News

The Office is back! Well, a version of it.

Amazon Prime Video has released the first trailer to the Australian adaptation of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s enduring classic comedy series The Office, and we finally get a proper glimpse at the Aussie variants of Brent, Tim, Dawn, Gareth and more.

With NBC’s follow-up to the U.S. adaptation of The Office still in development, global fans of the franchise can sate themselves in the meantime with an Aussie attempt at the mockumentary-style comedy.

Just one (big) catch, though: The Office Australia will be available on Prime Video in 240 countries and territories worldwide from Oct. 18, except, that is, in the U.S. That’s nothing a Vpn can’t fix, however, if you’re really keen.

In the clip released Wednesday, we see Hannah Howard (Felicity Ward), the managing director of Sydney-based packaging company Flinley Craddick, trying and...

Prime Video has announced that the Australian Original The Office will premiere on October 18. The comedy series is the thirteenth version of the global hit juggernaut franchise and has the first-ever female lead in the iconic role, comedian and actor Felicity Ward who plays Hannah Howard, Managing Director of Flinley Craddick.

All eight episodes of The Office Australia will be available on October 18 exclusively on Prime Video in 240 countries and territories worldwide (excluding the U.S.) in the Prime membership.

Prime Video also released a first-look image from the series, which features an ensemble of Australian and New Zealand comedy talent. Starring alongside Felicity Ward is Edith Poor, Steen Raskopoulos, Shari Sebbens, and Josh Thomson.

Jonny Brugh, Susan Ling Young, Raj Labade (Appetite), Lucy Schmidt (The Pledge), Zoe Terakes, Pallavi Sharda (The Twelve), and Claude Jabbour round out the regular cast.

Susie Youssef, Justin Rosniiak, Carlo Ritchie (Mikki vs the World), Rick Donald,...

The Australian edition of “The Office” — the 13th global incarnation of the iconic comedy series — is taking shape, with Prime Video setting a release date and releasing a first-look at its lead, Felicity Ward.

The “Time Bandits” and “Wakefield” star will play Hannah Howard, managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick and the first female lead of “The Office” franchise. All eight episodes will become available globally on Oct. 18 via Prime Video (excluding the U.S.).

Starring alongside Ward is an ensemble of Australian and New Zealand comedy talent. The cast includes Edith Poor (“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”), Steen Raskopoulos (“The Duchess”), Shari Sebbens (“The Sapphires”), Josh Thomson (“How to Please a Woman”), Jonny Brugh (“Thor: Love and Thunder”), Susan Ling Young (“Reckoning”, “Hungry Ghosts”), Raj Labade (“Appetite”), Lucy Schmidt (“The Pledge”), Zoe Terakes (“Talk to Me”), Pallavi Sharda (“The Twelve”) and Claude Jabbour (“Last King of the Cross”). Meanwhile,...

Binge’s record-setting drama series Strife has begun shooting its second season.

The Asher Keddie-starring show became Australian streamer Binge’s biggest original series premiere last year, prompting execs to set up a writers’ room for Season 2, as we revealed in January. Production is now underway in Sydney.

The comedic drama follows Evelyn Jones (Keddie), a modern, imperfect woman and publisher, on her journey from lounge room blogger to becoming a force in women’s media. It was inspired by Australian media personality and journalist Mia Freedman’s memoir Work, Strife, Balance, and is written by Australian screenwriter Sarah Scheller (The Letdown).

In Season 2, Evelyn’s empire is threatened by the arrival of a new women’s website and a troll who calls out her hypocrisy and privilege, making her double guess her instincts when she needs to be on her A game. Her company moves to new offices and ventures into podcasting,...

PaleyFest NY is lining up shows for this year’s event, starting with panels devoted to the 10th anniversary of Starz’s “Outlander,” one for HBO’s “Somebody Somewhere” and another for AMC’s “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol.”

The festival will run from Oct. 16 to Oct. 22 in midtown Manhattan and feature screenings and conversations with the casts and creative teams of the season’s most-anticipated television.

“‘Outlander,’ ‘Somebody Somewhere’ and ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol’ each represent excellence in television, and we are thrilled to reveal these stellar programs as the first announced program selections for this year’s PaleyFest NY,” Maureen J. Reidy, president, CEO of The Paley Center for Media, said in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming television fans to The Paley Museum this October, and we extend our tremendous thanks to Citi for their continued support of PaleyFest NY.

Dive into Australia's top-notch TV shows on Netflix, offering unique storylines and quality entertainment for audiences worldwide. Discover gems like Lunatics, The Bureau Of Magical Things, and Pine Gap, showcasing Australian talent and captivating storytelling. From comedies like The Letdown to dramas like Stateless, these shows cater to all age groups and offer a diverse range of genres for viewers to enjoy.

