AACTA Pitch 2018: winners

Animators Darcy Prendergast and Seamus Spilsbury were declared winners of the AACTA Pitch this week, with their series concept, Monster’s Playground.

AACTA Pitch is a national pitching competition seeking scripted series for television or web.

Monster’s Playground follows the adventures of fun-loving siblings Bro-Bro, Siswa and their pal Monster! With his rusty and unpredictable magic, a clap of Monster’s hands can conjure a bathtub rocketship, attract a flock of winged hedgehogs and, more often than not, place Bro-Bro and Siswa in sticky situations.

Prendergast and Seamus Spilsbury are founders of Melbourne production company Oh Yeah Wow.

They win a $5,000 cash prize as well as ongoing guidance and mentoring, and post-production support from Spectrum Films to the value of $5,000, AACTA membership and tickets to the 8th AACTA Awards.

“We’ve got a few opportunities at Amazon, Hulu, Apple and Netflix in LA, so we’re going to leverage this win to strengthen our production bible…but also try and sell it [in LA] and get a few production partners. The chance to create it is quite exciting. There’s so much more that we want to do with the franchise…the whole idea is to just have fun with it; sitting in the writing room, coming up with crazy stuff – that’s the dream!” they said.

Monster’s Playground was chosen winner from 8 finalists by four judges: Princess Pictures Senior Producer Scripted and Unscripted Mike Cowap, Foxtel Drama Development Executive Carly Heaton, Screen Australia Online Investment Manager Lee Naimo and Jungle Drama Development Manager Shay Spencer.

There were eight finalists with special mentions to Virgin in a Sex Store, Pixel Raiders and Emerald’s Way.

Disclaimer: TV Tonight is a partner of the 2018 AACTA Awards.