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New seasons of TikTok series The Formal and YouTube’s Australia’s Best Street Racer are among the six projects to share in more than $920,000 from Screen Australia’s Online Fund.

There is also Facebook/YouTube comedy Counter Girls, which is a spin-off of hit series Rostered On, TikTok vertical series Krystal Klairvoyant, as well as satire Clockwork and therapy exploration It’s Fine I’m Fine, both of which are for Facebook.

Screen Australia’s senior online investment manager Lee Naimo said it was pleasing to see online creators working hard to identify and then hook in their audiences with great characters and storylines.

“We can see great examples of this with new seasons of 2 Street 2 Racer and The Formal which both connected with viewers on YouTube and TikTok respectively,” he said.

‘The Formal’

The funded projects are:

2 Street 2 Racer: A second series of Australia’s Best Street Racer...

Australia now has its first ever set of intimacy guidelines for stage and screen, a result of 18 months of industry consultation by a dedicated committee of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (Meaa).

The guidelines, freely available on the Meaa website, aim to establish new processes for work involving nudity, intimacy, simulated sexual activity and sexual violence, so that actors are best prepared and supported.

They cover off on best practice for situations spanning the entire filmmaking process from casting and auditions through to post-production and marketing.

Screen Producers Australia (Spa), the Australian Directors’ Guild (Adg), the Casting Guild of Australia (Cga) and the Meaa National Stunt Committee have each endorsed the document. All were part of the consultation process, alongside individual actors, fight directors, theatre directors, stunt co-ordinators, intimacy co-ordinators, intimacy directors and the Australian Writers’ Guild (Awg).

The guidelines follow on from a series of workshops and seminars...

‘Holey Moley.’

The Seven Network is counting on new and returning franchises and three new Australian dramas to maintain ratings momentum next year.

Unveiling its 2021 schedule today, Seven trumpeted The Voice, Holey Moley, Ultimate Tag, Big Brother, Farmer Wants a Wife, Australia’s Got Talent and the renewal of Sas Australia.

The network also revealed it will revive Fremantle’s Australian Idol, which last screened on Network 10 in 2009. Production on the reboot is due to start mid-year and it will premiere in February 2022.

The dramas are Endemol Shine Banks’ Rfds ; Roadshow Rough Diamond’s Australian Gangster, which finally makes the schedule after a three-year delay due to legal issues; and the second season of Every Cloud Productions’ Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, a co-commission with North American streamer Acorn TV.

Among the new factual entertainment shows, Blink TV’s Australia: Now and Then, will ask celebrities, comedians, musicians,...

(L-r) Jason Lee, an unidentified extra and Frank Lotito on the set of ‘Growing Up Smith.’

Actor Robert Rabiah is frustrated with the lack of on-screen representation of Australia’s diverse communities despite some recent TV shows and movies that are more reflective of race, gender, class and colour.

That prompted Rabiah to create AussieWood, a TV comedy which follows the daily life of casting agent Steve “Aussie” Wood, a high-achieving, slightly neurotic and affable rogue who is trying to do the best he can in a pandemic-ridden world.

Rabiah pitched his idea to director/producer Frank Lotito, who wholeheartedly agreed and will helm a half-hour pilot with a top name cast.

“I wanted to challenge all that mythologising about who can carry a show or who can lead a film or who can play which role and why,” the actor whose credits include Below, Secret City, Safe Harbour and Ali’s Wedding tells If.

Michael Horrocks.

The staff exodus at Seven West Media’s Seven Studios continues with Michael Horrocks, the executive producer of comedy, confirming he is departing.

Horrocks, who has held the post for two years, created Fam Time, a narrative comedy about a dysfunctional blended family who are addicted to their screens.

Starring Michala Banas, Duncan Fellows and Benson Jack Anthony, the 6 x 30′ show is the Seven Network’s first original sitcom in more than 20 years, since Bullpitt!, and is yet to premiere.

Hayden Guppy directed the series scripted by Erica Harrison and Jack Yabsley and produced by Muffy Potter.

The downsizing at Seven Studios began with news that CEO Therese Hegarty would depart after eight years with the network.

Her role is being abolished and Seven’s director of production Andrew Backwell has taken charge of Seven Studios.

That was followed by the exits of Niki Hamilton, the executive producer...