Australia might be on the other side of the world, but thanks to Netflix, their top-notch TV programs are finding their way into homes everywhere and dazzling audiences from across the globe. Oz might not be known for cranking out worldwide entertainment, but what they lack in quantity, they more than make up for in quality. Many of the modest-budget productions listed below were never intended for a worldwide audience, but their unique storylines, refreshingly honest humor, and nail-biting dramas have made them all an international success.

Because of the way Netflix works,...

More! Like baby chicks gape-mouthed in the nest, Doctor Who fans demand to be fed. Series 14 was gulped down in what felt like record time, and now comes the hunger. After “Empire of Death”, the mystery of Ruby’s mother was solved and the revelation that Sutekh has been Teen Wolfing it atop the Tardis since 1975, we want to know… what’s next?

A Christmas special, followed by eight new episodes is what, plus the continuation of the current companion and the introduction of a new one. Read all about it below.

2024 Christmas Special “Joy to the World”

On the press circuit for Steven Moffat’s series 14 episode “Boom”, the former showrunner confirmed that yes, the rumours are true, he’s the writer of the 2024 Christmas special. The episode is called “Joy to the World”, it’s set at least partly during WWII, features a scene on Mount Everest, and...

Exclusive: The team behind Binge’s newly-crowned biggest original, Strife, are headed back to the writers’ room.

The drama series — from Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and Anatomy of a Scandal producer Made Up Stories in partnership with Fifth Season — has quickly usurped Colin From Accounts as Binge’s best-performing original for its first day and first week, according to the Foxtel-owned Australian streamer. The writing team, led by Sarah Scheller (The Letdown), are now reteaming to pen scripts for a second season.

The show stars Asher Keddie (Nine Perfect Strangers, Offspring) as imperfect, modern woman and magazine publisher Evelyn Jones, following her journey from lounge room blogger to becoming a force in women’s media. It launched on Binge on December 6.

In an interview with Deadline last year, Alison Hurbert-Burns, Executive Director for Binge and Foxtel Group Content and Commissioning, described the series as “the story of...

Best-selling Australian novel, Runt” is to be adapted as a feature movie that will begin shooting from next month. Studiocanal is handling international rights sales and local distribution in Australia and New Zealand.

The story is a heartfelt, contemporary Australian tale, set in the country town of Upson Downs, where eleven-year-old Annie Shearer and her best friend, an adopted stray dog called Runt, try to save their family farm by competing in the Agility Course Grand Championships at the prestigious Krumpets Dog Show in London.

The book was released in 2022 and won a clean sweep of the major Australian literary awards including the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s book of the year for young readers, book of the year for younger children at the Australian Book Industry Awards, and overall book of the year at the Australian Indie Book Awards.

The movie is adapted for the screen by...

Bluey's creator shares details about his R-rated script for Peppa Pig. Much like Bluey, which has garnered critical acclaim and an international audience, Peppa Pig is known for its gentle touch. The preschool animated series follows the titular anthropomorphic female piglet, her family, and other animals as well. It has grown into an entire franchise that includes theme parks, books, and video games.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bluey creator Joe Brumm had his own unique take on Peppa Pig. Asked about whether he considered making a cartoon for adults, Brumm shares that he "always thought it would be kind of funny to do an R-rated Peppa Pig." In the quote below, Brumm shares how he wrote a script about parenthood that would have delved deep into the realities of parenthood but that he was beaten to the idea by the Australian live-action show The Letdown:...

In his attempt to create a show that kids and their parents can both enjoy, Joe Brumm delivered a bona fide, global juggernaut.

Stateside, where Bluey, a big-hearted animated series about a family of Australian Heeler dogs, streams on Disney+, it ranked among the top 10 most streamed programs in the U.S. last year. Back home in Australia, where the seven-minute episodes are produced, it remains the No. 1 children’s show across all age groups. It also regularly collects awards, including an Emmy, and heaps of critical praise. In fact, the Bluey universe has since expanded with a hugely lucratively collection of merchandise and, more recently, a live show.

Brumm, who was just named to The Hollywood Reporter’s list of the 75 Most Powerful People in Kids’ Entertainment and writes every episode of the series himself, hopped on a Zoom from Australia to discuss Bluey’s origins, the kids’ TV...

Australian actress and social media star Celeste Barber is having something of a moment — actually, another moment.

Barber has enjoyed a steady career in Australian TV and comedy for years, but she first exploded into global consciousness in 2015 when she created the Instagram hashtag #CelesteChallengeAccepted, which she used to parody glossy posts of models and celebrities, swapping the pouts and scantily clad poses of the Kardashian-Jenners with more human recreations hilariously starring herself. This instantly relatable critique of social media’s supposedly aspirational — but brutally unrealistic — beauty standards struct a major chord on the platform. Over the intervening years, as Barber has kept posting (she later added video parodies, too), her Instagram following has grown to 9.5 million — more than many of the celebs she initially skewered.

In the wake of her social media success, Barber continued working in Australian television, with well-received supporting roles on shows like How Not to Behave...

