Screen NSW: latest funding

Another Fresh Blood pilot is getting an iview season.

Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am from Skit Box productions will have a sketch comedy series later this year on iview.

It is one of five projects to receive recent funding from the NSW government including Deep Water, The Secret Daughter, Cleverman and Bond.

Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant said, “With these five new series now greenlit, NSW will be the nation’s buzzing hub for TV and film production.

“Production, with long shoot schedules and large cast and crews are critical to building sustainable screen businesses. They are also at the forefront of screen innovation, with special effects and digital technologies increasingly being used on the big and small screen.”

Project: Deep Water
Production Company: Blackfella Films Producer: Darren Dale, Miranda Dear Writer: Kym Goldsworthy, Kris Wyld Director: Shawn Seet
Support: $50,000 from Production Finance program Location: Sydney
Synopsis: A gripping crime drama that explores a world in which the threat of violence or death is only one encounter away. Confirmed principal cast includes Yael Stone (Orange is the New Black) and Noah Taylor (Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders)

Project: Cleverman 2
Production Company: GPTV Holdings
Producer: Rosemary Blight, Ryan Griffin and Sharon Lark
Writer: Stuart Page, Jane Allen, Justine Gillmer and Ryan Griffen
Director: Leah Purcell and Wayne Blair
Support: $450,000 from Production Finance program
Location: Sydney and Western Sydney
Synopsis: Season two, six months on, brothers Koen and Waruu West find themselves diametrically opposed in how to defend their people and protect their Dreaming.

Project: The Secret Daughter
Production Company: Screentime
Producer: Bob Campbell, Karl Zwicky
Writer: Justin Monjo, Greg Haddrick, Louise Bowes, Keith Thompson
Director: Leah Purcell, Geoff Bennett, Paul Moloney
Support: $80,750 from Production Finance program and a grant of $91,000 from Regional Filming Fund
Locations: Mudgee, Cobitty and Sydney
Synopsis: Jack Warner, a self-made millionaire, decides, to right the wrongs of his past. He decides to find his secret daughter, who would now be 26-years-old. Warner’s trip to the country has an unhappy ending when he finds out his daughter and her mum were killed in a car accident a year ago. Warner’s chance meeting with local pub singer Jo West changes their lives and those of their families forever. Principal cast includes Jessica Mauboy (The Sapphires), Colin Friels (BlackJack, Water Rats, Killing Time), Rachel Gordon (Winter, The Moodys, Blue Heelers).

Project: Bond
Production Company: Cordell Jigsaw Productions Executive Producers: Nick Murray, Michael Cordell Physical Producer: Paul Bennet
Writer: Sarah Smith
Director: Mark Joffee
Support: $375,000 from Production Finance program Location: Sydney
Synopsis: Bond tells the rags-to-riches-to-rags tale of controversial business tycoon Alan Bond, a man with an insatiable appetite for the excesses of life: women, fame, money, crime and everything in between.

Project: Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am
Production Company: Skit Box
Producer: Michelle Hardy and Donna Andrews
Writer: Sarah Bishop, Greta Lee Jackson and Adele Vuko
Director: Sarah Bishop, Greta Lee Jackson and Adele Vuko and Erin White and Christiaan Van Vuuren
Support: $50,000 from Production Finance program Location: Sydney
Synopsis: Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am is a half-hour sketch comedy show with a uniquely female perspective, from the twisted and wicked minds of Skit Box.