‘McLeod’s Daughters.’

McLeod’s Daughters, the Nine Network drama co-created by Posie Graeme-Evans and Caroline Stanton, was proclaimed Australia’s most favourite show in the Great Australian Binge.

Fremantle’s Wentworth came second, followed by Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road series and Riley Turner Productions’ Kath & Kim (which is streaming on Netflix).

Fewer than 10 votes separated Fremantle’s Neighbours and Seven Studios’ Home and Away in fifth and sixth place.

Matchbox Pictures/For Pete’s Sake Productions’ The Heights ranked seventh, followed by Southern Star’s Puberty Blues, Rob Sitch’s 1997 classic The Castle – the most popular Aussie movie – and Southern Star’s Offspring.

Ludo Studio’s Bluey was voted the No. 1 children’s show. Michala Banas announced the results on YouTube last night.

The Meaa ran the initiative asking people to vote online for the Australian film or show they’ve loved watching in lockdown as part of the...

‘Informer 3838.’

With the Nine Network’s primary channel on track to deliver its highest ever commercial shares this year, the broadcaster’s upfronts announcement on Wednesday night predictably contained few surprises.

Among the new offerings will be The Parent Jury, which puts diverse parenting styles to the test; retro variety show Step Back in Time; and observational documentary series Taronga: Who’s Who In the Zoo.

The network also unveiled the cast of Screentime’s drama Informer 3838, which stars Ella Scott Lynch as Melbourne criminal lawyer turned police informant Nicola Gobbo.

In a new agreement with BBC Studios, Nine will get Seven Worlds, One Planet, a landmark wildlife series presented by Sir David Attenborough, which will transport viewers to seven continents as it reveals the survival challenges facing numerous animals.

That deal also encompasses first-run rights to five series under the BBC Planet banner including Perfect Planet, Green Planet, Frozen...

Genevieve Hegney and Tim Minchin in ‘Upright’ (Photo credit: Foxtel).

Playing strangers who meet half way across the Nullarbor and have a brief but passionate encounter in Foxtel’s upcoming series Upright was a lot of fun for Tim Minchin and Genevieve Hegney.

Friends since they attended the University of Western Australia and its dramatic society Uds, they had not been on stage or screen together before, although she did direct him in a Uds production of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, in which he played The Player.

In Upright Hegney’s character Frankie is travelling from Perth while Minchin’s Flynn is coming from Sydney with teenage runaway Meg (Milly Alcock) as they lug a piano across the country.

“We were both good sports about the love scene,” she tells If. “After 20 years in the business we were being very technical, like ‘you put your hand...

Duncan Fellows and Alison Bell.

Fans of ABC TV’s The Letdown who enjoy watching Duncan Fellows as Jeremy, partner and foil of Alison Bell’s oft-stressed Audrey, can look forward to his next series Fam Time.

Fellows is playing John, aka ‘Handy Andy’, second husband of Michala Banas’ Belinda Box, matriarch of a dysfunctional blended family in the Seven Studios’ narrative comedy.

Created by Michael Horrocks and scripted by Erica Harrison and Jack Yabsley, the sitcom features Benson Jack Anthony as Belinda’s son Rylan, Karina Banno as her step-daughter Tahnee, Chloe De Los Santos as her adopted half-Filipino daughter Cherry, Rhonda Burchmore as grandma Viv and Tainui Tukiwaho as handyman Bill.

While everyone else in the family is obsessed with the online world, Handy Andy prefers fixing and inventing things, although he’s not very good at either.

There are some similarities between the two characters. “Neither is...

Michala Banas and Benson Jack Anthony.

A dysfunctional blended family who are addicted to their screens is at the heart of Fam Time, Seven Studios’ narrative comedy which is shooting in Sydney.

Hayden Guppy is directing the 6 X 30′ series created by Michael Horrocks, who joined Seven Studios a year ago as executive producer, comedy, with the remit to drive the production division’s expansion into comedy.

It’s the Seven Network’s first narrative comedy in more than 20 years since Bullpitt!, which starred Ross Higgins as Ted Bullpitt, reprising the character he played in the 1980s sitcom Kingswood Country.

Scripted by Erica Harrison and Jack Yabsley, Fam Time stars Michala Banas as the family matriarch Belinda Box. She runs a blog which chronicles her daily adventures as a modern mum with a busy blended family in the digital age.

