All articles by Sandy George – Page 55
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Underwater facility set to launch in Sydney
A major underwater filming facility is to be built in Sydney, which is being billed as one of the biggest and best in the world by the company behind the project. Industry veterans Greg Timms and Simon Kerslake are working at "breakneck speed" in order to accommodate several projects already ...
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Impressive opening for gross-out Australian comedy
The politically incorrect Australian comedy Fat Pizza grossed $702,000 from 101 screens over its opening weekend, putting it in second place in the national chart and giving it the best screen average of the top 20.A highly impressive result for distributor Roadshow, Fat Pizza is the micro-budget big screen version ...
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Maynard, Kelly team for Australian/UK co-production
Film producer John Maynard, who has just been presented with an honorary degree from the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, is working with UK producer David Kelly on the financing of an adaptation of Randolph Stow's novel The Merry-Go-Round In The Sea. The co-production has been scripted by Peter ...
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Schepisi lined up for Australian project after 15-year absence
Two expatriate Australian directors, Fred Schepisi (Last Orders) and John Polson (Swimfan), may be among those to benefit from the second fundraising by Australian partners the Nine Network and Macquarie bank, it was revealed last night. Schepisi was presented with the highest honour at the Australian Screen Directors Association awards ...
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Australia's Film Finance Corp backs Deck Dogz, Scarlett
Writer/director Steve Pasvolsky's short film Inja failed to win an Oscar in the live action category for which it was nominated, but yesterday he got a very significant consolation prize: the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) agreed to invest in his debut feature Deck Dogz. Pay-TV outfit The Movie Network is ...
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Forsyth, Beaufoy to help finesse four Aurora projects
A second film from Soft Fruit creative team Christina Andreef and Helen Bowden, and yet another from one of the country's most experienced producers, Matt Carroll, are two of the four projects chosen for the second intensive Aurora script development workshop.Bill Forsyth, who wrote and directed Scottish film Local Hero, ...
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Ned Kelly has third best local opening in Australia
Ned Kelly grossed $460,000 - the third biggest opening day for an Australian film, behind Moulin Rouge and Crocodile Dundee 2.The massive local campaign has included a blitz-style publicity tour featuring most of the key cast, including star Heath Ledger, a huge number of massive outdoor billboards and a ...
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Silverscreen Films launches in New Zealand
Sydney-based producer Don Reynolds, who made a raft of New Zealand films in the 1980s, has created Silverscreen Films, a feature film and television production company with Geoff Dixon, a giant of the New Zealand commercials production scene. Already on the company slate is Spooked, which Reynolds and Dixon hope ...
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UIP wins Australian Ned Kelly appeal
Those under 15 years of age will now be able to see Ned Kelly without being accompanied by an adult following a decision by Australia's five-member Classification Review Board to classify the film M15+ rather than the tougher MA15+ originally imposed after a split vote. The film is recommended for ...
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Two novel adaptations to launch Arclight's Australian production slate
A literary adaptation looks certain to kick off Sydney-based sales agent Arclight Films' career as a producer of Australian films but which one is the question. Arclight has announced it has started selling distribution rights to the schoolgirl teen comedy Hating Alison Ashley, from the children's classic of the same ...
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UIP appeals against Ned Kelly classification
UIP has lodged an appeal against the MA 15+ rating given to Ned Kelly by Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification.UIP is hoping the Classification Review Board will decide on Friday to grant it a less restrictive rating. MA 15+ means that people who are less than 15 ...
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Entertainers launch Oz film outfit
Ned Kelly producer Nelson Woss has joined forces with live entertainment specialists Sports & Entertainment Limited (SEL) to form a new Sydney based film outfit.Called Woss Group Films/SEL, the company is looking to produce Australian projects with international ambitions as well as other international projects.Woss is one of the producers ...
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New Zealand film industry calls for tax breaks
Key members of the New Zealand film industry have called on the country's government to introduce tax incentives to encourage private investment in the local industry. The recommendation, which forms part of the findings of a specially appointed Screen Production Industry Taskforce, says that tax incentives should be available to ...
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Arclight commits to two new thrillers
Arclight Films has committed to handling international sales on writer/director Glenn Standring's second film, the vampire thriller Perfect Creature, and director Anne Turner's Australian/UK co-production Irresistible. Standring's debut film The Irrefutable Truth About Demons sold around the world and an August shoot is planned for this next one in Dunedin ...
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Myriad attracted by Murders
Myriad has picked up all worldwide sales rights to the low-budget film You Can't Stop The Murders, which is being released in Australia on March 13 by BVI and Miramax. The comedy is Anthony Mir's directorial debut and he also appears in the film alongside his long-term stand-up comedy collaborators ...
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Macquarie and Nine launch second production fund
Australia's Nine Network and Macquarie Bank have launched a new production investment fund with the aim of raising at least $12.3m - after the partnership's inaugural fund last year raised $13.3m out of a hoped-for $35m. The Nine Network and Macquarie Bank today (March 4) lodged a prospectus with the ...
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Brian Rosen to head Australia's Film Finance Corp.
It is believed that the Federal Cabinet today approved the appointment of producer Brian Rosen as chief executive of Australia's biggest film investor, the Film Finance Corporation (FFC). He will return to Australia from Los Angeles to take up the highly influential job.For the last decade Rosen has developed projects ...
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Australia's Film Finance Corp greenlights two new films
Writer/director Chris Kennedy and his co-producer John Winter, the Sydney-based duo behind Doing Time For Patsy Cline, are to get a second outing together on A Man's Gotta Do. One of Australia's busiest and most versatile actors, John Howard, has been cast in the lead role of Eddy, who "has ...
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Aurora provides a ray of hope in Australia
Every cinema-producing country is always abuzz about which up-and-coming writers and filmmakers are worth watching. Cate Shortland is one of Australia's. Her script, More Than Scarlet, was one of four chosen from a field of 40 for last year's inaugural Aurora intensive scriptwriting workshop."I suddenly found myself in a room ...
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New box office high for New Zealand
New Zealand exhibitors had their best ever year at the box office in 2002 with 17.8 million ticket sales generating $142.7mAccording to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of New Zealand revenues were up 14% on 2001, in part attributable to the number of wet weekends during last year. A $1 ...