategic partnerships with Universal, Warner Bros. Australia, Anonymous Content, Netflix, Stan, Sbs Australia and ABC Australia, aims to have three to five projects in production per year. Okine will report to company founders and principal producers Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford.

Aquarius is currently working on Guy Pearce’s directorial debut “Poor Boy,...

Company pipeline includes Guy Pearce directorial debut Poor Boy.

Aquarius Films, the Australian producer of Netflix series The Unlisted and Toronto 2019 selection Dirt Music, has appointed former senior STXinternational acquisitions executive Rachel Okine as managing director, effective immediately.

Okine joins the company as its upcoming pipeline includes Guy Pearce’s directorial debut Poor Boy, in which Pearce will also star. Aquarius is also in development on the adaptation by Angela’s Ashes screenwriter Laura Jones of The Last Painting Of Sara De Vos by Dominic Smith, as well as adaptations of Hannah Kent’s second novel The Good People, and Matt Okine...

Next month, Hulu will ring in Valentine’s Day with some counterprogramming. The streaming service will debut its original series “High Fidelity,” a gender-swapped reimagining of Nick Hornby’s novel of the same name. Previously, the book was adapted into a 2000 movie from Stephen Frears starring John Cusack. Zoë Kravitz stars as Rob Brooks, a music-obsessive record store owner in Brooklyn re-examining her previous romantic relationships to figure out what went wrong.

On the film front, the “Bridget Jones” trilogy, “Buffalo ’66,” “The Fugitive,” “Ghost” and “When Harry Met Sally” are among the new selections being offered in February. Releases from last year, like “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” and “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral,” are also making their way onto the platform.

New seasons of reality series like “The Voice” and “American Idol” will also be available to stream later in the month.

See the complete list below.

Lee Matthews.

Producer Lee Matthews is teaming up with Steve Kearney and Lisa Wang to develop Caper’ble, a 6 x 30′ comedy about young people with disability who are forced to live together in shared accommodation.

The producers are staging a two-day workshop at Arts Access Victoria in South Melbourne, starting tomorrow, led by Kelly Lefever and supported by Film Victoria.

The concept was created by Matthews and Kearney, who are collaborating with lead writer Alistair Baldwin and story consultant Eliza Hull.

Baldwin and Hull have lived experiences of disability, as have the other workshop participants Olivia Muscat, Chris Bunton, Anna Seymour and Imaan Hadchiti.

Matthews tells If he decided to join forces with Kearney and Wang because he’s convinced that will enable Aussie producers to best compete in the new global landscape.

He is confident Caper’ble will appeal to broadcast or on-demand platforms and that it has the...

George MacKay in ‘True History of the Kelly Gang.’

Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang will open in Australian cinemas on January 9, just 18 days before its Australia Day premiere on Stan.

The short window and limited theatrical release were virtually inevitable after Stan announced the bushranger epic starring George MacKay, Russell Crowe, Nicholas Hoult and Essie Davis would premiere in summer as a Stan Original.

The major chains are determined to protect the traditional 90 day window and will not screen the film so distributor Transmission Films this week will start booking the title at the independent cinemas that are screening the Netflix productions The King, The Irishman, Marriage Story and The Two Popes and Amazon Studios’ The Report and Brittany Runs a Marathon.

The Netflix titles are screening at the Eddie Tamir family-owned Randwick Ritz Cinemas and Melbourne’s Lido, Classic and Cameo cinemas plus Mel Gibson...

‘Lunatics’. (Photo: Amelia Entertainment)

Since 2017, we have been studying the availability of local content on the major subscription streaming services operating in Australia. Our latest report, which examines Netflix, Stan and for the first time, Amazon Prime Video, confirms that the level of local content on these services remains modest, although the number of original productions is growing.

There is also increasing variation between the three services in terms of the kind, age, and genre mix of Australian-made material they carry. The entry of Disney+ and Apple TV+ next month will add new complexity to this rapidly changing market.

We were surprised to learn how much Australian content Amazon Prime Video offers (over 400 Australian titles). However, Amazon is significantly different from Stan and Netflix for several reasons, which make direct comparisons between these services misleading.

Netflix: few local titles, but increasing investment

With an estimated audience of 11 million Australians, Netflix is the clear market leader.

Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason speaking at the Power of Inclusion conference. (Photo: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

When it comes to representing the diversity of the Australian population, both in front of and behind the camera, it is film in particular that continues to be a “problem area”, according to Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason.

Mason spoke last week at the New Zealand Film Commission’s (Nzfc) Power of Inclusion conference in Auckland, on a panel with Nzfc CEO Annabelle Sheehan, National Screen Institute – Canada acting director Joy Loewen and Geena Davis Institute CEO Madeleine di Nonno, looking at country-specific initiatives aimed at broadening representation on and off screen.

Screen Australia’s development-focused Gender Matters initiative has been successful in “flooding the pipeline” with female-led projects, Mason told the conference.

He made a shout out to Rachel Griffiths’ Ride Like A Girl, the first feature funded via the program to enter production,...

Tristram Baumber.

Tristram Baumber studied English and creative writing at the University of Wollongong with the aim of making a living as a screenwriter.

That was 20 years ago. Since then his life and career have taken several twists and turns – but he is now reaping the rewards of persistence and determination.

