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Pharrell Williams found a unique way to unwind after the 2025 Met Gala!

The 52-year-old Louis Vuitton men’s creative director, who was a co-chair for the evening, held an intimate evening centered around an Uno tournament following his attendance at the gala alongside wife Helen Lasichanh on Monday evening (May 5), which was held at Crane Club in New York City.

Vogue notes that there were “cocktails, a bit of dancing, and the usual merrymaking, though none of the paparazzi crush or nightclub chaos found at the other 16 (!) after-parties unfolding across Manhattan.”

Keep reading to find out more…

Winners could walk away with one of four extravagant prizes: a Richard Mille watch, Tiffany & Co. diamond earrings, a Louis Vuitton trunk, or a custom varsity jacket designed by Pharrell himself.

Party attendees included Kim Kardashian, La La Anthony, Ciara, Halle Bailey, Jaden Smith, Pusha T, David Blaine, Adam Mosseri, Eva Chen,...

Long-time best mates and long-term podcasters, comedian and broadcaster Wil Anderson and actor and writer Charlie Clausen, are bringing their hilarious and wildly popular podcasts, Tofop and Fofop, along with Anderson’s Wilosophy podcast to LiSTNR.

Anderson and Clausen have collaborated on Tofop (aka Thirty Odd Feet Of Podcast) since 2010 and are now bringing their more than 400-episode library to LiSTNR. On Tofop, the pair discuss popular culture, film, sport, personal stories, and usually intense discussions on a range of hypothetical situations.

The aptly named Fofop (or faux Tofop) sees the pair take Tofop to an alternative universe, interviewing a range of guests over another 400-plus episodes.

Although on production hiatus, Anderson will also bring his podcast Wilosophy, where he asks “smart people stupid questions and tries to find out the meaning of life”, to LiSTNR. Launched in 2014 and also standing the test of time, recent episodes have included guests Josh Szeps,...

Traditional distribution pathways may have been upended by Covid-19, but in some ways, the pandemic has strengthened the landscape for social impact documentary.

That’s according to Leeanne Torpey, Jungle Entertainment’s communications and impact manager, who has led the impact campaign for the company’s doco Big Deal, about the influence of money on politics.

“Community connections are becoming more important. And if [a project] is addressing a real need in the community, then an audience is going to exist passionately whether or not it’s convenient to get to the cinema,” she tells If.

Big Deal, directed by Craig Reucassel and presented by Christiaan Van Vuuren, marks Jungle’s first social impact documentary. Aline Jacques produces, while executive producers include Jason Burrows, Jen Peedom, Bridget Callow-Wright, Malinda Wink, and Paul Wiegard.

The project follows Van Vuuren as he meets with a host of prominent parliamentary and media figures to understand...

By his own admission, Christiaan Van Vuuren is no political expert.

Despite this, the perspective of the Soul Mates and Bondi Hipsters comedian is central to Big Deal, a two-part ABC factual series examining Australia’s billion-dollar political lobbying industry.

As the presenter of Craig Reucassel’s directorial debut, Van Vuuren sits down with a host of prominent parliamentary and media figures, including Jason Falinski, Sam Dastyari, Scott Ryan, Kate McClymont, Andrew Leigh, Helen Haines, Jacqui Lambie, Katharine Murphy, Linda Burney, and Zali Steggall.

He told If the distance of departure from his previous work was not lost on him.

“It was pretty terrifying,” he said.

“There is an emotional safety when you have control of an edit and you’re in character and it’s comedic.

“This is scarier because you are a bit more out there. It was challenging in that I was talking to people who know...

Presented by comedian Christiaan Van Vuuren and directed by Craig Reucassel, Big Deal takes a look at Australia’s billion-dollar political lobbying industry. For every federal politician, there’s millions of dollars devoted just to swinging their opinion, or their vote.

The two-part factual series Big Deal premieres on the ABC October 19 following its theatrical run via Madman Entertainment, with both episodes instantly available to binge on ABC iview.

In the series, Christiaan meets with a range of politicians, journalists, and experts, such as Malcolm Turnbull, Jason Falinski, Sam Dastyari, Scott Ryan, Kate McClymont, Dr Andrew Leigh, Helen Haines, Jacqui Lambie, Katharine Murphy, Linda Burney, and Zali Steggall, to ask, ‘Is Australia’s democracy for sale?’

