After merging his company with WTFN and producing Oddball with Steve Kearney, Richard Keddie has returned to his roots as an independent producer.
Via his banner The Film Company, Keddie is developing a slate of film and TV projects including Stalking Julia, a feature film on Julia Gillard which will star Rachel Griffiths, who will also co-produce.
It was an amicable split from WTFN after a partnership of two and a half years. “I decided I am happier running my own company,” he tells IF.
He’s co-developing some projects with US-based Sheila Hanahan Taylor, who was one of the producers on Oddball.
He describes his Gillard biopic, which is based partly on Kerry-Anne Walsh's book The Stalking of Julia Gillard, as completely different from the ABC’s The Killing Season.
Sarah Ferguson's three-part documentary, which examined the forces that shaped Labor during the Kevin Rudd / Julia Gillard leadership years, "did not get the real story by a mile,” he said.
Gillard is collaborating with Keddie, who is writing the screenplay, as is Rudd, for whom he directed TV ads for the 2013 election campaign.
“I think a lot of people want to know the real story,” he said. He is yet to confirm the director.
Oddball has grossed nearly $10.8 million. In Italy the family comedy directed by Stuart McDonald was released on 246 screens, making €416,000 ($A621,000) in its first three weeks.