The Netflix series Wellmania mainly revolves around its lead character as she makes major changes in her life, but it also features a memorable supporting cast for her to interact with during the process. Created by journalist Benjamin Law and Brigid Delaney based on the latter's memoir, Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness, the Australian Netflix TV show follows a New York-based food writer whose sudden health scare causes her to resettle back in Sydney and try out various methods to improving the way she lives her life.

As with any journey, the main character's wellness quest involves a support system of helpers and guides as well as an array of brief encounters along the way. The secondary players of Wellmania include the usual for this sort of show — the protagonist's family members, best friends, and work colleagues, plus a love interest — while another level of regular characters includes doctors,...

Newen Connect is building up its English-language scripted slate with timely, high-concept titles, including “Wagatha,” a dramatic reconstruction of the viral court case involving Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy, the wives of high-profile British footballers. Newen Connect has also acquired the Australian supernatural bromance “Limbo,” and the inclusive British mystery thriller “Blindspot.”

Written by Chris Atkins, “Wagatha” (working title) charts the High Court case which stemmed from alleged leaked Instagram stories in 2019 and opposes Rooney and Vardy. Produced by Chalkboard and commissioned by Channel 4, “Wagatha” stars Chanel Cresswell, the BAFTA-winning actor of “This is England” and Natalia Tena (“Game of Thrones”). Filming just wrapped in September.

The case which has been coined #WagathaChristie in reference to the English detective novelist Agatha Christie, has already been thoroughly covered on social media and in the press, especially in the U.S., but this “TV event will go further, immersing audiences inside...

Production has begun in Tasmania, Australia on “Deadloch,” a noir comedy that will be an Amazon original series.

The story is set in the once sleepy seaside hamlet of Deadloch and begins after a man’s dead body is found on the beach. Two female detectives are thrown together to solve the case, one fastidious, the other a more rough and ready type from out of town. Along with an over-eager junior they have to pool forces to solve the case while the town is putting on its annual crafts, culture and cooking festival.

The eight-part show was conceived by comedy duo Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan and will star Kate Box, Madeleine Sami “The Breaker Upperers”), Alicia Gardiner (“Wakefield”) and Nina Oyama (“Utopia”), as well as an ensemble cast.

“Deadloch” is to be directed between February and May by acclaimed Australian directors Ben Chessell, Gracie Otto and Beck Cole.

Production has begun in Sydney on the television drama “After the Verdict,” with Michelle Lim Davidson and Tess Haubrich joining the cast.

The six-part series follows four people who have just finished jury duty on a high-profile murder trial. As they return to normal life, they begin to question their verdict and take matters into their own hands, investigating the murder themselves.

The show was created, written and executive produced by Subtext Pictures’ Ellie Beaumont and Drew Proffitt. The completed series will premiere on the 9Network in Australia with Entertainment One (eOne) handling international sales. The production also received major investment from federal body Screen Australia in association with region screen agency Screen Nsw.

Lim Davidson (“The Newsreader”) and Haubrich (“Wolf Creek”) join the previously announced Sullivan Stapleton, Magda Szubanski and Lincoln Younes in the show’s main cast. Other roles go to Virginia Gay (“Judy and Punch”), Emma Diaz...

Hoodlum Entertainment TV series Mummune and feature film Santa Whitebeard have been selected for Dame Changer’s Project to Market Accelerator, offering the teams tailored support to hone their creative concepts over the next two years.

The recipients were selected from a group of 12 teams via the professional women’s collective’s Screen Changer Project Lab (formerly Screen Tank).

Mummune and Santa Whitebeard creatives will work on a detailed plans with industry strategic advisors to get their project to market, including one-on-one mentoring and the opportunity to pitch their project to broadcasters, distributors and sales agents both locally and internationally.

Lucy Barzun Donnelly, the Emmy and Golden Globe winning producer, is consulting with Dame Changer about international markets.

“I am pleased to be continuing my long-standing interest in helping other women succeed in the industry,” she said.

Abhi Jeyakkumar and Cathy Randall.

Santa Whitebeard:

Santa Whitebeard is a “high concept...

Lifetime Fanatics and V.C. Andrews's fans are in for a treat.

While they haven't released an official airdate for Ruby, the first film in the V.C. Andrews' Landry Family series, it has been revealed that the films are currently in production.

The good news is that we can anticipate the films airing in 2021.

As per usual, for the franchise, the Landry Family series is jam-packed with a star-studded cast of talented and familiar faces.

Twins Raechelle Banno from Pandora and Karina Banno from The Letdown will play Ruby and her mysterious twin.

The film will also star Naomi Judd, Crystal Fox, Gil Bellows, and Deborah Cox.

They will round off the cast that also includes Lauralee Bell, Sam Duke, Ty Wood, Serge Houde, Liza Huget, Mason Temple, Ducan Ollerenshaw, Paula Goroday, Marc-Anthony Messiah, Veena Sood, Bob Frazer, Eric Vincent, and Caroline Yonge.

