Convicts, footballers, drag queens, dance therapy and Japanese detectives: a typically atypical Multiplatform Drama slate.
Screen Australia will provide $1.539 million to eight exciting new projects through its Multiplatform Drama program. The program supports unorthodox projects released on a variety of platforms.
“Our new slate demonstrates the fund’s twin goals of supporting exciting new teams and finding fresh ideas from established talent. Funding from Screen Australia helps deliver on the promise and potential of these ideas, and assists content makers release and market their stories worldwide,” says Screen Australia’s Senior Investment Manager, Tim Phillips.
“The fund is both creator and audience focused,” says Screen Australia’s Head of Production, Sally Caplan. “Adelaide’s RackaRacka and Triptych Pictures are the latest team supported under the fund to deliver views in the many millions with their Versus series. For brave local content which is connecting with audiences globally, you need look no further than our Multiplatform fund.”
From producer Brian Cobb and writer Boaz Stark, comes the one-off special The Horizon. Based on Australia’s most viewed online series of the same name, the special will follow country boy Jake, who arrives in Sydney having only just acknowledged his sexuality. It will be directed by the experienced Stephan Elliott (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, A Few Best Men), representing his first foray into online content.
The producer and director team behind the hit web series How to Talk Australians, Jason Byrne and Tony Rogers, return to our screens with Bruce, a dark comedy set in a share house that just happens to be a prison tent in Sydney Cove in 1788. Written by Warwick Holt and Mat Blackwell, the series will be released for online platforms.
Comedy web series Footballer Wants a Wife follows the production of a reality series where three footballers of different codes search for love. Created by Ben Nicholas and independent producers Crankyfish, the show will reveal whether AFL utility Steven Papakonstantinou will ever find a wife just like his mother.
Western Australian–based online creator Aaron McCann will unveil the truth behind Japanese TV show Top Knot Detective. This web series tells the story of a cult TV show, a star who couldn’t act, aliens, monsters, robots and the occasional go-go dancer. ScreenWest and SBS are also supporting the project.
Independent production house The Woolshed Company are being supported to create a seven-part web series focused on pushing the boundaries of short-form entertainment. The series will be distributed online.
Mini-series Trip for Biscuits blasts established television personalities Bajo (Good Game) and Paul Verhoeven (Steam Punks!) into space as intergalactic private investigators. With the ability to jump through space and time in their modified car, anything can happen in any episode, and usually does. Produced by Robot Panther, with the support of ABC3.
Insert Coin is a weekly comedy sketch show revolving around the world of video games. Created by Lee Naimo and Jordan Raskopoulos, two thirds of comedy troupe, Axis of Awesome, the series will also feature established comedians and online talent including Skit Box, Michael Shanks (aka timtimfed) and the Bondi Hipsters. Insert Coin is Funny or Die meets Sega Master System!
Seven-part comedy series Movement demonstrates how dance therapy cures life and love problems. Screen Australia is providing completion funding to the series, which comes from emerging producer/director team Lucy Hayes and Jessica Barclay Lawton.
The Multiplatform Drama program accepts applications throughout the year, without submission deadlines.
BRUCE
Web series
Jason Byrne Productions Pty Ltd
Producers Jason Byrne, Tony Rogers
Director Tony Rogers
Writers Mat Blackwell, Warwick Holt
Synopsis Bruce is a gritty black comedy set in an ordinary Aussie share house that just happens to be a prison tent in Sydney Cove, 1788. Bruce Williamson, a thoroughly modern 18th century convict is stuck in a tent with irrepressible bogan, Garry, who claims to be Bruce’s ‘best mate’ and great with the chicks, and Mick, a well-read, philosophically sensitive monolith of a man who is also a serial killer. Or so we suspect.
FOOTBALLER WANTS A WIFE
Web series
Crankyfish Pty Ltd
Producers Julian Vincent Costanzo, Jonathon Dutton
Director Jo O’Shaughnessy
Writers Ben Nicholas, Carl J Sorheim
Creator Ben Nicholas
Synopsis Footballer Wants a Wife is a parody reality show that follows three young football stars on their modern-day quest for love. Our three footballers, drawn from three different codes, are matched up against 14 women who will stop at nothing to become a WAG. Footballer Wants a Wife is a simple, accessible comedy that plays on the one ironic truth at the heart of reality TV: it’s completely fabricated – particularly when it comes to ‘love, loss and celebrity’.
THE HORIZON
Web episode
Cobbstar Productions Pty Ltd
Producer Brian Cobb
Co-producers Jacob Inglis, Patrick James
Director Stephan Elliott
Writer Boaz Stark
Synopsis Queer as Folk meets Sydney’s very own Oxford Street in this edgy drama exploring the unexplored gay community within. Now in its 5th season, The Horizon is both Australia’s most viewed online drama series and the most-watched gay web series in the world, with over 37 million views and 99,000 subscribers on YouTube. This episode will be a remake of the first two seasons using the committed cast that was finally settled in Season 3, and will also be produced as a pilot for TV.
INSERT COIN
Multiplatform, Web series
Press Start Productions Pty Ltd
Producer Lee Naimo
Director Jordan Raskopoulos
Synopsis Insert Coin is a weekly sketch comedy show on YouTube and insert-coin.com. The content will be custom made by established and up-and-coming Australian creatives. Each episode will focus on a particular facet of the gaming industry, with particular episodes being released to time in with big game releases throughout the year.
MOVEMENT
Web series
Sweetheart Films Pty Ltd
Producer Lucy Hayes
Director Jessica Barclay Lawton
Writer Maria Angelico
Synopsis Movement is a seven-part comedy web series about dance therapy. We follow Sophia, a self-confessed try-hard, as she battles her demons with the help of her dance therapist. Each week, Sophia uses a ‘healing mantra’ to deal with a tangled love life and failing acting career.
TOP KNOT DETECTIVE
Web series
Blue Forest Media Pty Ltd
Producer Lauren Brunswick
Writer/Directors Aaron McCann, Dominic Pearce
Synopsis In the early 1990s, a little-known Japanese Samurai/Detective series was syndicated to public access TV in Australia and became a cult success. In Japan, it was titled Ronin Suiri Tentai (roughly translating to Deductive Reasoning Ronin), but soon came to be known in the West as Top Knot Detective. Takashi couldn’t act. He couldn’t fight. He had no idea how to write a TV show. But through various underworld connections, he had the money to make himself into a star… or so he thought. Top Knot Detective is the documentary that digs into the deeper truths of what REALLY happened…
TRIP FOR BISCUITS
Web series
Robot Panther Pty Ltd
Producer Timothy Powell
Executive Producer Colin South
Writer/Director Dave Cartel
Synopsis Sci-fi fanboy Bajo has finally landed a job as an Intergalactic PI and the job is awesome! Except that his boss seems to work both sides of the law, his partner, Tosh, prefers social media to snooping and his weapons’ specialist, Amy, is the boss’ hot-headed 17-year-old daughter. Bajo’s misfit crew seem to lack the life skills required to deal with everyday situations – let alone deal with the highly unusual phenomena they are investigating.
UNTITLED WOOLSHED PROJECT
Web series
The Woolshed Company
Creators Richard Hughes, Caspar Mazzotti, Dave Christison
Synopsis Seven-part, adventure themed web series.
