Melbourne-based Every Cloud Productions has taken a trio of series in development to this week’s Screen Forever conference, including a dramedy from previous collaborators Christiaan Van Vuuren and Adele Vuko, as well as projects with Wentworth actor Katrina Milosevic and emerging writer/director Meleesha Bardolia.
Van Vuuren and Vuko, who directed Every Cloud-produced festive films A Sunburnt Christmas and A Christmas Ransom, respectively, will come together for Reality Check, a story that follows handsome reality-TV bachelor who, when tragedy strikes, is thrust unexpectedly into the role of ‘Dad’ to his sister’s three young kids. The pair are involved in the creative development, with Van Vuuren to write and direct, and Vuko also writing.
Comedy and tragedy also combine in Milosevic’s real-life-inspired State of Grace, in which an unsuccessful stand-up comedian suddenly finds a fresh comic voice when her mother is diagnosed with cancer.
Rounding out the slate is Bardolia’s previously announced Bhang Bhang, a Bollywood-inspired ‘whodunnit’ series about an Indian Australian detective dragged into dangerous and morally ambiguous crime. Supported through Screen Australia’s Generate fund, the project is being written by Bardolia alongside Marieke Hardy and Hannah Samuel, with Mike Jones and Drew Grove executive producing for Every Cloud.
Grove, who took over as CEO last February after founders Deb Cox and Fiona Eagger announced they were stepping back from day-to-day operations of the company, believed the development slate would cement Every Cloud’s position “amongst Australia’s most innovative independent production companies”.
“Since our inception in 2009, Every Cloud Productions has established a reputation for producing quality content that puts audience experience first and champions fresh and diverse talent,” he said.
“Our latest development slate projects will ensure this legacy continues and actively supports and mentors emerging talent while championing the representation of women, LGBTQI+ and other diverse voices on screen.”
The announcement of the new titles comes six months after the company, whose previous titles include SeaChange, Eden and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, was acquired by the newly established Global City Group, of which former Screen Queensland chief creative officer Jo Dillon is CEO.