in the archive
​Production investment approvals TV Drama 2012-2013

Adult Drama

ANZAC GIRLS
AG TV (SPV of Screentime)
Producers Lisa Scott, Felicity Packard
Writers Felicity Packard, Niki Aken
Directors Ken Cameron, Ian Watson
Broadcaster ABC Television
Domestic Sales Village Roadshow
International Sales ALL3MEDIA
Synopsis In World War I, 3000 young Aussie and Kiwi women served as nurses – nearly 300 were decorated for courage beyond the call of duty. But they were also just ordinary girls. A story based on real events and real people.

CATCHING MILAT
Shine (Aust) Pty Ltd
Producer Kerrie Mainwaring
Writer Justin Monjo
Director Peter Andrikidis
Broadcaster Seven Network
International Sales Shine International
Synopsis This true story of the investigation that leads to the arrest of Ivan Milat details Detective Paul Gordon’s struggle to find the killer – and then convince his bosses he is on the right track.

DANGER 5 SERIES 2
Dinosaur Pty Ltd
Producers Kate Croser, Dario Russo
Writer Dario Russo, David Ashby
Director Dario Russo
Broadcaster SBS
Domestic Sales SBS Content Sales
Synopsis It’s Christmas in the 1980s. Adolf Hitler is alive and has two Yuletide wishes: Danger 5 dead… and the world under his Christmas tree.

THE GALLIPOLI STORY
Matchbox Pictures Pty Ltd, Full Clip Productions LLC
Producers Penny Chapman, John Schwarz, Jacquelin Perske
Executive producers Sam Worthington, Penny Win, Michael McMahon, Michael Schwarz, Luca Scalisi
Directors TBC
Writers Jacquelin Perske, Shaun Grant, Cate Shortland, Stuart Beattie
Broadcaster Foxtel
International Sales NBC Universal
Synopsis The story of journalists Charles Bean, Ellis Ashmead Bartlett and Philip Schuler, sent with the troops to Gallipoli in 1915, and how their quest for the truth helped change the war’s course – and its legend.

LOVE CHILD
Playmaker Media Pty Ltd
Producers David Maher, David Taylor, Sarah Lambert, Sue Seeary
Writers Tim Pye, Liz Doran, Sarah Lambert
Directors Shawn Seet, Shirley Barrett, Geoff Bennett, Ian Barry 
Broadcaster Nine Network
International Sales ALL3MEDIA
Synopsis A character drama set in 1969 in Kings Cross; the time and place Australia came of age and the new generation broke all the rules.

PARTY TRICKS
Southern Star Entertainment Pty Ltd
Producers Imogen Banks, John Edwards
Writer Michael Lucas
Broadcaster Network Ten
International Sales Endemol Worldwide Distribution
Synopsis A woman’s campaign to be the next State Premier is complicated when her ex-lover is announced as the new leader of the opposition.

THE CODE
6 x 60 mins
Playmaker Media Pty Ltd
Producers David Maher, David Taylor, Shelley Birse
Writers Shelley Birse, Blake Ayshford, Justin Monjo
Director Shawn Seet
International Sales FremantleMedia Limited
Broadcaster ABC1
Synopsis The Code is a fictional thriller set between the remote Australian desert and the corridors of power in Canberra. A murder in the Outback thrusts two unlikely brothers into an international political conspiracy.

NEVER TEAR US APART
Shine Australia
2 x 120 mins
Producers Rory Callaghan, Mark Fennessy
Director Daina Reid
Writers Justin Monjo, Dave Warner
International Sales Shine International
Broadcaster Seven Network
Synopsis Never Tear Us Apart tells the uncensored story of Australia’s most successful band, INXS. This big, brash and colourful TV drama will chart the rise of six Sydney boys who became the biggest band in the world. A story of mateship, a story of success and excess, talent and sheer bloody will, set to a pulsating soundtrack including all of INXS’s greatest hits.

