Todd Abbott.
Installed as ABC head of comedy in July, Todd Abbott will start evaluating the development materials of the comedy projects that received support under the $5 million Fresh Start Fund this week – and next week he hopes to greenlight development on several projects that he’s already been evaluating.
That’s the good news for Australian producers and creators – tempered by the fact that the broadcaster’s comedy slate for 2021 is fully committed. So the projects that will advance from now on will premiere in 2022.
Given the ABC’s budget constraints, Abbott tells If: “Everyone has had to tighten their belts. My task is to maintain the comedy department’s output and to keep the Wednesday comedy night thriving – and then I’ll try to work out how to do hostile takeovers of the other nights. None of the projects I am looking at now is expected to be...
Installed as ABC head of comedy in July, Todd Abbott will start evaluating the development materials of the comedy projects that received support under the $5 million Fresh Start Fund this week – and next week he hopes to greenlight development on several projects that he’s already been evaluating.
That’s the good news for Australian producers and creators – tempered by the fact that the broadcaster’s comedy slate for 2021 is fully committed. So the projects that will advance from now on will premiere in 2022.
Given the ABC’s budget constraints, Abbott tells If: “Everyone has had to tighten their belts. My task is to maintain the comedy department’s output and to keep the Wednesday comedy night thriving – and then I’ll try to work out how to do hostile takeovers of the other nights. None of the projects I am looking at now is expected to be...
- 9/15/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
The final season of Sbs’s The Family Law, the first series of ABC’s The Heights and the Sbs miniseries The Hunting have won the 10th annual Equity Ensemble Awards.
The actors who starred in these programs were voted the most outstanding Australian small screen ensembles in their respective categories by the Meaa Equity National Performers’ Committee (Npc).
Equity president Chloe Dallimore, who was among the 33 Npc members who selected this year’s finalists and winners, said: “I can’t think of a better way to spend lockdown than re-watching the incredible small screen performances of the last 12 months. What phenomenal talent we have in this country, both in front and behind the camera.
“It emphasised what’s at stake if we don’t continue to vigorously defend our local content quotas, and why we must continue to remind our government how the arts contribute to our Australian cultural identity.
The actors who starred in these programs were voted the most outstanding Australian small screen ensembles in their respective categories by the Meaa Equity National Performers’ Committee (Npc).
Equity president Chloe Dallimore, who was among the 33 Npc members who selected this year’s finalists and winners, said: “I can’t think of a better way to spend lockdown than re-watching the incredible small screen performances of the last 12 months. What phenomenal talent we have in this country, both in front and behind the camera.
“It emphasised what’s at stake if we don’t continue to vigorously defend our local content quotas, and why we must continue to remind our government how the arts contribute to our Australian cultural identity.
- 8/13/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Filming has got under way in Adelaide on Australian comedy-drama series “Aftertaste.” It is the first major production to shoot in the state of South Australia since the coronavirus shut-down, and comes as a state of disaster and a nighttime curfew are declared in neighboring Victoria state, which includes Melbourne.
The six-part Closer Productions show will shoot for five weeks in Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills. It makes use of 110 cast and crew members, including 10 from out of state, and 200 extras.
To get into production, the show used a risk assessment tool developed by consultancy firm Deloitte and overseen by the South Australia Film Corporation. “The Risk Assessment Tool has been instrumental in navigating the path back to production, and providing the framework and structure needed to get this production up and running within Covid-Safe guidelines,” said CEO of the South Australian Film Corporation Kate Croser.
Created by Julie De Fina and Matthew Bate,...
The six-part Closer Productions show will shoot for five weeks in Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills. It makes use of 110 cast and crew members, including 10 from out of state, and 200 extras.
To get into production, the show used a risk assessment tool developed by consultancy firm Deloitte and overseen by the South Australia Film Corporation. “The Risk Assessment Tool has been instrumental in navigating the path back to production, and providing the framework and structure needed to get this production up and running within Covid-Safe guidelines,” said CEO of the South Australian Film Corporation Kate Croser.
Created by Julie De Fina and Matthew Bate,...
- 8/3/2020
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Erik Thomson and Natalie Abbott.
Muriel’s Wedding The Musical lead Natalie Abbott will star opposite Erik Thomson in ABC/Closer Productions’ comedy Aftertaste, which has just started shooting in Adelaide and Adelaide Hills following Covid-19 delays.
