Screen Australia today announced production investment funding for five films, five television series and two online series totaling over $9 million. The latest slate features a mix of emerging and experienced creatives, telling diverse stories that range from frontier tales to animated features and comedies, including a one-off Christmas special based on Stan’s original series No Activity.
“It’s fantastic to see such a variety of stories being funded across multiple platforms, which will not only develop careers, but provide Australian and international audiences with engaging, thought-provoking, content that can cut through in this marketplace,” Sally Caplan, Head of Production at Screen Australia commented “Promoting diversity and inclusion in Australian screen stories is imperative and I’m thrilled the projects in this slate have embraced these values. We relish the opportunity to support the development of emerging screen talent, and this slate includes a feature debut from Roderick MacKay who will direct The Furnace, a project with strong multicultural characters and themes.”
Caplan also said I’m also delighted to see Brisbane-based production company Like A Photon, led by Kristen Souvlis and Nadine Bates, creating authentic Australian animation stories for younger audiences. Both The Wishmas Tree and Combat Wombat will bring real opportunity for growth in the animation industry in Australia.
The funded feature film projects include:
A new animated feature film Combat Wombat from Queensland based production team Like A Photon led by Nadine Bates and Kristen Souvlis.
An Australian feature titled I Met A Girl from the team behind the award winning web series High Life including producer Adam Dolman, writer Glen Dolman and director Luke Eve with producer Melissa Kelly (Hounds of Love).
The Furnace, set in Western Australia’s 1890s gold rush, grapples with multiculturalism, greed and the search for identity in a new land. Writer and director Roderick MacKay’s first feature, produced by Timothy White and Kelvin Munro (I Am Mother),
The Wishmas Tree, the first film to go into production from Like A Photon. Ricard Cusso Judson will direct the film and Peter Ivan (Oddball) has written the screenplay.
The funded television drama projects include:
No Activity: The Night Before Christmas, a Christmas special based on the Logie-nominated Stan Original Series No Activity. Uniting some of Australia’s best comedic actors including Patrick Brammall, Darren Gilshenan, Harriet Dyer, Genevieve Morris, Dan Wyllie and David Field, the story will follow officers Hendy (Brammall) and Stokes (Gilshenan) who are tasked with a Christmas Eve stakeout. Writer-director Trent O’Donnell returns with Bridget Callow-Wright serving as series producer and Chloe Rickard and Jason Burrows as executive producers on this next installment for Stan.
The funded online projects include:
Lucy and DiC, a new 1 x 60 minute/8 x 7.5-minute comedy show produced by We Made a Thing Studios and based off a short film from 2017 starring emerging live performer Lucy Gransbury and the voice of popular YouTuber Ethan Marrell (from Ozzy Man Reviews).
Internment, a 6 x 10-minute web series about two girls, Helena and Pippa, stuck in an internship from hell. That is, if hell was a trendy inner-city office where no one was doing anything or being paid. It’s written by Helena Ruse, Andrew Mills and Pippa Mills, and directed by Andrew Mills