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Airdate: Deadbeat Dads

A 3 minute trailer which won the ONE80PROJECT is now a fully produced Pilot, airing on MTV.

2013-10-02_0122It sounds like a comedy but Deadbeat Dads, which premieres on MTV next week, is no laughing matter.

In 2011, while studying at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, Kent Pearson, Shelley McLaren and Ben Mathews entered a three-minute trailer into ONE80PROJECT competition and won all three categories: the Judge’s Choice, the Public Vote and Best Student Entry.

The prize was a $180,000 budget to make the pilot episode of their series, which airs on MTV next week.

When a single mother tragically dies, her children’s three absent, deadbeat dads are forced to move in together to raise their children as a family. But will their kids ever accept these men as the fathers they’ve never had? With social services, loan sharks, and old habits lurking around the corner, can these men prevent their children from going off the rails and repeating their own mistakes? Or will this new, unconventional family be one big failure – just as everyone expects?

The pilot was directed by Benjamin Mathews (Graduate Diploma Directing, 2010 and Graduate Diploma Screenwriting, 2012) and written and produced by Benjamin with Shelley McLaren (Graduate Diploma Screenwriting, 2011) and Kent Pearson (Graduate Diploma Screenwriting, 2011)

Their creative team is also a roll call of Benjamin, Shelley and Kent’s AFTRS contemporaries including:
· Original Music by Chad Gock (Graduate Diploma Screen Music, 2010)
· Cinematography by Josh Flavell (Graduate Diploma Cinematography, 2010)
· Production Design by Sheree Phillips (Graduate Diploma Production Design, 2010)
· Sound Design, Music Editing and Music Mix by Damian Del Borrello (Graduate Diploma Sound, 2010)
· Sound Editing by Beth Bezzina (Graduate Diploma Sound, 2012), Declan Diacono (Graduate Diploma Sound, 2012) and Tim Dwyer (Graduate Diploma Sound, 2012)
· Foley by Alex Francis (Graduate Diploma Sound, 2012), Blake Guy (Graduate Diploma Sound, 2012), Lachlan Harris (Graduate Diploma Sound, 2012) and James Henry

“AFTRS is very proud of this wonderful collaborative team. This very talented group of young screen creatives all met at AFTRS and no doubt will go on to other major projects together in their careers,” said Sandra Levy, AFTRS CEO.

“Ben Mathews has also this year received three significant awards for his AFTRS student film EMILY, which was also nominated for a Student Academy Award in 2012, and this latest success further marks him as a talent to watch.”

Deadbeat Dads will on MTV on October 7 at 9:30pm on MTV.

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