The Landry Family four-part series is...

Sophie Hyde, pictured here on the set of ‘Animals’, has been nominated for two Adg Awards.

First-time feature directors Thomas Wright (Acute Misfortune), John Sheedy (H is for Happiness), Ben Lawrence (Hearts and Bones) and Natalie Erika James (Relic) will vie for the Australian Directors’ Guild (Adg) Award for Best Direction in a Feature Film ($1 million or over) against Sophie Hyde (Animals) and Wayne Blair (Top End Wedding).

Up in the $1 million or under category are Josephine Mackerras for Alice, Imogen Thomas for Emu Runner, Lucy Colman for Hot Mess, Luke Sullivan for Reflections In The Dust and Samuel Van Grinsven for Sequin In A Blue Room.

The Adg announced nominees for its annual awards today, with winners to be announced in Sydney at a ceremony October 19. A record 202 entries were received this year, up from 117 in 2019.

“At these challenging times, it is more important than ever that we come...

Hannah Gadsby.

Facing the prospect that the Federal Government will impose local content spending obligations on SVOD services, Netflix asserts it wants the right to negotiate how much it invests over the next three years.

In its submission to the government’s ‘Supporting Australian Stories on Our Screens’ options paper review, the streaming giant proposes a “flexible, reasonably-set voluntary investment model that meets cultural policy goals and incentivises wider investment.”

Netflix rejects option 3, which is favoured by Screen Producers Australia and all industry guilds and would require all delivery platforms to invest a minimum percentage of their Australian revenues into local scripted content, with annual sub-quotas for drama, documentary and children’s programs.

This model has “the potential to cause significant problems for the sector, including the reality that there is currently insufficient physical production capacity for this option to work meaningfully in practice,” it says, which arguably ignores the...

While much of Australia’s film and TV slate is currently being held up over insurance matters, production has now begun near Sydney on low budget feature “Dark Noise.” It is one of the first local films in Australia to start since the end of nationwide coronavirus lockdowns.

The film features the rising star of the British Shakespearean stage Imogen Sage (BBC TV’ “Doctors”) as a young woman foley artist alone in a forest listening for frogs. She hears something she shouldn’t have and stumbles upon a cocaine farm. Other cast includes features Callan Colley (“The Letdown”), Brett Rogers (“Rake”) and Australia’s Leah Vandenberg and Lauren Clair (“Packed To The Rafters,” “Underbelly”).

“Dark Noise” is written and directed by Clara Chong and produced and shot by her partner Ben Allan. Carlo Giacco serves as the film’s composer, while Sam Wilde is the production designer. Production is by Main Course Films company,...

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,...

With the help of streaming services like Netflix, people are able to watch a variety of shows and movies at their heart's content. And thanks to Netflix's suggestion section (where the streaming service recommends other TV shows and movies based on the things you've already watched), we're able to watch new things that we've never even heard of before.

Related: 10 Worst TV Moms Of The Past Decade, Ranked

For those that watched the Australian comedy The Letdown when arrived on Netflix internationally in 2018, they may have noticed that it's incredibly similar to the Canadian sitcom Workin' Moms that came to Netflix a year later. In fact, they're eerily indistinguishable. Both shows revolve around women (and their partners) meeting with a parenting group to discuss and connect about all things childcare. Along the way, life gets messy. Keep reading to see what elements the shows nailed in comparison to the other.

‘Butch’.

Screen Australia has announced almost $750,000 of story development funding for nine feature films, 11 television series and two online projects.

The slate includes an Imogen Banks-produced musical dramedy, composed by Kate Miller-Heidke; a television adaptation of Melanie Cheng book Australia Day; and a feature film from Helpmann Award-winning playwright S. Shakthidharan.

Screen Australia’s head of development Nerida Moore said, “We are looking for projects that are distinctive in the market, have a very specific audience in mind and reflect a range of Australian experiences. As such, it’s fantastic to be able to support the development of these 22 productions, which give an exciting glimpse into the diversity of stories, formats and genres we will hopefully see on our screens in the coming years.”

“I’m particularly pleased Screen Australia is able to support creators to expand their skill sets and take creative risks, including actors Lucy Durack and...

Asher Keddie and Darren Gilshenan in ‘Stateless’ (Photo: Lisa Tomasetti).

Netflix has acquired worldwide rights excluding Australia to Stateless, the six-part drama about four strangers whose lives collide in an immigration detention centre in the Australian desert, co-created by Cate Blanchett, Tony Ayres and Elise McCredie.

The series produced by Matchbox Pictures and Blanchett and Andrew Upton’s Dirty Films, which premieres on the ABC this Sunday, will roll out on the streamer later this year.

The first two episodes of the drama starring Yvonne Strahovski, Jai Courtney, Fayssal Bazzi, Asher Keddie and Blanchett have their world premiere on Wednesday night at the sixth edition of the Berlin International Film Festival’s Berlinale Series.