Duncan Fellows is her second husband John, aka ‘Handy Andy’, an...

‘Playing for Keeps’ (Season 1).

Film Victoria has announced $2 million in production funding across 11 film, television and online projects, including Matchbox Pictures’ upcoming Sbs series Hungry Ghosts.

The agency has also backed second seasons of Screentime’s Playing For Keeps for 10, Wtfn children’s series Larry the Wonderpup, and Ruby Entertainment/Robot Army comedy Rostered On, both for Seven.

Matchbox’s Hungry Ghosts is a four-part series which centres on three generations of Vietnamese Australian families touched by the effects of war. When a powerful amulet is broken on the eve of the Hungry Ghost Festival in Melbourne, a vengeful spirit is unleashed, bringing the dead with him. Shawn Seet will direct, Stephen Corvini is producing and the writers are Timothy Hobart, Michelle Lee, Alan Nguyen, Jeremy Nguyen and John Ridley.

Film Victoria has also invested in two fiction features, including Good Things Productions’ Below, which recently wrapped production in Western Australia.

Ben Steel with assistant editor Mars Williamson (l) and editor Lucy Paplinska.

As an actor Ben Steel often suffered from anxiety and depression – but for years his condition was not diagnosed or treated.

Discovering that many people in the entertainment industry struggle with mental health issues and substance abuse, the former Home and Away star embarked on a personal and professional journey.

Steel has interviewed 63 people from all walks of the industry, including actors, musicians, theatre producers, editors, roadies, dancers and sound recordists, who shared their experiences for The Show Must Go On.

Every single one recognised that mental illness is a massive issue and only a handful declined to go on the record due to their public profile or wishing to remain anonymous.

The interviewees include Sam Neill, David McAllister, Jocelyn Moorhouse, Dean Ray, Marcia Hines and Michala Banas.

Sue Maslin is producing the feature documentary with Steel, his feature directing debut,...

The cast of ‘Bad Mothers’

As parents, Gavin Strawhan and Rachel Lang agreed that being a mother can be an impossible job and that no matter how hard they try, women will sometimes feel they are bad mothers.

The Auckland-based founders of Filthy Productions came up with the concept of a comedy-drama about five mums whose kids go to the same school, overlaid with a murder mystery, and pitched it to the Nine Network.

Execs at Nine suggested Strawhan and Lang find an Australian partner, which turned out to be Jungle Entertainment. The result is Bad Mothers, which launches on Nine at 9 pm on February 18 and across the ditch on Tvnz on February 20.

The ensemble show stars Tess Haubrich as Sarah, whose perfect life as a Gp, wife and mother is shattered when she discovers her husband Anton (Daniel MacPherson) is having an affair. Even worse, her best friend is...

Antonia Murphy, Joseph Wijangco and Anousha Zarkesh (Photo credit: Marlo Media)

Nikki Barrett and Anousha Zarkesh won multiple prizes at the Casting Guild of Australia Awards presented last Friday in Melbourne.

Barrett received the awards for her work in See Pictures/Gran Via Productions/Windalong Productions’ Breath (best casting in a feature film), Easy Tiger’s Jack Irish series 2 (TV drama) and Fremantle Australia’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (TV miniseries and telemovie).

Zarkesh took home the awards for Princess Pictures’ Wrong Kind of Black (best achievement in casting) and Scarlett Pictures’ Black Comedy series 3 (TV comedy).

“We had a lucky year in that all three of these projects were very collaborative casting processes with the filmmakers actively engaged in trying to find something true to the world they were creating. It’s always the best kind of casting to be involved in and shows on screen,” Barrett tells If.

Jimeoin, Paul Hogan, Fiona O’Loughlin and others cracking lazy jokes – 86 of them – around a campfire. It really is his dog

A bunch of people coming around for dinner and cracking jokes over a few beers and wines ... is that a compelling idea for a feature film? The director Dean Murphy and his ubiquitous star/producer, Shane Jacobson – who is increasingly giving the impression of being a person happy not just to attend the opening of an envelope but to star in a feature film about such an event – believe the answer is a firm yes.