Big Deal is produced by Aline Jacques, and executive produced by Jen Peedom, Bridget Callow-Wright, Jason Burrows, Malinda Wink and Paul Wiegard. Principal production funding from Screen Australia in association with Screen Nsw.

The...

Big Deal Trailer — Craig Reucassel‘s Big Deal (2021) movie trailer has been released by Madman Films. The Big Deal trailer stars Christiaan Van Vuuren. Crew Aline Jacques produced Big Deal. Though a documentary, Craig Reucassel crafts what the viewer hears and sees in this film. Plot Synopsis Big Deal‘s plot synopsis: described as a “powerful, provocative [...]

Continue reading: Big Deal (2021) Movie Trailer: Craig Reucassel’s Doc follows Christiaan Van Vuuren as he Investigates Money in Politics...

"Is our democracy for sale?" Madman Films in Australia has unveiled an official trailer for a documentary film called Big Deal, the latest from the filmmaker / writer / comedian Craig Reucassel. Described as a "powerful, provocative documentary about how much money has infiltrated politics in Australia," Big Deal follows an Australian actor, writer, director, video blogger named Christiaan Van Vuuren, who bluntly confronts the dilemma of politics being influenced by money. Seems to be happening everywhere, huh. Big Deal is a wake-up call about the frightening extent to which money has infiltrated politics. Christiaan Van Vuuren’s unlikely journey shows us why we should care, and how we might be able work together to ensure our democracy is safeguarded from being sold to the highest bidder. This sounds like a doc film that Every country should have, and Everyone should see, to make us think more about how money is too powerful.

Director and producer Nadia Tass will chair the jury for this year’s CinefestOZ, which had its full line-up announced in Perth yesterday.

The filmmaker will helm voting on the $100,000 CinefestOZ prize, adjudicating in-competition finalists Here Out West, Nitram, River, and The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson.

Tass is among the directors to have their work showcased at the event, with her documentary, Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story, announced among the Australian premieres in the line-up.

Speaking to If, she said the festival had always been “invigorating”.

“The event is so elegant, but at the same time it is not empty,” she said.

“There is so much about films that is discussed, both in terms of the creative process and films as pieces of entertainment or communication with an audience.

“They have really thought about how they are going to excite people to come to the event.”

Tass...

Alex Lee and Craig Reucassel will feature in a new ABC quiz show set to air Wednesdays.

Hosted by Lee with Reucassel as a regular team member, Wrapsheet’s Win The Week will pair everyday Australians with celebrities in a test of news knowledge and loyalty.

Questions will cover anything from the preceding week’s news, including politics, world events, sport, celebrity gossip, and viral videos on social media.

Each half-hour episode will see three teams of two players go head-to-head over four rounds, with each team comprising an everyday Aussie as Team Captain and a celebrity who will both need to work together to win.

But team loyalties will be put to the test at the end of each round with a dramatic “Stay or Betray” choice – one team captain must decide whether to stay with their celeb teammate or to betray them and swap to a different celeb...

Craig Reucassel and Rachel Griffiths have been added to the Australian International Documentary Conference (Aidc) speaker line-up ahead of Sunday’s start.

Speaking in the session ‘Working With ABC Arts’, which will focus on new opportunities for arts content at the ABC, Griffiths will chat about her new documentary series exploring 100 years of the Archibald Prize, Finding the Archibald. She will be joined by the director of Step Into Paradise, Amanda Blue, executive producer for ABC Arts TV, Kalita Corrigan, and moderator Namila Benson from ABC Radio National.

On day one of Aidc 2021, Craig Reucassel will host the ABC opening night trivia, a special limited-capacity session in which All Access pass holders have the chance to join a small team, headed by an ABC commissioning editor, to flaunt their documentary knowledge across a range of ABC categories – from arts to natural history to factual series and more.

The Aidc runs online Sunday,...

Graeme Mason.

Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason has challenged Screen Producers Australia’s claims that the Federal Government’s media reforms will slash TV drama and children’s production by up to 50 per cent and cost thousands of jobs.

