Exclusive: It was one of the hottest scripts on the Black List a few years ago based on one of the most intriguing crimes in Australia over the last 50 years, and it just found a home with Phoenix Pictures Chairman/CEO Mike Medavoy. The company will produce A Country of Strangers from screenwriter Sean Armstrong about detective Geoff Harper's 40-year investigation into the disappearance of three small children from an Australian beach. In January 1966, three children…...
- 9/26/2017
- Deadline
An Australian film-maker has signed on to direct and produce one of the most highly regarded unmade scripts in Hollywood.
South Australian-based Anthony Maras will direct A Country of Strangers, which was number two on last year’s Black List of 2012.
The script was written by Sean Armstrong, an American, but is based on the true events of the disappearance of three siblings, the Beaumont children from an Australian beach in January 1966. Detective Geoff Harper’s search lasted 40 years.
Maras’ Anthouse Films will also produce the picture.
Maras told Mumbrella: “It’s interesting with A Country of Strangers – it’s an Australian true story but with the world we live in, Sean Armstrong first read of the case on the internet and started developing it from there. However, it will be a full Australian production, shooting here, with 99.9 per cent Australian crew.”
“We’ve had offers from sales agents and...
South Australian-based Anthony Maras will direct A Country of Strangers, which was number two on last year’s Black List of 2012.
The script was written by Sean Armstrong, an American, but is based on the true events of the disappearance of three siblings, the Beaumont children from an Australian beach in January 1966. Detective Geoff Harper’s search lasted 40 years.
Maras’ Anthouse Films will also produce the picture.
Maras told Mumbrella: “It’s interesting with A Country of Strangers – it’s an Australian true story but with the world we live in, Sean Armstrong first read of the case on the internet and started developing it from there. However, it will be a full Australian production, shooting here, with 99.9 per cent Australian crew.”
“We’ve had offers from sales agents and...
- 2/7/2013
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Exclusive: A Country Of Strangers, the Sean Armstrong script that landed No. 2 on the new Black List, has been optioned by Christos V. Konstantakopoulos’ Faliro House Productions. The company behind Before Midnight and Take Shelter will develop a film based on true events. Written in the vein of Zodiac, A Country Of Strangers tells the story of detective Geoff Harper’s 40-year search for the Beaumont children, three siblings taken from an Australian beach in January 1966. The film will be directed by Anthony Maras, who won two Australian Academy Awards for his short film The Palace (check out that one below). Maras’ AntHouse Films will produce. “When the Beaumont children vanished off a crowded beach all those years ago, Australia was changed forever,” Maras said. “The case remains Australia’s most enduring criminal mystery, and was the first in a wave of child abductions and serial killings that has terrified...
- 2/6/2013
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
Every year, film executive Franklin Leonard releases his list, called The Black List, of most-liked unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. This year's list was compiled from the suggestions of 290 film executives, each of whom picked up to ten of their favorite scripts. Since the list started in 2004, many screenplays ended up being turned into films. In 2005, two of the top three scripts were "Lars and the Real Girl" which was nominated for Best Original Screenplay Oscar, and "Juno" which actually won the Oscar. See the 2012 Black List below, broken up by how many votes each screenplay received. Some of the projects are already in the works. 65 - Draft Day (Rajiv Joseph, Scott Rothman) On the day of the NFL Draft, Bills General Manager Sonny Weaver has the opportunity to save football in Buffalo when he trades for the number one pick. He must quickly decide what he's willing to sacrifice in...
- 12/19/2012
- WorstPreviews.com
Hollywood producers are always looking to find the next blockbuster hit, but with the great influx of scripts that studios receive, it’s likely that something outstanding can get lost in the shuffle. In an effort to make things easier for everyone, former production executive Franklin Leonard started the Black List in 2004. The list takes 10 nominations from 290 film executives, and if a script gets 6 nominations it makes the list.
The website makes it clear that this isn’t a “best of” list, it’s simply a “most liked” list, but being the most liked definitely is an indicator of something good, so the list is worth paying attention to.
Many extremely successful films have come from the list in past years. For example, the 2010 list featured scripts like Safe House, Argo, Chronicle, Snow White And The Huntsman and Looper.
Check out the five scripts with the most nominations this year below,...
The website makes it clear that this isn’t a “best of” list, it’s simply a “most liked” list, but being the most liked definitely is an indicator of something good, so the list is worth paying attention to.
Many extremely successful films have come from the list in past years. For example, the 2010 list featured scripts like Safe House, Argo, Chronicle, Snow White And The Huntsman and Looper.
Check out the five scripts with the most nominations this year below,...
- 12/18/2012
- by Alex Lowe
- We Got This Covered
There is either a couple of football fans or Jerry Maguire/Moneyball with this year’s most liked unproduced screenplay. Close to 300 hundred film executives provided with the Black List creators a top ten of their favorite screenplays of the year and the consensus first overall pick (with 65 votes) comes from the recently featured in Variety (10 Screenwriters to Watch 2012) tandem of Rajiv Joseph & Scott Rothman and their drama which has nothing to do with enlisting in the armed forces. Draft Day – about the day in the life of a fictitious Buffalo Bills Gm appears to currently be in turnaround — which only means I expect to see this greenlight perhaps a little later than sooner – worth noting: top spot almost guarantees that the film will indeed go into production (2006, 2010 and 2011 are the exceptions.) Among the more alluring logline subjects we find on the list, I’d be keen on reading the...
- 12/18/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Two Australian-based brothers have had their script acknowledged on Hollywood’s Blacklist, an annual list of the top scripts circulating Hollywood.
The film, Sweet Virginia, written by twins Paul and Ben China, received 26 mentions on the list.
The Black List is compiled by film executive Franklin Leonard and made up of suggestions from over 290 film executives putting forward their top 10 films. Any film that received more than six mentions was included on the list.
Sweet Virginia is about a former rodeo star who begins a friendship with a young man responsible for a spat of violence in the small town.
Paul and Ben previously wrote and directed Crawl, a short film compared to the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple and No Country for Old Men.
Also on the list is Australian Natasha Pincus, for her script Clive. Pincus directed Gotye’s mammothly successful break-out video ‘Somebody That I Used to know’. Her script Fell,...
The film, Sweet Virginia, written by twins Paul and Ben China, received 26 mentions on the list.
The Black List is compiled by film executive Franklin Leonard and made up of suggestions from over 290 film executives putting forward their top 10 films. Any film that received more than six mentions was included on the list.
Sweet Virginia is about a former rodeo star who begins a friendship with a young man responsible for a spat of violence in the small town.
Paul and Ben previously wrote and directed Crawl, a short film compared to the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple and No Country for Old Men.
Also on the list is Australian Natasha Pincus, for her script Clive. Pincus directed Gotye’s mammothly successful break-out video ‘Somebody That I Used to know’. Her script Fell,...
- 12/18/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
The 2012 Black List unveiled its annual crop of best unproduced screenplays. Among the top vote-getters were: 1.) Draft Day (Rajiv Joseph, Scott Rothman), 65 mentions. On the day of the NFL Draft, Buffalo Bills general manager Sonny Weaver has the opportunity to save football in the city when he trades for the No. 1 pick. He must quickly decide what he’s willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of perfection as the lines between his personal and professional life become blurred. 2.) A Country of Strangers (Sean Armstrong), 43 mentions. Based on true events, the story chronicles Inspector Geoff Harper's
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- 12/17/2012
- by Tatiana Siegel
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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