Emma Freeman and Jocelyn Moorhouse directed the series scripted by the showrunner McCredie and Belinda Chayko and produced by Sheila Jayadev and Paul Ranford.

Strahovski plays Sofie Werner, an airline hostess on the run from her...

‘Rosehaven’s’ Luke McGregor (l) and Celia Pacquola with Rick Kalowski.

In six-and-a-half years as head of comedy at the ABC, Rick Kalowski oversaw a number of series which he believes could have found homes at the commercial free-to-air networks – if they had been offered to them.

“The ABC does an incredible job as the driver of Australian scripted comedy but I truly see no reason why, with the right projects, the love can’t be spread,” he tells If.

Rosehaven would have been a comfortable fit for the Nine or Ten Networks, he thinks, while Frayed would have suited Nine, albeit, he notes, perhaps with some of the fruitier bad language toned down.

The Letdown might have been a good match for Ten’s demographic while Ronny Chieng: International Student could have fulfilled Sbs’s remit..

Given the ratings success of several ABC comedies, Kalowski, who steps down this Friday,...

Endeavor is making a $250,000 donation to the Red Cross for disaster relief necessitated by the Australian bush fires. The organization is encouraging client, partner, and fan engagement across all of their respective areas of business.

All business units, including Wme, Img, Ufc, and Pbr, are part of the Endeavor effort. Donations can be sent here.

The Endeavor effort joins other businesses and celebrities that have reached out to help Australia combat the devastating wildfires. So far, the blazes have burned more than 12 million acres and 1,400 homes in that country. An estimated 25 people have lost their lives, and millions of animals have been displaced or killed.

Australian actress-comedian Celeste Barber’s Facebook fundraiser to support the bush fire relief has raised more than $32.5M since she first launched it January 3. Barber is the star of such Australian series as The Letdown and How Not to Behave.

Other celebrities who have donated money include Leonardo DiCaprio,...

Australian actress-comedian Celeste Barber’s Facebook fundraiser to support the bushfire relief in Australia is the biggest ever for the social media platform, clocking over $32.5M since she first launched it on Friday, Jan. 3.

All funds will go to The Trustee for Nsw Rural Fire Service & Brigades Donations Fund. Donations flowed in from Australians as well as the Us, the UK, Belgium, and Portugal.

To date, reports say that around 25 people have died from the fires, including more than a billion animals. Barber is the star of such Australian series as The Letdown and How Not to Behave.

On Sunday, Russell Crowe, who wound up winning the Golden Globe for Best TV Actor in a Limited Series for Showtime’s The Loudest Voice, was a no-show due to the tragedies occurring in his native Australia.

“Make no mistake, the tragedy unfolding in Australia is climate change based. We need to act based on science,...

Rick Kalowski.

The ABC’s highly respected head of comedy Rick Kalowski today announced his resignation after more than six years in the post.

After commissioning and overseeing the production of 80 titles, spanning pilots, series, digital content and podcasts, the executive tells If he is exhausted and needs a break.

He will stay in place until February to give the ABC ample time to recruit a successor and will pursue new career opportunities in the Australian and global screen industry. He’s having discussions about his next move but nothing is locked in.

Arguably he will step down after one of the ABC’s most distinctive and successful years in comedy, with hits such as Frayed, the fourth season of Utopia, the second of Squinters and the finales of Get Krack!n and The Letdown.

Among other shows produced under his watch, including several commissioned by his predecessor Debbie Lee, were Rosehaven,...

Mark Warner receives his award from Karen Eastmure.

The editors of Ladies in Black, Bloom and The Final Quarter were among the honorees of the Australian Screen Editors’ annual Ellie Awards presented on Saturday night at the Eternity Playhouse in Darlinghurst.

Mark Warner’s work on Ladies in Black won best editing in a feature drama, James Manché’s episode 5 of Bloom was recognised as best editing in a drama and Sally Fryer’s The Final Quarter took the feature documentary editing prize.

That followed Fryer’s win at the Aacta Awards while the Adam Goodes doco directed by Ian Darling was named best documentary program at the Asian Academy Creative Awards in Singapore last Friday night.

The other recipients included Sara Edwards’ Gatwick – The Last Chance Hotel (documentary), Julie-Anne De Ruvo’s The Letdown (comedy), Nicholas Dunlop and Lawrie Silvestrin’s Don’t Stop the Music (factual entertainment) and...

‘The Nightingale’.

Last night’s Aacta Awards saw a trifecta for Jennifer Kent, who took home Best Film, Best Direction and Best Screenplay for The Nightingale, with star Aisling Franciosi also winning Best Lead Actress.

Set in 1825, The Nightingale follows a young, female Irish convict (Franciosi) who chases a British officer through the Tasmanian wilderness bent on revenge after he committed an act of violence against her family, and who along the way enlists the help of an Aboriginal tracker. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2018, with Kent the only female director in competition. It won the Special Jury Prize and Baykali Ganambarr the Marcello Mastroiaani Award for his debut performance.