The twist is that the guests of the true-blue soirée held in That’s Not My Dog! are well-known Australian comedians, instructed to bring with them their three funniest jokes of all time. The guest list is impressive – including Jacobson, Paul Hogan, Jimeoin, Paul Fenech, Michala Banas, Steve Vizard, Fiona O’Loughlin, Tim Ferguson,...

Robyn Nevin, Glenn Robbins, Robyn Malcolm and Annie Maynard in Upper Middle Bogan.

Filming has kicked off on season three of Upper Middle Bogan.

Created, written and produced by Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope, the eight-parter will again shoot in Melbourne.

.We're so excited to unleash the wild, loud and sometimes potty-mouthed world of Upper Middle Bogan", Butler said. "But enough about Robyn Nevin - we love all the cast and can't wait to make this season..

Series three will see the return of cast members Annie Maynard, Robyn Nevin, Michala Banas, Patrick Brammall, Glenn Robbins, Robyn Malcolm, Madeleine Jevic, Rhys Mitchell, Dougie Baldwin, Lara Robinson and Harrison Feldman.

.It took some prompting, but we.re beyond thrilled Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope agreed to give the country more of its favourite family comedy Upper Middle Bogan", ABC Head of Comedy Rick Kalowski said. "May the road from the Brights...

That Sugar Film.s Damon Gameau has joined the judging panel of the 2016 Peninsula Short Film Fest, for which entries are now open.

Actor-director Gameau will serve on the panel with resident Psff judge Lachy Hulme, Michala Banas and three others to be confirmed.

Entering its fifth year, the festival will be held on Saturday February 6 at Village Green, Rosebud, with a giant new screen.

.We.ve secured the biggest and best screen in Australia for the event,. says festival director Steve Bastoni. .It.s 80 square meters and has a 6 mml pixel pitch, and Postall Studios will deliver cinema quality sound..

On the night 12 short-listed films will be judged by the panel. The winner will get $5,000 cash with $2,500 for second place and $1,250 for third.

The Woodleigh emerging filmmaker prize is worth $500. There will also be awards for best screenplay, director, actor and cinematography. Entries are open until Friday December 18. Films...

Nowhere Boys: Book of Shadows is set to hit Australian cinemas on January 1.

After two seasons on ABC television, the 82-minute family film will bring together Felix (Dougie Baldwin, Andy (Joel Lok), Sam (Rahard Adams) and Jake (Matt Testro) for one final spell when Felix discovers a sealed Book of Shadows.

The ABC3 series, aimed at the 8-14-year-old market, began when the four teens got lost during a school excursion and found themselves in a parallell world.

The feature film will add rising star Angourie Rice to the cast. Rice first came to the screen in These Final Hours and will soon be seen in Us feature The Nice Guys with Ryan Gosling.

Series regulars Darci McDonald (Ellen), Sean Ree-Wemyss (Oscar), Michala Banas (Phoebe), Victoria Thaine (Alice), Ben Keller (Bear), Tamala Shelton (Mia) and Michelle Gerster (Viv) willl also return for the film..

The film was produced by Beth Frey for Matchbox Pictures.

These Final Hours. Angourie Rice has joined the cast of the movie spin-off of the ABC children.s drama Nowhere Boys.

Produced by Matchbox Pictures and directed by David Caesar, Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows, will get a limited theatrical release before its premiere on ABC3.

Rice, who made her big screen debut in These Final Hours, has since appeared in Mako: Island of Secrets, Worst Year of My Life, Again!, The Doctor Blake Mysteries and Walking with Dinosaurs 3D.

She makes her Hollywood debut in The Nice Guys, Shane Black.s noir crime-drama set in 1970s Los Angeles, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, which Warner Bros. will release next year.

Now shooting in Melbourne, the Nowhere Boys movie follows teenagers Felix (Dougie Baldwin), Andy (Joel Lok), Sam (Rahart Adams) and Jake (Matt Testro) as they return home a year after discovering they were transported to an...

Stage stalwart Chloe Dallimore has been elected federal president of the Meaa.s Equity branch.

The actress whose credits include Pippin, Annie, The Addams Family and Thoroughly Modern Millie, succeeds Geoff Morrell.

Morrell had been acting president since Simon Burke stepped down last October after 10 years in that role. Nadine Garner and Lorna Lesly were elected. federal vice presidents.