Spa CEO Matt Deaner had warned the reducing the Producer Offset for feature films to 30 per cent could well mean the end of the line for many features and he blasted the effective abolition of children’s content quotas, the watering down of drama and documentary requirements and the halving of requirements for subscription TV.

Asked about Spa’s position during a Senate Estimates hearing by Labor Senator Anne Urquhart last week, Mason said: “In my personal view I would not suggest that is an accurate assumption of what is going to happen.

“Some broadcasters may have reduced some of their requirements for local content but so many new content providers...

Jason Burrows.

Jungle Entertainment CEO Jason Burrows advocates one key structural change if the Australian screen industry is to take full advantage of an expected, post-pandemic boom in demand for scripted content: Treat writers much better.

Burrows is confident Australia can produce drama which competes with the best in the world if writers are given more time for development, greater creative control, more training and mentoring and higher fees.

“If we don’t, we might as well stop making drama,” he said in a webinar with Screen Producers Australia CEO Matt Deaner yesterday.

“We should do that even it means Australia makes one less drama each year, as it will pay off in the long run for all of us.”

Too often, he says, projects go into production or pre-production without finished scripts due to numerous factors including network pressures to fill a gap in the schedule, limited development fees and investment,...

‘Australia Come Fly With Me’ (Photo credit: WildBear Entertainment).

Australia’s documentary makers are less affected by production shutdowns than most other sectors of the screen industry – apart from the large cohort of animators who are still working remotely.

While some productions have been delayed or suspended, filming continues on a sizable number of projects and many are in post.

WildBear Entertainment, which has has 85 people working remotely, is delivering five shows including Australia Come Fly With Me for Sbs, Demolition Downunder for Network Ten and France’s Mediawan, and Bushfire Animal Rescue for PBS and Arte/Zdf.

“We had five projects that were about to commence shooting and these have been delayed, around 25 hours in total,” WildBear CEO Michael Tear tells If. We have another 19 projects in post or very close to delivery. On seven we are experiencing interruption or requiring some form of change to production methodology.

“We...

‘Fight for Planet A: The Climate Challenge.’

Two climate change documentaries fronted by Craig Reucassel, a factual entertainment series which looks at public shaming and teetotaller Shaun Micallef’s expose on the effects of alcohol will premiere on the ABC next year.

Among the other highlights of the 2020 schedule unveiled today, Blackfella Films will chronicle how the Maralinga Tjarutja people overcame the 1950s nuclear weapon tests and WildBear Entertainment will deliver documentaries detailing threats to humanity and ground-breaking scientific advances.

Flying Kite Pictures and Sticky Pictures are co-producing the 10-part series Are You Tougher Than Your Ancestors?, which sees children leave their modern comforts and spend 24 hours re-creating the lives of kids from another era.

Created and produced by Vanna Morisini, the series will celebrate the diversity of Australia’s shared history. At the end of each episode viewers will find out if the kids were up to the task.

Craig Reucassel’s ‘War on Waste.’

Making The Chaser franchise was such a collegiate effort the crew on the ABC satirical show used to jokingly refer to Craig Reucassel as the back-seat director.

The performer, writer and War on Waste star will take the front seat for the first time on Democracy Project, a feature documentary and two-part ABC program co-funded by Screen Australia’s Producer Program.

Marking a return to the factual genre for Jungle Entertainment, the show will investigate how money has infiltrated Australia’s democratic system, including corporate and political donations and the role of lobbyists.

The project germinated at a Shark Island Institute Story Development and Impact Lab last year attended by Jungle CEO Jason Burrows, Jen Peedom, Reucassel and Christiaan Van Vuuren.

“We developed the idea and at the end of the week it was decided I would be the director, which I did not intend to be,...

‘The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone’.

Screen Australia has announced $2 million in production funding for 11 documentary projects, seven through the Documentary Producer Program and four through the Commissioned Program.

They include two projects for Sbs’s documentary strand Untold Australia, a digital series on the recent climate strikes for Junkee Media, a short doco following transgender activist Georgie Stone from director Maya Newell, as well as feature documentary Democracy Project, exploring money in politics, written and directed by Craig Reucassel and presented by Christiaan Van Vuuren.