Produced by Causeway Films’ Kristina Ceyton, Made Up Stories’ Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky, and Kent, the period tale beat out The King, Judy & Punch, Hearts and Bones, Ride Like A Girl and Top End Wedding for the Best Film prize.

Jennifer Kent’s thriller The Nightingale has taken home a trio of prizes at the 2019 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards in Sydney.

Kent’s period piece won Best Direction, Best Screenplay and Best Film, making Kent, who also produced, the first woman to receive awards across all three categories for the same film in the same year. The film’s female lead, Aisling Franciosi, received the Best Lead Actress prize.

The Nightingale follows a young Irish convict who chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family.

Bong Joon Ho’s lauded Cannes winner Parasite scored the Aacta Award for Best Asian Film. The award was presented to the South Korean film’s producer Kwak Sin-ae by Simu Liu, star of Marvel Comics’ upcoming film Shang-Chi and the Legend Of The Ten Rings,...

‘Lambs of God’.

Lingo Pictures’ four-part TV drama Lambs of God has collected an unprecedented 18 Aacta Award nominations, while Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale leads in film with 15 nods.

The Australian Academy revealed the full list of nominees for the annual awards today, with almost 60 to be presented across two events in Sydney in six weeks time.

Some 15 films are up for awards, though four dominate almost every category: Kent’s revenge tale, Anthony Maras’ debut feature Hotel Mumbai and David Michôd’s Netflix-backed The King, which each received 13 nominations, and Mirrah Foulkes’ dark comedy Judy & Punch, which earned nine. Each is nominated for Best Film alongside Rachel Griffiths’ Ride Like A Girl and Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding.

Up in the Best Indie Film category (budgeted under $2 million) are Thomas M. Wright’s Acute Misfortune, Heath Davis’ Book Week, Rodd Rathjen’s Buoyancy, Imogen Thomas’ Emu...

Rupert Penry-Jones in ‘The Commons’. (Photo: John Platt)

British actor Rupert Penry-Jones, Ryan Corr (Bloom) and David Lyons have joined the cast of Stan/Playmaker Media’s The Commons.

They join the previously announced headliners Brit Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey) and Damon Herriman, most recently seen on film in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and on Foxtel’s Mr Inbetween.

Additionally, the cast will be bolstered by television stalwart John Waters, Fayssal Bazzi (Stateless), Simone McAullay, Andrea Demetriades, Felix Williamson, Inez CurroĢ (Picnic at Hanging Rock), Dominic Ona-Ariki and Zara Michales (Diary of an Uber Driver).

The eight-part high end drama production was created by Aacta Award-winning showrunner Shelley Birse (The Code), who wrote the series with a team including Matt Ford, Michael Miller and Matt Cameron.

Currently being shot across Sydney, the thriller is directed by Jeffrey Walker alongside Rowan Woods and Jennifer Leacey. Described...

Screen Australia, Australia’s federal film and TV funding body, has made sufficient progress in furthering gender equality that it has set more ambitious targets.

The organization has exceeded its long-term Gender Matters key performance indicator, with 56% of projects receiving production funding having at least half of the key creative roles occupied by women, based on a three-year average. The Kpi was set in December 2015, and originally aimed for 50%. The Kpi considered the key creative roles of writer, director, producer, and in the case of narrative content (drama), the protagonist.

The new target is to have 50% of the key creatives across all projects that receive Screen Australia development and production funding to be women, measured across a three-year-average. For the new Kpi, the key creatives are directors, writers and producers and the tracking period is 2019/20 to 2021/22. From August 2020, the agency will also publish the headcount breakdown of key creative roles for feature drama,...

Leon Ford in ‘The Letdown’ (Photo credit: Tony Mott).

Admirers of Leon Ford who enjoyed his work as Ruben in the ABC’s The Letdown and other shows should savour his performance in Jeremy Sims’ upcoming movie Rams because after that he will be off screen for a while.

The actor-writer moved to Los Angeles last year with his wife Alice Bell and their three young children as Alice serves as the writer/creator and co-showrunner on The Expatriates, a 10-part Amazon series produced by Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films.

Based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel, the series centres on a group of close-knit American women and their lives as outsiders in Hong Kong and is yet to go into production.

“I would like to find a happy medium that a lot people have where they can go and back forth and do jobs,” he tells If during a family vacation in Australia.

This weekly feature is in addition to TVLine’s daily What to Watch listings.

With nearly 500 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable, streaming and whatever “Wow Presents Plus” is, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.

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Rick Kalowski.

ABC head of comedy Rick Kalowski has a ready answer when producers complain they can’t get a show funded because they have been unable to land an international financier or co-producer.

“If you can’t co-finance your scripted show internationally it’s not because it’s too local, it’s because it’s not good enough,” he tells If.