Abbott has been cast as the pastry-chef niece of Thomson’s Easton West, who helps her uncle, an internationally-renowned yet volatile celebrity chef, rebuild his career and reputation after a spectacular fall from grace.
The comedy, created by Julie De Fina and Matthew Bate, has also attracted a stacked ensemble cast, including Rachel Griffiths, Wayne Blair, Susan Prior, Peter Carroll, Remy Hii, Kavitha Anandasivam and Justin Amankwah.
Bate produces with Thomson and Rebecca Summerton, and he and de Fina wrote the scripts with Matt Vesely. De Fina and Griffiths are the executive producers with Rebecca Anderson from the ABC. Director Jonathan Brough will helm all six episodes.
Thomson said: “I am thrilled to...
Muriel’s Wedding The Musical lead Natalie Abbott will star opposite Erik Thomson in ABC/Closer Productions’ comedy Aftertaste, which has just started shooting in Adelaide and Adelaide Hills following Covid-19 delays.
Abbott has been cast as the pastry-chef niece of Thomson’s Easton West, who helps her uncle, an internationally-renowned yet volatile celebrity chef, rebuild his career and reputation after a spectacular fall from grace.
The comedy, created by Julie De Fina and Matthew Bate, has also attracted a stacked ensemble cast, including Rachel Griffiths, Wayne Blair, Susan Prior, Peter Carroll, Remy Hii, Kavitha Anandasivam and Justin Amankwah.
Bate produces with Thomson and Rebecca Summerton, and he and de Fina wrote the scripts with Matt Vesely. De Fina and Griffiths are the executive producers with Rebecca Anderson from the ABC. Director Jonathan Brough will helm all six episodes.
Thomson said: “I am thrilled to...
- 8/3/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Kirsty McGregor and Gemma Brown won Best Casting in a Feature Film for ‘Hearts and Bones’.
The Casting Guild of Australia (Cga) named 10 actors as its top emerging talent of 2019 and celebrated the best casting of the year at its annual awards Friday evening in Melbourne.
Leading the winners was Kirsty McGregor, who took home three awards, including Best Casting in a TV Comedy for Foxtel’s Mr Inbetween (series 2) and further two with colleague Gemma Brown, including Best Casting in A Feature Film for Hearts and Bones, and Achievement in Casting for ABC children’s series The Unlisted.
Annie Murtagh-Monks won Best Casting in a TV Drama for her work on The Heights series 1, while Best Casting in a TV Miniseries and Telemovie went to Angela Heesom for Sbs’s The Hunting. Best Casting in a Short Film went to Stevie Ray for Strangers.
Annie Murtagh-Monks won Best Casting...
The Casting Guild of Australia (Cga) named 10 actors as its top emerging talent of 2019 and celebrated the best casting of the year at its annual awards Friday evening in Melbourne.
Leading the winners was Kirsty McGregor, who took home three awards, including Best Casting in a TV Comedy for Foxtel’s Mr Inbetween (series 2) and further two with colleague Gemma Brown, including Best Casting in A Feature Film for Hearts and Bones, and Achievement in Casting for ABC children’s series The Unlisted.
Annie Murtagh-Monks won Best Casting in a TV Drama for her work on The Heights series 1, while Best Casting in a TV Miniseries and Telemovie went to Angela Heesom for Sbs’s The Hunting. Best Casting in a Short Film went to Stevie Ray for Strangers.
Annie Murtagh-Monks won Best Casting...
- 12/1/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
‘The Hunting.’
France’s M6 Group is the latest international broadcaster to acquire The Hunting, Closer Productions’ four-part drama commissioned by Sbs.
Created by Sophie Hyde and Matthew Cormack and starring Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh, the series exploring the effects of online sexting on teenagers and their families will screen on M6’s digital terrestrial channel W9.
That follows deals negotiated by UK-based Dcd Rights with Viacom-owned Channel 5 in the UK, Sky New Zealand, RTÉ in Ireland, CBC in Canada, Ivi in Russia and Npo in the Netherlands.
The ensemble cast includes Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher, Pamela Rabe, Leah Vandenberg, Rodney Afif, Sachin Joab, Elena Carapetis, Anni Lindner and newcomers Kavitha Anandasivam and Alex Cusack.