POWER GAMES: THE PACKER-MURDOCH STORY
Southern Star Entertainment
2 x 120 mins
Producers John Edwards, Mimi Butler
Writers David Caesar, Samantha Winston
Director David Caesar
International Sales Endemol Worldwide Distribution
Broadcaster Nine Network Australia
Synopsis Boy publisher Rupert Murdoch comes to Sydney to take on the Packers in a war for control of newspapers and television.

RETURN TO THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND
Matchbox Pictures
6 x 47 mins
Producers Helen Bowden, Blake Ayshford
Executive Producers Penny Chapman, Simon Burke, Penny Win
Writers Blake Ayshford, Cate Shortland, Alice Addison, Tommy Murphy
Directors Rachel Ward, Tony Krawitz
International Sales NBCUniversal
Broadcaster FOXTEL
Synopsis 1988. Thirty-five years after Fred Schepisi’s film The Devil’s Playground, Tom Allen, now a psychiatrist, becomes a secular confessor to the Catholic clergy, and is soon embroiled in political and theological intrigue.

SECRETS AND LIES: THE TRACK
Hoodlum Active Pty Ltd
6 x 43 mins
Producers Tracey Robertson, Nathan Mayfield, Leigh McGrath
Writer Stephen Irwin
Director TBA
International Sales Cineflix
Broadcaster Network Ten
Synopsis Ben is an innocent man who becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a four-year-old boy. As his world falls apart, he desperately tries to find the real killer… at stake is his marriage, his kids, his reputation and his sanity.

REDFERN NOW SERIES 2
Blackfella Films Pty Ltd
Producers Darren Dale, Miranda Dear
Story Producer Jimmy McGovern
Writers Steven McGregor, Adrian Wills, Jon Bell, Wayne Blair, Leah Purcell
Directors TBC
Broadcaster ABC1
International Sales ABC Commercial
Synopsis Redfern Now is a kaleidoscopic drama series that explores the inner-city suburb and the people who inhabit it. Over six stand-alone episodes, with interlinking secondary characters, we join the households of six ordinary families whose lives are changed by a seemingly insignificant incident.

BETTER MAN
FremantleMedia Australia in association with Bravado Productions
Producer Stephen Corvini
Executive Producer Jason Stephens
Writer/Director Khoa Do
Broadcaster SBS
International Sales SBS International 
Synopsis Exactly how much risk would you take to save your brother? For Van Nguyen the answer was whatever it takes, and the devastating consequence of his attempt to traffic heroin from Cambodia to Australia via a change of planes in Singapore was that the 396 grams of drugs that he was discovered carrying was enough to incur the death penalty – 26 times over.

GALLIPOLI
Southern Star Entertainment Pty Ltd
Producers John Edwards, Imogen Banks, Robert Connolly
Writer Christopher Lee (based on the book by Les Carlyon)
Director TBC
Broadcaster Nine Network
International Sales Endemol Worldwide
Synopsis The greatest invasion in the history of warfare was to become a diabolical failure – an eight-month siege where the bravery of Anzac troops was squandered. But in doing so a legend, and a nation, were born.

MISS FISHER’S MURDER MYSTERIES SERIES 2
Every Cloud Productions
Producers Fiona Eagger, Deb Cox
Head Writers Deb Cox, John Banas, Kristen Dunphy
Director Tony Tilse
Broadcaster ABC
International Sales All3Media International
Domestic Sales ABC Commercial
Synopsis Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries series 2 is a 13 x 1-hour murder mystery series based on the novels of Australian author Kerry Greenwood.

PARER’S WAR
Pericles Film Productions Pty Ltd
Producer Andrew Wiseman
Writer Alison Nisselle
Director Matthew Saville
Broadcaster ABC
Domestic Sales Transmission
Synopsis Parer’s War is the story of World War II frontline cameraman Damien Parer and his desperate efforts to reveal the savage truth of battle and the brutal truth of the heart.