“It took me a long time to get good at writing,” he tells If. The turning point came in March 2017 when Aquarius Films’ Polly Staniford and Angie Fielder hired him as an in-house writer.

He had been working with the producers on several projects including a rom-com feature and they were able to put him on staff thanks to a grant from Screen Australia’s Enterprise People program.

For the next two years he worked on multiple projects including the second season of Matt Okine’s Stan sitcom The Other Guy and The Unlisted, an action sci-fi thriller created...

(L-r) Harriet Dyer, Matt Okine, Lily Sullivan and Claudia Karvan.

Claudia Karvan, Lily Sullivan, Barry Otto, Matt Day, Fiona Press and Elsa Cocquerel have joined the cast of the second season of the Stan Original series The Other Guy.

Feminist author Clementine Ford and media personality Yumi Stynes have also boarded the show created by and starring Matt Okine, produced by Aquarius Films in association with Jude Troy’s Wooden Horse.

In her TV series debut Gracie Otto (The Last Impresario) is directing the comedy scripted by Okine, Kacie Anning and Becky Lucas, which is now shooting in Sydney.

Okine returns as radio presenter Aj Amon with Harriet Dyer as Aj’s best friend Stevie, Valene Kane as Aj’s ex Liv, Michael-Anthony Taylor (Pine Gap) as Aj’s dad and Christiaan Van Vuuren as drug dealer Dezzy.

In the first season Amon lost everything – his house, his job and...

Top row (l-r) Polly Staniford, Sarah Shaw, Tania Chambers, Clayton Jacobson; middle: Jason Byrne, Rikki Lea Bestall, Dena Curtis, Liz Watts, Vincent Sheehan, Anna Vincent; bottom: Steve Jaggi, Scott Corfield, Kristian Moliere.

Polly Staniford, Sarah Shaw, Tania Chambers, Kristian Moliere, Liz Watts and Vincent Sheehan are among a delegation of 13 film and television producers who will travel to Los Angeles to meet with more than 30 development companies and streaming services next month.

The mission is led by Ausfilm as part of its annual Partner with Australia producer connection program. The goal is to provide strategic opportunities for Australian producers with commercially viable feature and TV projects that hold international appeal.

The initiative also supports Ausfilm’s corporate membership of screen services businesses by connecting these companies to Us film and television executives and Australian producers. The program runs from April 14-17.

Supported by Create Nsw, Film Victoria, Screen Queensland, the...

Matt Okine and Harriet Dyer.

Stan has commissioned a second season of comedy series The Other Guy, created by and starring Matt Okine.

Season two will be produced by Angie Fielder, Polly Staniford and Alice Willson for Aquarius Films, while Jude Troy will Ep under her new shingle, Wooden Horse.

The first season followed Aj Amon (Okine), a successful radio host who unexpectedly finds himself back in the dating pool for the first time in a decade after discovering his long-term girlfriend (Valene Kane) was having an affair with his best friend. The series was picked up by Hulu in the Us and Super Channel in Canada.

Create Nsw and Screen Australia have both supported the second season, which will shoot on location in Sydney in the coming months. Much of the cast, including Harriet Dyer, are set to return.

The second instalment will pick up five months after the last,...

Dany Cooper receives the Elle from Titus Randall.

The editors of Breath, Backtrack Boys and Blue Murder: Killer Cop part 2 were among the recipients of the 2018 Ellie Awards presented by Australian Screen Editors.

Hosted by comedians Eliza and Hannah Reilly, the awards were handed out on Saturday night at the Eternity Playhouse in Darlinghurst. In addition, the veteran Edward McQueen Mason Ase was accredited by the guild.

Avid Award for Best Editing in a Feature Drama

Dany Cooper Ase – Breath – presented by Titus Randall.

Audio Network Award for Best Editing in a Documentary Feature

Andrea Lang Ase – Backtrack Boys – presented by Jess Ossington to Sally Fryer.

The Blue Post Award for Best Editing in a Drama

Bill Russo Ase – Blue Murder: Killer Cop Part 2 – presented by Rachel Knowles to Peter Crombie.

Spectrum Films Award for Best Editing in a Documentary

Sam Hart & Harriet Clutterbuck Ase – Hawke: The Larrikin and the...

'Wolf Creek' season one..

Production has begun in South Australia on the second season of Stan's Wolf Creek, with showrunner Greg McLean once again in the director's chair.

John Jarratt reprises the role of Mick Taylor, and will be joined by Tess Haubrich (Alien: Covenant), Matt Day (Rake, Paper Giants, Underbelly, Kiss or Kill), Ben Oxenbould (Comedy Inc., The Kettering Incident, The Code), Laura Wheelwright (Animal Kingdom), Stephen Hunter (The Hobbit, The Leftovers) and Chris Haywood (Shine, Muriel's Wedding, Dogs in Space).

Of the second season McLean said: "We.ll join an amazing cast on a road trip of a lifetime, as they must draw on their inner strength to outwit the terrifying Mick Taylor. John Jarratt returns to take Mick.s dark arts to a whole new level, showcasing the beautiful and dangerous landscapes of the remote outback..

Joining McLean in directing will be Kieran Darcy-Smith (Wish You Were Here,...