“There is so much hunger out there for scripted content that if you can’t finance it, it’s not a conspiracy. Many good Australian producers have had a lot of success selling their shows internationally.”

Most ABC scripted comedies are now co-financed internationally by streaming platforms or cable broadcasters such as Sky TV. “One of the few good things about the budget cuts in the past few years is that they have forced us to think internationally about our financing,” he says.

“Since I started in September 2013, I,...

Courtney Gibson.

South Australian Film Corporation CEO Courtney Gibson has resigned after 15 months at the helm. She will finish at the end of this month, moving back to Sydney to be closer to family.

Gibson, a former CEO of Screen Nsw and executive at the ABC, Nine Network, Southern Star and Sbs, joined the Safc in April 2018, with a stated aim to boost production levels in the state, including a greater share of TV production.

Notably South Australia has recently scored New Line/Warner Bros.’ Mortal Kombat, and series like Matchbox Pictures/Dirty Films Stateless, Closer Productions’ The Hunting, Lingo Pictures’ comedy drama Upright, Epic Films’ First Day, the first ever children’s drama series starring a transgender teen and The Letdown season 2.

Other recent Sa productions include Daniel Radcliffe-starrer Escape from Pretoria, and Mark Lamprell’s Never Too Late, while Daina Reid’s upcoming Run Rabbit Run, based...

Netflix has confirmed that 44 new original series, movies and specials will be debuting on the streaming service in Ju;y including: season 3 of “Stranger Things”; season 4 of “Queer Eye”; season 7 of “Orange is the New Black”; and season 11 of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”

Among the new films on offer are: several installments of “Bangkok Love Stories”; a remake of “Point Blank” starring Anthony Mackie; the documentary “The Great Hack”‘; and the mockumentary “Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein.”

Below is the full schedule of everything that is coming and leaving Netflix in July 2019.

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Available July 1

“Designated Survivor: 60 Days” (Netflix Original)

“Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room” (Netflix Original)

“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”

“Astro Boy”

“Caddyshack”

“Caddyshack 2”

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)

“Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke”

“Cloverfield”

“Disney’s Race to Witch Mountain”

“Frozen River”

“Inkheart...

Netflix has everyone’s Fourth of July entertainment covered.

Hitting the streaming platform on July 4 is “Stranger Things” season three, which is finally returning two years after its predecessor. Martin Scorsese fans are also sure to be excited once they see four of the director’s films (“Taxi Driver” “Mean Streets” “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and “Who’s That Knocking at My Door?”) ready to stream on the first day of the month.

Additionally, Fourth of July celebrants can look back on history with Netflix’s own revisionist features such as “Inglourious Basterds” before enjoying some family fun with more kid friendly options like “Megamind” and “Princess and the Frog.”

See the full list of titles below.

July 1

“Designated Survivor: 60 days”

“Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room”

“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”

“Astro Boy”

“Caddyshack”

“Caddyshack 2”

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)

“Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke”

“Cloverfield...

Fayssal Bazzi. (Photo: Amelia J Dowd)

Actor Fayssal Bazzi’s father is Lebanese and his mother is Syrian, so for much of his career he was determined to avoid being typecast as Arabic characters, particularly criminals and terrorists.

After scoring the lead role in Mark Grentell’s comedy-drama The Merger, he has enjoyed a higher profile and portrayed a diverse range of characters.

“I just want to play characters whose ethnicity is incidental and I’ve been lucky to be able to do that in the past few years,” he tells If.

Earlier this year he played the son-in-law of Damon Herriman’s seedy night club owner in the second season of FX/Foxtel’s Mr Inbetween, created by and starring Scott Ryan and directed by Nash Edgerton. That was his second collaboration with Herriman following Abe Forsythe’s 2015 Cronulla race riot drama Down Under.

Currently he is in Adelaide shooting Stateless,...

Duncan Fellows and Alison Bell.

Fans of ABC TV’s The Letdown who enjoy watching Duncan Fellows as Jeremy, partner and foil of Alison Bell’s oft-stressed Audrey, can look forward to his next series Fam Time.

Fellows is playing John, aka ‘Handy Andy’, second husband of Michala Banas’ Belinda Box, matriarch of a dysfunctional blended family in the Seven Studios’ narrative comedy.

Created by Michael Horrocks and scripted by Erica Harrison and Jack Yabsley, the sitcom features Benson Jack Anthony as Belinda’s son Rylan, Karina Banno as her step-daughter Tahnee, Chloe De Los Santos as her adopted half-Filipino daughter Cherry, Rhonda Burchmore as grandma Viv and Tainui Tukiwaho as handyman Bill.

While everyone else in the family is obsessed with the online world, Handy Andy prefers fixing and inventing things, although he’s not very good at either.

There are some similarities between the two characters. “Neither is...

Michala Banas and Benson Jack Anthony.