WENTWORTH
FremantleMedia Australia Pty Ltd
Executive Producer Jo Porter
ProducerAmanda Crittenden
Script Producer Lara Radulovich
DirectorKevin Carlin
International SalesFremantleMedia
BroadcasterFOXTEL
Synopsis We all know Bea Smith ruled Wentworth Detention Centre. She was gutsy and fearless. But who was Bea Smith before prison? How did a wife and mother from the suburbs become a top dog without rival? Where did the confidence and fortitude come from that enabled her to get there, and what injustices and misadventures fuelled her determination to do it? Wentworth is a dynamic, often confronting, drama series that begins with Bea’s early days in prison. Set in the present day, it’s a modern re-imagination of Prisoner.

Children's Drama

IN YOUR DREAMS SERIES 2
Southern Star Entertainment    
Producer Noel Price
Writers Josh Mapleston, John Armstrong, Tim Gooding, Julie Miller
Director Ralph Strasser
Broadcasters Seven Network, NDR
International Sales Endemol Worldwide Distribution
Synopsis Sam and Ben are settling back into life in Australia when their eccentric German relatives, Philipp and Lili von Hasenburg arrive unexpectedly. But things suddenly go pear shaped when Philipp is arrested and can't return to Germany. The Australian twins must then make choices that will affect the lives of everyone around them.

LITTLE LUNCH
Gristmill Pty Ltd
Producers Robyn Butler, Wayne Hope
Writers Robyn Butler, Wayne Hope
Director Wayne Hope
Broadcaster ABC 3
International Sales ACTF
Synopsis A mockumentary series about what happens at snack time in the primary school playground, based on the books written by Danny Katz and illustrated by Mitch Vane.

MAKO ISLAND OF SECRETS SERIES 2
Jonathan M Shiff Productions (JMSP)
Producer Jonathan M Shiff
Writers Anthony Morris, Michael Joshua, Max Dann
Directors Evan Clarry, Grant Brown
Broadcasters Network Ten (Domestic), ZDF Germany (German-speaking)
International Sales ZDF Enterprises
Synopsis A new mermaid arrives convinced that Zac is a danger to mermaids everywhere, not realising that there may be another merman in town bent on seizing Mako Island for himself.

TASHI
Buzz Studios
52 x 11 mins
Producers Jim Ballantine, Barbara Stephen
Writers Fin Edquist, David Evans, Cleon Prineas
Directors Serg Delfino, Marc Wasik
International Sales Wavery Productions BV
Broadcasters Seven Network (first run), ABC (shared runs)
Synopsis When young Jack is bundled off and sent to stay with distant relatives in a far off land, he has no idea quite how much his life is about to change.

THE LOST BOYS
Matchbox Productions Pty Ltd
Producers Michael McMahon, Tony Ayres
Writers Craig Irvin, Rhys Graham,Roger Monk, Elise McCredie, Polly Staniford, Shanti Gudgeon
Directors Peter Carstairs, Robert Connolly
Broadcaster ABC
International Sales NBCUniversal
Domestic Sales ACTF
Synopsis Four boys get lost in the forest, and discover, when they return home, that they have returned to an alternate world identical to theirs except for one startling difference – they were never born.

SAM FOX: EXTREME ADVENTURES
SLR Productions Pty Ltd
Producer/Executive Producer Suzanne Ryan
Writer Keith Thompson
Broadcaster Network Ten
International Sales ZDFE
Synopsis Sam Fox: Extreme Adventures is an action-packed adventure series about teenage ‘danger magnet’ Sam Fox as he braves the wilds from open ocean to deepest jungle, coming face to face with killer sharks, man-eating leopards, raging tornadoes, erupting volcanoes, deadly scorpions, giant anacondas and much, much more.

THE WORST YEAR OF MY LIFE – AGAIN!
Worst Year Productions Pty Ltd
Producers Ross Allsop, Bernadette O’Mahony
Writers Mark Brotherhood, Brendan Luno, Sam Carroll (and others)
Directors Pino Amenta (and others)
Broadcasters ABC, CBBC (UK)
International Sales ACTF
Synopsis When Alex King goes to bed on the eve of his 15th birthday, he’s relieved that the last disastrous year is finally over. But when he wakes up, time has reset itself and he’s going to have to relive the worst year of his life all over again.