The funding announcement comes as the agency revises its documentary programs; industry has until this Sunday to provide feedback on proposed changes to guidelines.

Screen Australia head of documentary Bernadine Lim said, “We are thrilled to support such a range of projects from all over Australia that shed light on a number of critical issues including climate change, human rights, inclusion and wildlife protection.”

“It...

Bridget Callow-Wright.

Jungle Entertainment has launched a features division, with a focus on international films to be shot and produced in Australia.

Producer Bridget Callow-Wright has been appointed as a development executive to assist in developing the features slate, which includes genre, action-drama, and documentary, all with the company’s signature comedic style.

Callow-Wright was formerly senior development executive at Cowlick Entertainment, and will retain her own banner Midwinter Films.

First off the slate will be science-fiction comedy Croak, about a gang of teenagers who discover that their biology teacher is harbouring a dark secret that is about to unleash death and destruction. Penned by Shane Brady and co-writer Priscilla Cameron, the film will be directed by brothers Connor and Christian Van Vuuren with Callow-Wright and Jungle COO Chloe Rickard producing.

“As well as being lots of laughs, Croak tackles important environmental questions through the eyes of teenagers in regional Australia,...

Matt Deaner.

Next week’s Screen Forever conference offers attendees more opportunities to network and do business with international streaming networks and producers than ever before.

That’s according to Screen Producers Australia CEO Matt Deaner, who is excited about the line-up of keynote speakers and sessions including those modeled on the ABC’s Q&A and You Can’t Ask That.

This year the organisers made it a priority to invite overseas-based producers in the hopes of helping to generate co-productions or other forms of collaboration. Hence the participation of English showrunner Dominic Minghella; Sascha Rothchild, co-executive producer and writer of Netflix’s Glow; Eden Gaha, CEO of La-based Mother Media Group, who previously served as president, unscripted TV at Endemol Shine North America; and Tim King, head of production at Sweden’s Sf Studio.

The Netflix team headed by director of content acquisition Lauren Smith, YouTube Originals scripted...

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'War on Waste'.

Keo Films Australia.s factual series War on Waste was the stand-out Australian show on the ABC in the first half of this year, together with series two of in-house production You Can.t Ask That.

Matchbox Pictures. drama Seven Types of Ambiguity performed strongly on iview while Stargazing Live in Australia, a co-production with the BBC and FremantleMedia Australia, resonated in regional areas and on social media.

.ABC had a strong first half of the year and we.re thrilled that audiences have responded to our unique Australian content across digital, social and broadcast platforms,. Rebecca Heap, ABC TV head of programming and digital, told If.

.War on Waste has been particularly impactful, not only because it was a terrific viewing experience but also because it harnessed Australia.s desire to make a difference. It.s been incredible to see the groundswell of action triggered by...

Keo Films Australia produced 'War on Waste' for the ABC..

After delivering War on Waste, the ABC.s highest-rating show among audiences under 50 this year, Keo Films Australia is being thrown on the scrap heap.

Parent company Keo Films UK today announced the Sydney-based production office will close; nominally at the end of the year, although MD Brendan Dahill is departing shortly.

The UK company attributed the closure to an .organisational review to realign the business. and stressed it is .committed to building partnerships that ensure its shows will still be seen in Australia..

Keo Films UK chief creative officer and board director Andrew Palmer said: .This decision has not been easy, especially given the incredible successes that our Australian team have enjoyed — most recently with the ABC.s huge hit War on Waste. Operationally, however, this decision best serves our corporate interests at this stage.

.We have enjoyed a...

The ABC has added additional titles to its 2017 line-up, including two new dramas in early stages of production.

At a media launch in Sydney today, director of television Richard Finlayson said the public broadcaster.s slate aimed to be .ambitious, accessible and Australian...

.We want to use the best talent we can possibly find. We want to continue to be the most awarded network. We want to be recognised for the best TV in Australia. But not just in Australia, in the world,. he said.

Finlayson said the ABC wanted to be bold in its programming, and show that the broadcaster's content was "for everybody. via big national stories.

