Sammy J. & Randy heading to ABC2

Screen Australia’a final funding round this financial year sees 12 projects approved in films, television series and multiplatform, totalling $4.5 million.

The television and multiplatform projects include Glitch and Stories I Want to Tell You In Person for Matchbox Pictures plus Ricketts Lane from Sticky Pictures, starring Sammy J. and Randy.

“In this round of funding we are pleased to be able to support a great diversity of Australian creative talent generating compelling stories on all platforms. These stories promise to help shape our national consciousness, challenge us, build resilience in our kids and make us laugh, all with great Australian content. They are intended to appeal to a wide range of audiences on the many platforms that now form part of our regular media diet. Here we see the breadth of formats, genres and innovative pathways to audience that the Australian production community is capable of,” said CEO of Screen Australia, Graeme Mason.

Television Adult Drama

Glitch
Matchbox Pictures Pty Ltd
Producers Ewan Burnett, Louise Fox
Executive Producer Tony Ayres
Director TBA
Writers Louise Fox, Kris Mrksa, Giula Sandler
Broadcaster ABC Television
International Sales NBC Universal
Synopsis The sleepy town of Yoorana is jolted awake one night when six officially dead people suddenly return. How did this happen? And why Yoorana of all places? For local cop James Hayes it is a professional nightmare and a personal crisis when he recognises one of these six as his recently deceased wife, Kate.

Multiplatform

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.