Multi-platform projects from Ludo Studio and Hoodlum were among nine to receive funding from Screen Australia this week.
Fresh from winning a Digital Emmy® for #7 Days Later, Ludo Studio is producing Doodles, an animated comedy series which takes drawings sourced via social media and turns them into micro-movies with a touch of insanity. Daley Pearson is the director and the producers are Nick Boshier and Charlie Aspinwall.
Another digital Emmy winner, Hoodlum (Secrets & Lies, The Stranger Calls) is collaborating with filmmakers Michael Cox and Paul Mayze on Illusion Five Sweeper Squad, a sci-fi comedy series about a dysfunctional team of cleaners tasked with mopping up after the super heroes.
Multiplattform comedy series Four Quarters tells the fictional story of a group of footy fans during the current, real-time AFL season, produced by WBMC’s Aidan O’Bryan and Janelle Landers.
Katering is a parody of popular cooking shows written and performed by Melbourne-based comedians Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney, one a a horrendously smug foodie, the other an anti-foodie. The series is directed by McCartney and produced by Tamasin Simpkin.
Commissioned by ABC, Stories I Want to Tell You in Person is a two-part adaptation of the popular one-woman play from writer/performer Lally Katz , directed by Erin White (At Home with Julia), and produced by Katherine Slattery for Matchbox Productions.
The Wondrous Adventures of Desmondo Ray from Tropfest and AFI-winner Steve Baker and producer Leanne Tonkes (My Mistress) is an animated series about a peculiar man-child who seeks true love in a world he has difficulty fitting into. It’s based on a short film which was selected for this year's SXSW festival and is screening at the St Kilda Film Festival.
Ricketts Lane is a musical comedy series for ABC2 and iview based on the live comedy show by Sammy J and Randy, featuring the characters of inept, incompetent lawyer Sammy J and still pining divorcee Randy. The producer is Donna Andrews of Sticky Pictures (Me & My Monsters, Dukes of Broxstonia).
Both interactive kids apps, Daisy Chain is about a young misfit facing the issue of bullying from producer/creative director Galvin Scott Davis of Protein One; and I Learn, a story-driven app that builds kids’ confidence for their early years at school, from Bizzibrains producer Nicola Lansdell and creative director Kat Chadwick.
DAISY CHAIN
Interactive app
Protein One Pty Ltd
Producer/Creative Director Galvin Scott Davis
Synopsis Daisy Chain is an interactive touch-screen app for children from the makers of Dandelion. The story follows a little girl named Buttercup Bree who doesn’t fit in, but hopes to ward off bullies through making daisy chains. The project is designed to encourage conversation between adults and children about bullying and help thwart this worldwide issue.
DOODLES
Multiplatform animated web series
Ludo Studio Pty Ltd
Producers Nick Boshier, Charlie Aspinwall
Executive Producer Dave Jensen
Director Daley Pearson
Synopsis Doodles is a multiplatform, interactive, animated comedy series that takes real people's drawings via social media and turns them into hilarious animated micro-movies featuring a cast of coloured-in characters surrounded by insanity.
FOUR QUARTERS
Multiplatform comedy series
WBMC
Producers Aidan O’Bryan, Janelle Landers
Synopsis Set against the guts and glory of AFL, Four Quarters is a multiplatform comedy series influenced in real time by the weekend's footy results. It follows the lives of four friends as they talk life, love and grand final tickets every Monday at their local. There are curses to be shaken, (Eddie) bets to be made, and team infidelity rears its ugly head. Four Quarters is a funny and heartfelt story about football, passion, and making time for your friends (while at the same time hoping their team loses by 10 goals).
I LEARN
Interactive app
Bizzibrains Pty Ltd
Producer Nicola Lansdell
Creative Director Kat Chadwick
Synopsis In I Learn, kids put themselves, a parent and a teacher into the words and pictures of the story. They then help get their character ready and off to school where they're immersed in the challenges and joy of the classroom and schoolyard. An imaginative tale about school and the emotions that come with it, I Learn builds confidence, entertains and educates.
ILLUSION 5 SWEEPER SQUAD
Multiplatform sci-fi comedy series
Hoodlum Active Pty Ltd
Producers Leigh McGrath, Nathan Mayfield, Tracey Robertson
Writer/Directors Michael Cox, Paul Mayze
Synopsis Illusion 5 Sweeper Squad is a 6 x 5-minute sci-fi comedy series that mixes live action, computer animation and visual effects. It follows the trials and tribulations of Illusion 5’s support crew as they deal with ordinary workday problems in the most extraordinary of workplaces … outer space! Illusion 5 Sweeper Squad is the ultimate underdog story, packed with humour, action and spectacle.
KATERING
Comedy series
Lead Balloon Productions
Producer Tamasin Simpkin
Writers Kate McLennan, Kate McCartney
Director Kate McCartney
Synopsis Katering is a 6 x 7-minute online comedy series that follows Kate McLennan (a horrendously smug foodie) as she tries to teach Kate McCartney (a food-intolerant anti-foodie) how to cook a new dish each week. Together, the pair travel to fresh-produce markets and hunt down food trucks, with McLennan channelling every food show TV host she's ever seen, and McCartney staving off boredom with a hipflask of booze.
RICKETTS LANE
TV series
Sticky Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer Donna Andrews
Writers Sammy McMillan, Heath McIvor
Broadcaster ABC2 and iView
Synopsis Loyal, eccentric and prone to bursting into song at any given moment, socially inept, incompetent lawyer Sammy J and still pining divorcee Randy make unlikely best friends. Their cavalier approach to life sees them shunned by their neighbours and despised by their colleagues so all they have is eac other. But when Randy's need to win back his ex-wife clashes with Sammy's push to finally win a case their friendship will be severely tested. Their can't-live-with/can't-live-without each other relationship will be forced to go one way or the other. Based on the award-winning live show by Sammy J and Randy.
STORIES I WANT TO TELL YOU IN PERSON
TV series
Matchbox Productions Pty Ltd
Producer Katherine Slattery
Executive Producer Debbie Lee
Writer Lally Katz
Director Erin White
Broadcaster ABC and iView
Synopsis Based on the stage play of the same name, playwright Lally Katz bares her soul in this part-confessional, part-stand-up routine, part-travel documentary and part-romance story. A disarmingly honest journey through one woman’s life, Stories I Want to Tell You in Person has psychics, cowboys, curses, karaoke, crazy next-door neighbours, Jewish boyfriends, bears, dolphins, magic and love. A surprising and heart-warming story of someone trying to have it all, Stories I Want to Tell You in Person allows us a brief peek inside Lally Katz's magical world.
THE WONDROUS LIFE OF DESMONDO RAY
Multiplatform animated comedy drama series
Sense & Centsability Pty Ltd
Producer Leanne Tonkes
Executive Producer Andrew Wareham
Writer/Director Steve Baker
Synopsis From award-winning filmmaker Steve Baker, the series follows the wondrous adventures of Desmondo Ray, a peculiar man-child who seeks true love in a world he has difficulty fitting into. Based on the short film The Video Dating Tape of Desmondo Ray which was official selection for SxSW 2014 and is an opening night film at St Kilda Film Festival 2014.