.We want to make big, noisy prime time shows, but we.re going to also make sure that we.re giving emerging creatives the opportunity to access audiences as well. They.ll be doing that a lot on iview,. he said.

The Chaser's Media Circus will return for a second season on September 10.

However, according to a statement from ABC TV, management has confirmed it hopes to replace the second series with cat videos.

.As soon as we can find enough left wing cats who instinctively hate Australia, they.ll be replaced,. said an ABC representative.

The game show about the news is hosted by Craig Reucassel with Fake Fact Checker Chas Licciardello.

It is produced by the creative team behind The Chaser and The Checkout, including Ben Jenkins, Zoë Norton Lodge, Scott Abbot, Andrew Hansen and Julian Morrow.

"ABC management confirmed that for the second series the show has been moved out of the news division to allow it to be more biased and have less rigorous vetting of the studio audience," according to a statement.

Filmed in front of a live audience each week shortly before broadcast, The Chaser...

The Australian Broadcast Corporation has issued a recall notice for the satirical consumer affairs program The Checkout.

After identifying a .deficiency. of this type of programming on its main channel schedule, the ABC has stated it aims to .rectify this matter with high priority..

As such, The Checkout producers have been requested to urgently return to work and produce 12 episodes of the program for ABC viewers.

ABC has requested the 12 episodes are designed to cover issues affecting Australian consumers, and that they will treat these issues in .an entertaining, informative manner..

Finally, and perhaps most importantly for the broadcaster, it has requested the episodes .do not result in legal action being taken against the ABC..

Cosmetic testing, car financing, sports drinks, the wedding industry and mental health treatments are just some of the topics The Checkout is set to examine this year. The program has previously looked at topics such as product labelling,...

With the official ratings year starting in just three days time, My Kitchen Rules again gave Seven an easy win on Wednesday, scoring more than 2m viewers for the third night in a row.

According to preliminary overnight metro ratings from OzTAM, Mkr rated 2.172m.

Nine’s one day cricket game between Australia and the West Indies saw 1.077m tune in over three and a half hours.

It was another poor night for Ten which had just an 8.5% share with the afternoon soap Bold And The Beautiful its third best performing show among all viewers. But it claimed six of the top 20 programs of the night in people 16-to-39, and five of the top 20 programs of the night in 18-to-49s.

ABC1 had an 11.8 per cent share based on its new Wednesday line up of Adam Zwar’s The Agony Of Life (678,000), Craig Reucassel’s clip show Shock Horror Aunty...

No word on whether Adams Hills will host Spicks and Specks

Spciks and Specks, one of the ABC’s most popular shows is to make an unexpected return, the broadcaster has revealed.

But there is no word whether Adam Hills or regular team captains Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough will be a part of the music quiz.

Ther announcement of ABC’s plans for 2013 says somewhat mysteriously: “We welcome the return of Australia’s favourite music quiz show Spicks and Specks – but it will be no cover version.”

Update: The Spicks and Specks Facebook page says: “”Australia’s favourite music quiz show Spicks and Specks will be back in 2013 with a new host, new team captains and new games.”

The show had helped the ABC dominate Wednesday night viewing until it ended in late 2011.

Also on the agenda is another project from Summer Heights High creator Chris Lilley. Details were again sketchy,...

James Franco has a new single with Smokey Robinson, because of course he does. How does that happen? "A very strange thing happened: I had been listening to Motown everyday ... So I watched [a Motown documentary] in the car on the way to the airport one night, most of the doc was about Smokey. [Then] on the plane to L.A. I slept the whole way and when we landed I woke up with a smiling face standing over me. He said, 'Hey, I'm a big fan.' I just stared. 'It's Smokey,' he said. Six months later ... I asked him to sing on one of the songs and he said sure."

In order to come up with a case in which the federal government referenced a traditional definition of marriage in a federal court, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group reached all the way back to 1885 in a case about polygamy.

A new...

Matt Saville, Tony Krawitz and Jeffrey Walker won two awards each at the Australian Directors Guild Awards on Friday evening.

Saville won for the episode of The Slap that focused on Harry and for Cloudstreet in the drama series and mini-series categories respectively; Krawitz.s The Tall Man was voted best film in the feature documentary category and he was also chosen as the Finders Award recipient; and Jeffrey Walker was presented with both the inaugural Esben Storm Award for children.s TV for series three of H2O: Just Add Water and the award for TV comedy for Angry Boys.

