Actress/neophyte producer Carla Bonner is developing a TV series based on her 2012 self-published e-book, Hook, Line and Sink Her, a romance guide for men.
The former Neighbours star has teamed up with Melbourne-based writer/producer Gary O’Toole to develop a 12-part, half-hour series.
Bonner wrote the book to help men understand women and how to “reignite the passion” of relationships, drawing on her own experiences.
O’Toole is writing the pilot and story treatments for the following episodes. Bonner intends to play the protagonist, telling IF, “No one knows her better than I do.”
The actress played Stephanie Scully in Neighbours for 11 years, departing in November 2010 after her character was sent to jail for culpable driving. She returned to the show for a couple of months earlier this year. Her 22-year-old son Harley Bonner plays Joshua Willis in the soap.
O’Toole and Bonner first connected on social media, then met up and he decided to help her develop a series which he’s confident will be funny, thoughtful and emotional.
Separately O’Toole has written Nulla, a movie about an Australian soldier, an Iraq veteran, as he sets out to drive from Melbourne to Perth with a buddy, a US soldier. En route there’s a horrific accident.
The film will be produced by O'Toole, with Robert Lewis Galinsky as executive producer. The director is not yet set. O’Toole hopes filming will start in the first quarter of 2014.