A dysfunctional blended family who are addicted to their screens is at the heart of Fam Time, Seven Studios’ narrative comedy which is shooting in Sydney.

Hayden Guppy is directing the 6 X 30′ series created by Michael Horrocks, who joined Seven Studios a year ago as executive producer, comedy, with the remit to drive the production division’s expansion into comedy.

It’s the Seven Network’s first narrative comedy in more than 20 years since Bullpitt!, which starred Ross Higgins as Ted Bullpitt, reprising the character he played in the 1980s sitcom Kingswood Country.

Scripted by Erica Harrison and Jack Yabsley, Fam Time stars Michala Banas as the family matriarch Belinda Box. She runs a blog which chronicles her daily adventures as a modern mum with a busy blended family in the digital age.

Duncan Fellows is her second husband John, aka ‘Handy Andy’, an...

ABC Studios International has teamed up with Endemol Shine to produce an adaptation of Holly Throsby’s novel Goodwood for Australian broadcaster ABC. It marks the first collaboration between the two nascent sibling companies.

The pair are producing the mystery, coming-of-age love story, which is written by Alison Bell and Sarah Scheller, the team behind the ABC comedy, The Letdown. Goodwood is set in a small town which is torn apart when two of its residents go missing.

The series will be produced by Alice Bell and Claudia Karvan with Imogen Banks executive producing under her Endemol Shine Banks banner and Keli Lee exec producing through ABC Studios International.

Throsby said, “One of the central themes of Goodwood is the relationships between people, especially between strong women. It is so fitting, and an absolute dream for me, to have such an incredible group of women in charge of bringing my book to life on screen.

Holly Throsby.

The Letdown‘s Alison Bell and Sarah Scheller are adapting Holly Throsby’s debut novel Goodwood into a series for the ABC and Disney’s ABC Studios International.

Goodwood is a part mystery, part coming-of-age love story, set in a small town that is torn apart when two of its residents go missing.

The series will be produced by Alice Bell and Claudia Karvan, with Imogen Banks executive producing under her Endemol Shine Banks banner together with ABC head of drama, comedy and Indigenous Sally Riley and ABC Studios International managing director, international content, platforms and talent, Keli Lee.

Throsby says: “One of the central themes of Goodwood is the relationships between people, especially between strong women. It is so fitting, and an absolute dream for me, to have such an incredible group of women in charge of bringing my book to life on screen.”

Bell says: “Holly...

‘Diary of an Uber Driver.’

Sally Riley is bemused when people use this line when they are pitching projects to her: “This is definitely an ABC show.”

The ABC’s head of scripted production, Riley usually replies: “What is that? What is an ABC show?”

Interviewed in her Ultimo office for a two-part story, she tells If: “If it’s a great show, we’ll do it. I don’t think it must fit in the parameters of what is supposed to be an ABC show.

“We want to not only hold our audiences but also bring in new and younger audiences and we have a broad slate to try to meet both. We will definitely take a calculated risk when we believe in a show.”

As an example of a program which she thinks most people would not expect to see on the public broadcaster, she points to Les Norton,...

Clockwise L-r: Luke Davies, Jacob Elordi, Eva Orner and Dion Beebe.

Australians in Film (AiF) is partnering with Amazon Studios to stage industry panels, roundtable conversations and Q&As designed to foster partnerships between Australian and Hollywood creatives and decision makers.

Dop Dion Beebe, filmmakers Eva Orner and Alethea Jones, producer Tracey Robertson and writers Luke Davies, Alice Bell, Sarah Scheller and Alison Bell will be among the speakers at the AiF Hollywood Sessions presented by Amazon Studios.

Among other industry luminaries who will take part in the sessions at Charlie’s on the Raleigh lot in Hollywood are co-executive producer and writer Aaron Ginsburg, actor Jacob Elordi (Euphoria), director Alma Har’el (Honey Boy), Columbia Pictures director of creative development Jiao Chen, Made Up Stories’ Casey Haver and Truant Pictures’ Toby Nalbandian and Greg Schmidt.

The partnership came about through AiF chair Simonne Overend’s business relationship with Amazon Studios,...

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Labor has attacked the federal government for five and a half years of inaction over screen sector reforms while the Australian Greens have advocated a suite of measures to support the industry.

The Greens urged the government to impose a local content quota of at least 10 per cent on streaming services, harmonise the Producer Offset at 40 per cent and raise the Location Offset to 30 per cent.

The removal of the 65-hour cap for the Producer Offset, closing the New Zealand content ‘loophole,’ maintaining the existing content quota system and establishing terms of trade between broadcasters and producers were among the Greens’ proposals – all policies advocated by Screen Producers Australia.

Labor Senators accused the government of failing to articulate an agenda or vision for the Australian screen and music sectors and of cutting funding for public broadcasting by about $500 million.

They called on the government to ensure appropriate...

Alison Bell, Kodie Bedford and Niki Aken.

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

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

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

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