New projects in Story Development funding

Screen Australia has announced Story Development funding for six television drama projects.

The projects include Beth, a spin-off of television series High Maintenance starring Yael Stone, and comedic crime series The Pastor’s Wife from the producers of ABC’s Wakefield.

“The shared vision we are working towards is an inclusive industry where the best Australian talent can tell their stories to all Australians and global audiences. To this end, I’m grateful for the support of the industry while we made some seismic but necessary changes to open up eligibility and support storytelling on all platforms. It’s a privilege to have supported so many fabulous creative projects and people along the way,” said outgoing Head of Development Nerida Moore.

Premium Content Fund

The Pastor’s Wife
Jungle Entertainment Pty Ltd / About Premium Content
Genre Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Creator/Writer Romina Accurso
Producer Bridget Callow-Wright
Executive Producers Romina Accurso, Shay Spencer, Laurent Boissel
Synopsis An out-of-character snap leads a dutiful pastor’s wife to murder. Desperate to evade capture, she sets her faith aside in order to lie, cheat, and manipulate only to discover that an unruly teen has uncovered some pretty damning evidence. Blackmail leads to extortion which leads to an unlikely friendship as together they go down a rabbit-hole of some seriously ungodly behaviour in order to get away with murder.

Generate Fund

Beth (Working Title)
Whitefalk Films Pty Ltd
Genre Comedy, Drama
Creators Alex White, Eden Falk, Charlie Garber, Lexi Freiman, Yael Stone
Director Eden Falk
Writers Charlie Garber, Lexi Freiman
Producer Alex White
Executive Producers Katja Blichfeld, Ben Sinclair, Russell Gregory
Synopsis Beth is a half hour comedy series that follows Beth, a feisty, freewheeling thirtysomething dog walker just returned to Sydney after ten wild years in New York.

Dawn
Donna McRae
Genre Horror, Thriller
Writer/Director Donna McRae
Synopsis A neurotic spinster must make amends for a forgotten incident in order to rid herself of a childhood ghost.

Fourteen
Orange Entertainment Co
Genre Comedy, Drama, Family
Writer Jane Allen
Producer Dan Lake
Executive Producers Kurt Royan, Jane Allen
Synopsis When the Molloy family are publicly humiliated by their dad walking out on them, all their deeply hidden issues come to light and they have to do the one thing they suck at to get through it – rely on each other. Based on Shannon Molloy’s memoir ‘Fourteen: My Year of Darkness and the Light that Followed.’

She’s Got Balls
Northern Pictures Pty Ltd
Genre Comedy
Director Marni Little
Writers Marni Little, Lisa Hughes, Christine Milo
Producers Lisa Hughes, Darren Ashton
Executive Producer Catherine Nebauer
Synopsis She’s Got Balls is a female-centric comedy that follows a social basketball team as they compete in the unnecessarily high stakes world of mixed C-Grade community sport, and attempt to apply the universal lessons of team sport to their dysfunctional personal lives.

Troubled Youth
Vanessa Bates
Genre Comedy, Drama
Writers Vanessa Bates, Ross Mueller
Synopsis three suburban middle-aged women reform their teenage rock band, Troubled Youth, to rage against the dying of the light.