Care For Kids Newsletter 125 - Australian Children`s Television

Television News
Issue no.125 | March 2013
Inside:
Worst Year of My Life...Again!
You’re Skitting Me Series 2
Hoopla Doopla!
Bumper by Ben wins Trop Jr
Twelve year old Ben McCarthy from NSW
has won Trop Jr with his short film Bumper,
about a frog that can’t jump. Bumper was
the only claymation film to make the finals,
and Ben was one of the youngest finalists.
Ben’s film was made at home on the desk
in his bedroom and it took him
six months.
Trop Jr filmmakers must be aged 15 or
under. Hundreds of entries came from
all over Australia, and were submitted by
individuals, groups of friends, clubs and
school groups. The 16 finalist films were
screened at the Domain in Sydney on
17 February before a celebrity judging
panel and a large crowd. The judges
were Sean Keenan (of Lockie Leonard and
Puberty Blues), Sam Moran (former Wiggle),
Gretel Killeen and Samara Weaving (Home
& Away). The runners up were How To Make
A Horror Movie by six boys aged 12-15
from South Australia calling themselves the
“Screen Seekers Club” and Where’s
My Sandwich? by 15 year old Harri Gilbert.
All the finalist films can be viewed
on the Trop Jr website at
www. tropfest.com/tropjr/
All young filmmakers aged 15 years
and younger should start planning their
Trop Jr entries for the next competition
now, because the festival is moving from
February to December. The next Trop Jr
festival will be held 8 December 2013.
In keeping with Tropfest
tradition all entries
must include the Trop
Signature Item (TSI).
The TSI is not a ‘theme’
but rather, a ‘signature’
or symbol that must
appear somewhere in the
film and acts as proof that
it was made specifically
for Trop Jr. The TSI for Trop Jr December
2013 is MONSTER.
2 | March 2013
March 2013 | 3
2013:
A busy Production year!
in production in Melbourne
Worst Year of My
Life...Again!
you’re
skitting
me
funding
approvals
At its meetings in December
2012 and March 2013 the
ACTF Board approved
development investment in
the following projects:
Series 2 in
production
December 2012
August Bell (Comedy
Drama Series) Lee Zachariah
(VIC) $4,000 for revision
of concept document,
development of sample
storylines and re-write of
pilot script.
Convict Kids (Live Action
Adventure Series) Roar Films
(TAS) $6,500 for the hire of a
consultant and production
of concept document for
pitch to Australian and UK
broadcasters.
March 2013
Bushwhacked – Series 2
(Live Action Adventure
Series) North One TV (NSW)
$10,000 towards planning,
casting, crewing and writing
of some episode outlines
and scripts.
Liang Tong, Lin Xaio, Hou Xiang Quing, Li Gongda, Zhao Qian, Sun Yan
a production in bejing
Hoopla Doopla!
Hoopla Doopla! is a whimsical, magical
world for 2-5 year olds – where only circus
logic applies.
Inspired by the circus and commedia
dell’arte, Hoopla Doopla! features a
troupe of six extraordinary characters
with amazing physical skills. They tumble,
juggle, leap and somersault in and out
of trouble. But whenever anything goes
wrong - and it usually does - they always
have each other to fall back on.
Hoopla Doopla! is a co-production
between the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation and China Central Television,
and is being produced by Melinda Wearne
and Ron Saunders from Beyond Production
and the China Central TV Screen Drama
Production Centre. The series commences
filming in a studio in Beijing in April, with
a mix of Chinese and Australian crew and
performers. The directors are Mark Barnard
and Liang Tong.
The team from China visited the ACTF
during pre-production in February.
Hoopla Doopla! received initial script
development investment from the ACTF
in 2010 and will be distributed worldwide
by the ACTF on behalf of the Australian
and Chinese partners. There will be 52 x 12
minute episodes.
Pino Amenta, series director on Worst Year of My Life...Again!