Cormack penned the scripts with Niki Aken. Hyde shared directing duties with Ana Kokkinos and produced with Rebecca Summerton and Lisa Scott. Screen Australia and the Safc backed the production.
France’s M6 Group is the latest international broadcaster to acquire The Hunting, Closer Productions’ four-part drama commissioned by Sbs.
Created by Sophie Hyde and Matthew Cormack and starring Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh, the series exploring the effects of online sexting on teenagers and their families will screen on M6’s digital terrestrial channel W9.
That follows deals negotiated by UK-based Dcd Rights with Viacom-owned Channel 5 in the UK, Sky New Zealand, RTÉ in Ireland, CBC in Canada, Ivi in Russia and Npo in the Netherlands.
The ensemble cast includes Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher, Pamela Rabe, Leah Vandenberg, Rodney Afif, Sachin Joab, Elena Carapetis, Anni Lindner and newcomers Kavitha Anandasivam and Alex Cusack.
Cormack penned the scripts with Niki Aken. Hyde shared directing duties with Ana Kokkinos and produced with Rebecca Summerton and Lisa Scott. Screen Australia and the Safc backed the production.
- 10/14/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Animals’ (Photo credit: Bernard Walsh).
Sophie Hyde’s Animals opened in UK cinemas last weekend, its first territory, winning plaudits from the critics and sizable audiences.
Picturehouse Entertainment launched the female relationships dramedy adapted from the Emma Jane Unsworth novel, which stars Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat, on 73 locations: 38 in greater London and 35 in the regions.
The weekend total including Q&a screenings hosted by Unsworth and a National Girlfriends’ Day promotion was £107,000.
Closer Productions’ Rebecca Summerton, who produced the Irish-Australian co-production with Hyde, Sarah Brocklehurst and Vico Films’ Cormac Fox, tells If she is very pleased with the UK opening and Picturehouse’s marketing campaign.
That augurs well for the September 12 release via Jonathan Page’s Bonsai Films. Page has booked nine screens and aims to have 15 on board at launch.
“It is hard to stand out but I think our uber-cool cast of Alia Shawkat and Holliday...
Sophie Hyde’s Animals opened in UK cinemas last weekend, its first territory, winning plaudits from the critics and sizable audiences.
Picturehouse Entertainment launched the female relationships dramedy adapted from the Emma Jane Unsworth novel, which stars Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat, on 73 locations: 38 in greater London and 35 in the regions.
The weekend total including Q&a screenings hosted by Unsworth and a National Girlfriends’ Day promotion was £107,000.
Closer Productions’ Rebecca Summerton, who produced the Irish-Australian co-production with Hyde, Sarah Brocklehurst and Vico Films’ Cormac Fox, tells If she is very pleased with the UK opening and Picturehouse’s marketing campaign.
That augurs well for the September 12 release via Jonathan Page’s Bonsai Films. Page has booked nine screens and aims to have 15 on board at launch.
“It is hard to stand out but I think our uber-cool cast of Alia Shawkat and Holliday...
- 8/5/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘My Life is Murder.’
Cjz’s private investigator series My Life is Murder and Closer Productions’ four-part drama The Hunting have been acquired by UK broadcasters.
Multi-channel operator UKTV will screen the 10-part Cjz production, which follows Lucy Lawless as former homicide cop Alexa Crowe as she investigates baffling and bizarre murders, on its crime drama channel Alibi.
Directed by Leah Purcell, Mat King and Jovita O’Shaugnessy and produced by Elisa Argenzio and Cjz head of development Claire Tonkin, the series premiered on Network 10 on Wednesday night.
The first episode drew 482,000 viewers in the mainland capitals, trailing Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell’s 495,000, despite the fact the ABC mistakenly put to air the previous week’s episode of Micallef.
However the 7-day and 28-day figures for 10’s murder-mystery are bound to be a lot higher. The consolidated total for Five Bedrooms, for example, was 642,000 in the five metros,...
Cjz’s private investigator series My Life is Murder and Closer Productions’ four-part drama The Hunting have been acquired by UK broadcasters.
Multi-channel operator UKTV will screen the 10-part Cjz production, which follows Lucy Lawless as former homicide cop Alexa Crowe as she investigates baffling and bizarre murders, on its crime drama channel Alibi.
