New docos & multiplatform projects in Screen Aus funding

Two Indigenous television projects and eight multiplatform projects have received production funding in the latest batch of announcements from Screen Australia.

The two Indigenous projects are ABC’s The Warriors, announced last week from Arenamedia, and an NITV documentary Carry The Flag (working title) which delves into the story behind the Torres Strait Island flag from Tamarind Tree Pictures.

Television:
The Warriors
8 x 30mins
Arenamedia Pty Ltd
Producers Robert Connolly, John Harvey, Liz Kearney
Story Producer Justin Monjo
Writers Jon Bell, Tracey Rigney, Tony Briggs
Directors Adrian Russell Wills, Beck Cole, Steven McGregor, Catriona McKenzie
Australian Distributor ABC
International Sales Entertainment One
Synopsis Set in the world of Australian Rules Football, The Warriors explores the elite world of professional sport through the eyes of new recruits – plucked from obscurity to fame and fortune. With temptation at every turn and a lot of football, there’s no guarantee these young men will run through the banner for the first game of the season.

Documentary
Carry The Flag (working title)
1 x 30mins
Tamarind Tree Pictures Pty Ltd
Producers Danielle MacLean, Anna Grieve, Bernard Namok Jr
Director Danielle MacLean
Broadcaster NITV
Synopsis There is a rich and powerful story stitched into a few pieces of coloured fabric of a man whose design created meaning for a nation of people once invisible to the mainland of Australia.

Among the eight Multiplatform projects are conspiracy thriller Event Zero, a hybrid-format SVOD feature film and TV series based on the 2012 web series of the same name, Australian Irish co-production teen comedy series Drop Dead Weird for Seven Network and RTE Ireland plus Stephen Fry and Gina Carter executive producing bipolar disorder web series High Life.

Multiplatform:

The Buried VR
1 x 15 min
Company Name Frame VR
Genre VR
Producer Justin McArdle
Director Tyson Mowarin, Stuart Campbell
Writer Tyson Mowarin
Synopsis Immersed in an interactive 3D virtual world you become a member of the Ngarluma, who is guided through a magical dreamtime underworld by the ancient spirits of the land.

Chaperones
1 x 30 min
Company Name In Films Pty Ltd
Genre Comedy
Producer Nel Minchin
Director Max Miller
Writer Max Miller, Mark Samual Bonnano, Broden Kelly, Sam Lingham, Zachary Ruane, Tom Armstrong
Synopsis Mark, Zach and Broden are three deadbeat nobodies who are entrusted with the day-to-day care of a child star.

Doodles Series 3
24 x 0.30 min
Company Name Ludo Studio Pty Ltd
Genre Animation
Producer Meg O’Connell, Charlie Aspinwall
Executive Producer Charlie Aspinwall
Director Benjamin Zaugg
Writer Benjamin Zaugg
Synopsis Doodles is a multiplatform, interactive, animated comedy series that takes real people’s drawings and turns them into hilarious short animated movies featuring a cast of coloured-in characters surrounded by absurd comedy, off-the-wall action, mythical creatures, adorable animals, and lots of explosions.

Drop Dead Weird
26 x 24 min
Company Name Ambience Entertainment Pty Ltd, Air Pig Productions, Telegael
Genre Children’s TV
Producer Monica O’Brien, Sally Browning
Director Danny Raco (TV series), Glenn Fraser (digital content)
Writer Sally Browning, Dean Cropp
Synopsis With three ‘fish out of water’ Aussie kids, one kooky Irish grandfather and two recently zombified parents running a B & B in a remote seaside Irish village…things are going to get weird…drop dead weird!

High Life
6 x 8 min
Company Name More Sauce Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producer Adam Dolman, Luke Eve
Executive Producer Gina Carter, Stephen Fry
Director Luke Eve
Writer Glen Dolman
Synopsis A sensible, creative and overachieving 17-year-old student in a respectable, middle-class family seems to be having the perfect ride until she experiences her first manic episode of bipolar disorder.

Let’s Talk About Season 2
10 x 8 min
Company Name New Town Films Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producer Yingna Lu
Executive Producer Bryan Brown
Director Matilda Brown, Matt Jenkins
Writer Matilda Brown
Synopsis Sometimes in life, we want to crawl under a rock and hide. But there’s no hiding for Ben and Claire. We shine a light on their relationship and see into the cracks and crevices.

The Member
6 x 4 min
Company Name Jungle FTV Pty Ltd
Genre Comedy
Producer Julia Corcoran
Executive Producer Jason Burrows
Director Trevor Clarence
Writer Charlie Garber
Synopsis A fictional political hopeful in the real political world gunning for a Senate seat in the 2016 election.

These New South Whales Season 2
8 x 10 min
Born in the Sauce Pty Ltd
Genre Comedy
Producers Todd Andrews, Ben Timony, Jamie Timony
Executive Producers Laura Waters, Jeffrey Walker
Directors Ben Timony, Jamie Timony
Writers Jamie Timony, Todd Andrews, Ben Timony
Synopsis Four even cockier underdogs from Newcastle become the bonafide lords of the road they always aspired to be.