Worst Year of My Life… Again! is a 13 x 24 minute
comedy series for every child that’s ever tried to
take control of their life.
Alex King has just had the worst year of his
life. A year beset with personal disasters,
embarrassments, failures and humiliation.
But as he goes to bed on the eve of his
15th birthday he does so with the vague
hope that whatever upcoming tribulations
await him they can’t possibly be as bad
as the ones he’s had to endure over the
last 12 months. But when Alex awakens
the following morning he discovers that
somehow it’s his 14th birthday again. Time
seems to have reset itself and the worst year
of his life is about to happen all over again!
At first Alex is mortified by the prospect. But
slowly he begins to see the possibilities this
throws up. If the fates have decreed he gets
a second chance at this year, then maybe
this time he can get it right. Maybe this time
had can make it the best year of his life.
And so with the help of his closest friends –
Simon Birch and Maddy Kent – that’s exactly
what he’s going to try and do.
Worst Year of My Life…Again! is a coproduction between the ACTF and Reflective
Pictures for the ABC and BBC. It is based on
an original concept by Mark Brotherhood.
The writers of the series are Mark
Brotherhood, Brendan Luno, Peter Mattessi
and Kirsty Fisher. Bernadette O’Mahony and
Ross Allsop are the producers. Pino Amenta
is the series director.
Pre-production is underway in Melbourne
and the series will be filming from April
to July.
Worst Year of My Life…Again! will be
distributed worldwide by the ACTF.
Following the successful
run of the first series on
ABC3 in 2012, production
has commenced on a
second season of 13 x
24 minute episodes of
the sketch comedy series
You’re Skitting Me.
You’re Skitting Me is a
Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder
production, and Toni
Malone is the supervising
producer, working with
Marea Markou (producer)
and Ros Walker (line
producer). The writing
team is headed up by
Mark O’Toole and Ray
Matsen, two of Australia’s
most experienced comedy
writers. The director will be
Dave Collins.
You’re Skitting Me will be
distributed worldwide by
the ACTF.
4 | March 2013
Awards
new board
member
The ACTF has welcomed a
new member to its Board:
Anna King.
Anna King is Acting
Executive Director Strategic
Services in the Northern
Territory Department of
Education and Children’s
Services. She is responsible
for the development and
implementation of strategic
planning, projects and
policy frameworks to align
the Department, measure
performance and improve
educational outcomes in
the NT.
Anna has worked in
education for 20 years
including early childhood
policy and regulations,
disability, wellbeing and
strategic services, and
represents the Northern
Territory on a number
of national education
groups. Anna represents
the Northern Territory
Government on the Board.
Joanna Werner (centre) with cast from Dance Academy
Dance Academy Producer, Joanna
Werner was named 2012 Australian
Children’s Producer of the Year at the
SPAA Independent Producer Awards in
November. Dance Academy has also
won Best Companion Website 2013 at
Kidscreen in New York. Congratulations
once again to Werner Productions and the
team at Hoodlum who created the site.
At the 2012 ATOM Awards ceremony
My Place Series 2 received the ‘Best
Children’s Fiction Television Program’
Award and Dancing Down Under received
an ATOM award for ‘Best Children’s Factual
Television Program’. Congratulations to the
producers at Matchbox Pictures and Wild
Fury Productions.
What’s on Tv?
Bushwhacked! Fridays 8.30pm ABC3 and
Weekdays 6am NITV
Double Trouble Fridays 10am ABC and
Sundays 3.10pm ABC3
Genie from Down Under – Series 1
Sundays 4pm ABC3
I Got a Rocket Weekdays 8.25am ABC3
Mal.com Wednesdays 7.35pm ABC3
Mortified Sundays 2.15pm ABC3
Waabiny Time Weekdays 8am NITV
You’re Skitting Me Wednesdays 7pm ABC3
3rd Floor, 145 Smith Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065
T 03 9200 5500 F 03 9200 5555 E info@actf.com.au
W www.actf.com.au