Mrs Carey.s Concert, directed by Bob Connolly and Sophie Raymond, was the joint winner of the documentary feature category, and Walker shared his comedy award with Stuart MacDonald and the show.s on-screen star, Chris Lilley.

One of the most touching moments of the night was when the audience...

The stars of The Chaser have been confirmed as the hosts of this year's Australian Directors Guild Awards. Craig Reucassel and Chris Taylor, who make up part of the Australian satirical group, will front the industry awards when they are held on Friday, May 11 at the Australian Maritime Museum in Sydney. This year will mark the 30th anniversary of the Australian Directors Guild Awards. Adg General Manager Kingston Anderson told TV Tonight: "The Awards are a great opportunity to mark the Adg's 30th anniversary and to celebrate the achievements of our directors over the past three decades. The night will be lots of fun too - Craig and Chris will make sure of that!" The (more)...

Reucassel

Taylor

The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel and Chris Taylor are to host the 2012 Australian Directors Guild Awards.

The awards will mark the 30th anniversary of the Adg.

Nominations for the 18 categories of the Adg Awards will be announced on Monday 16 April.

Kingston Anderson, general manager of the Adg said: “The Awards are a great opportunity to mark the Adg’s 30th anniversary and to celebrate the achievements of our directors over the past three decades. The night will be lots of fun too – Craig and Chris will make sure of that!”

The night will also announce the winning film of the Directors Guild of America Finders series. The film, which will not have Us distribution will be screened in front of key Us industry figures including distributors in Los Angeles.

The Chaser team and Channel Seven will go into production on their new show this week.

The Unbelievable Truth is produced by The Chaser team’s Giant Dwarf productions and adapted from the BBC Radio4 show of the same name, co-created by The Goodies’ Graeme Garden – who gets a ‘co-creator’ title on this new version.

A panel style show, the program will feature comedians trying to trick each other into believing lies “while smuggling unbelievable but true facts past each other”.

Hosted by The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel, Julian Morrow and Andrew Hansen will be team captains.

In a statement, Morrow Giant Dwarf’s executive producer said: “The most bizarre fact in the entire series is that Channel Seven have agreed to make a show with us involved. But I suppose it is called The Unbelievable Truth.”

Brad Lyons, Seven’s head of production said: “I liked it better when...

Three members of The Chaser team have revealed that they are filming a new TV series. Julian Morrow, Andrew Hansen and Craig Reucassel from the comedy troupe - who have often caused outrage with their stunts on The ABC over the past ten years - are now working on a Seven Network comedy panel show called The Unbelievable Truth. Reucassel is believed to be hosting the series, while Hansen and Morrow will head panels of guest comedians including Shane Jacobson, Kitty Flanagan and Tom Gleeson. Reucassel told the Herald Sun that the new show is unlikely to cause the same stir that The Chaser did, saying: "I don't think this show (more)...

Especially in this day and age, there are political celebrities who routinely say such outlandish things that you’re uncertain whether to take them seriously. So you can’t really blame Australian TV host Craig Reucassel for implying that Lord Christopher Monckton must be the next brilliant creation of Sacha Baron Cohen. For those of you unfamiliar with Monckton’s CV, he’s an outspoken climate-change skeptic who once worked for prime minister Margaret Thatcher and he has a history of controversial and polarizing statements. Like the time he said the Hitler Youth was a liberal Green organization. Or the...

The team behind comedy stunt showThe Chaser's War On Everything have revealed that they are working on a new show. The creative team, which consists of Craig Reucassel and Julian Morrow, said that they hope to trial live Q and A event The Empty Vessel for three nights at the Kings Cross Hotel in Sydney next month. According to The Age, the boys will be interviewing guests and then giving audience members the opportunity to ask questions during the shows. Reucassel told the Sun Herald: "It's not going to be The Chaser's War On Everything and if you come along expecting that, you'll be disappointed. It's an extension of our writing, of some of the other stuff. Not everything will be a gag." Morrow added: "I'd like to (more)...