Directed by Leah Purcell, Mat King and Jovita O’Shaugnessy and produced by Elisa Argenzio and Cjz head of development Claire Tonkin, the series premiered on Network 10 on Wednesday night.
The first episode drew 482,000 viewers in the mainland capitals, trailing Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell’s 495,000, despite the fact the ABC mistakenly put to air the previous week’s episode of Micallef.
However the 7-day and 28-day figures for 10’s murder-mystery are bound to be a lot higher. The consolidated total for Five Bedrooms, for example, was 642,000 in the five metros,...
- 7/17/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh in ‘The Hunting.’
Closer Productions’ The Hunting, a four-part drama which examines how teenagers navigate the complexities of relationships, identity and sexuality via technology, will premiere on Sbs at 8.30 pm on Thursday August 1.
Created by Closer’s Sophie Hyde and Matthew Cormack and starring Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh, the plot follows two high school teachers who discover students are sharing explicit photos of their underage friends and peers online.
The revelation has devastating consequences for the students and their families, tackling themes of misogyny, privacy, sexuality and sexualisation, online exploitation, masculinity and gender.
The ensemble cast includes Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher, Pamela Rabe, Leah Vandenberg, Rodney Afif, Sachin Joab, Elena Carapetis, Anni Lindner and newcomers Kavitha Anandasivam and Alex Cusack.
Cormack penned the scripts with Niki Aken, and Hyde shared directing duties with Ana Kokkinos. Hyde produces with Rebecca Summerton and Lisa Scott.
Closer Productions’ The Hunting, a four-part drama which examines how teenagers navigate the complexities of relationships, identity and sexuality via technology, will premiere on Sbs at 8.30 pm on Thursday August 1.
Created by Closer’s Sophie Hyde and Matthew Cormack and starring Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh, the plot follows two high school teachers who discover students are sharing explicit photos of their underage friends and peers online.
The revelation has devastating consequences for the students and their families, tackling themes of misogyny, privacy, sexuality and sexualisation, online exploitation, masculinity and gender.
The ensemble cast includes Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher, Pamela Rabe, Leah Vandenberg, Rodney Afif, Sachin Joab, Elena Carapetis, Anni Lindner and newcomers Kavitha Anandasivam and Alex Cusack.
Cormack penned the scripts with Niki Aken, and Hyde shared directing duties with Ana Kokkinos. Hyde produces with Rebecca Summerton and Lisa Scott.
- 7/3/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘The Hunting’ (Photo: Nat Rogers).
Closer Productions’ The Hunting and Guesswork Television/Merman Television’s Frayed will premiere at Series Mania Melbourne in early July.
Headlining this year’s event, which is held with the support of Acmi and Film Victoria, is Jessica Jones creator and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, who will appear in conversation.
Rosenberg will also speak at the industry day, alongside screenwriter Luke Davies; Foxtel director of television Brian Walsh; Series Mania creative director Francois-Pier Pelinard-Lambert and actor, director and producer Rachel Griffiths.
Commissioned by Sbs, The Hunting is a four-part drama set in Adelaide that explores the lives of four teenagers, their teachers and families as they deal with the fallout of a nude teen photo scandal. Toplined by Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh, the ensemble cast also includes Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher, Pamela Rabe, Leah Vandenberg, Rodney Afif, Sachin Joab, Elena Carapetis,...
Closer Productions’ The Hunting and Guesswork Television/Merman Television’s Frayed will premiere at Series Mania Melbourne in early July.
Headlining this year’s event, which is held with the support of Acmi and Film Victoria, is Jessica Jones creator and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, who will appear in conversation.
Rosenberg will also speak at the industry day, alongside screenwriter Luke Davies; Foxtel director of television Brian Walsh; Series Mania creative director Francois-Pier Pelinard-Lambert and actor, director and producer Rachel Griffiths.
Commissioned by Sbs, The Hunting is a four-part drama set in Adelaide that explores the lives of four teenagers, their teachers and families as they deal with the fallout of a nude teen photo scandal. Toplined by Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh, the ensemble cast also includes Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher, Pamela Rabe, Leah Vandenberg, Rodney Afif, Sachin Joab, Elena Carapetis,...
- 6/20/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
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