Members of the new National Performers Committee are:

Federal President (Equity) Chloe Dallimore Federal Vice-Presidents (Equity) Nadine Garner Lorna Lesly Victoria Branch Board Member Genevieve Picot Queensland Branch Board Member Jason Klarwein Nsw Branch President (Equity): Tina Bursill Vice-President (Equity): Jonathan Mill Victoria Branch President (Equity): Abbe Holmes Vice-President (Equity): Francis Greenslade Queensland Branch President (Equity): Carol Burns Federal Council Delegates (Equity) Robyn Arthur Kerith Atkinson Michala Banas Amanda Bishop Mitchell Butel Helen Dallimore Marta Dusseldorp Alan Fletcher Samuel Gaskin Elizabeth Hay Glenn Hazeldine Robert Jago...

Beaconsfield the telemovie, based on the 2006 Tasmanian mining disaster moves into production in July, announced The Nine Network.

Starring Shane Jacobson (Kenny, Top Gear Australia) and Lachy Hulme (Matrix Trilogy, Let’s Get Skase) the three hour film tells the story from the perspective of rescuers Matthew Gill and Pat Ball.

Other cast include Sasha Horler (Offspring, Love My Way and Hawke) and Michala Banas (Winners and Losers and McLeod’s Daughters).

Beaconsfield is produced by Southern Star John Edwards (Paper Giants, Love My Way) and Jane Liscombe (Last Ride, Cracker Bag). It is written by Judi McCrossin (The Secret Life of Us, The Surgeon) and will be directed by Glendyn Ivin (Last Ride, Offspring).

In a statement Jo Horsburgh, Nine’s Head of Drama, said, “Beaconsfield is a drama that touched the hearts of all Australians.

“We were all glued to our TVs throughout the 14 days for news on...

Neighbours star Kym Valentine has revealed that she couldn't watch close friend Michala Banas take over the role of Libby Kennedy in her absence. In August 2008, the 31-year-old was forced to take a month's break from filming after her lung collapsed from pneumonia. Instead of writing Libby out, Neighbours' producers took the unusual step of temporarily re-casting the role. "I love Michala but I just couldn't watch it," Valentine told Digital Spy. "When they first told me, I was so devastated that I didn't talk to anyone. For two days I locked myself in the house and cried (more)...

Kym Valentine has revealed that she hasn't watched her 'replacement' on Neighbours. The actress admitted that she doesn't want to see scenes of Michala Banas playing Libby as it would be too weird. Banas took over the role of Libby Kennedy temporarily after Valentine was forced to pull out due to a collapsed lung and pneumonia. "I actually haven't seen any of it," the actress told The Courier Mail. "Not because of Michala, God bless her, but because the best way I can describe it is that it would be like me (more)...

Kym Valentine has revealed that she hasn't watched her 'replacement' on Neighbours. The actress admitted that she doesn't want to see scenes of Michala Banas playing Libby as it would be too weird. Banas took over the role of Libby Kennedy temporarily after Valentine was forced to pull out due to a collapsed lung and pneumonia. "I actually haven't seen any of it," the actress told The Courier Mail. "Not because of Michala, God bless her, but because the best way I can describe it is that it would be like me (more)...

Neighbours star Kym Valentine offered advice to her temporary replacement Michala Banas before the actress started work on the show last week. Valentine is taking a one-month break from the Aussie soap while she recovers from her recent health problems. She was struck down with pneumonia and suffered a collapsed lung while on a flight from New York to Melbourne in July. As revealed earlier this month, producers have recruited McLeod's Daughters star Banas to step into Valentine's role as Libby Kennedy. According to TV Week, the pair swapped notes and watched old episodes of the soap together before Banas filmed (more)...

Neighbours chiefs have brought in a replacement for Kym Valentine while she recovers from her recent health problems. Valentine, who plays Libby Kennedy on the Aussie soap, was struck down by pneumonia and suffered a collapsed lung while on a flight from New York to Melbourne last month. Although her condition has improved, she is still not well enough to return to work. In a bid to minimise disruption to scripts, the show's team have recruited actress Michala Banas to take over as Libby from tomorrow. The surprising arrangement, which is expected to last for a month, was finalised by executive producer Susan Bower this week. Speaking about handing over the role, Valentine told the Sunday Herald Sun: (more)...