News

Nakkiah Lui, Sarah Kern and Tai Hara.

Screen Australia today announced $2.7 million of production funding, going towards two features, one TV drama, one children’s drama and five online projects.

The slate includes the Roache-Turner brothers’ Wyrmwood Apocalypse, sequel to 2014’s Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead; writer/director Sara Kern’s debut feature Vesna; Nakkiah Lui and Gabe Dowrick’s ABC comedy Preppers; and a second season of Komixx Entertainment’s Itch.

Screen Australia head of content Sally Caplan said: “This slate of projects is testament to the breadth of Australian storytellers and what they’re capable of creating when supported. We are committed to elevating the careers of emerging talent and it’s exciting to see the likes of Sara Kern making her feature film debut, Nakkiah Lui creating her first longer form TV series and actor Tai Hara moving into directing with online series Colour Blind.”

“I’m...

‘Itch’.

With a UK deal with the BBC announced last week, Komixx Entertainments’ Itch has also been picked up in the Us, Finland and New Zealand.

ABC Commercial has sold the 10 x 30 children’s series to Us broadcaster Byu Broadcasting, who has secured Ftv, Stv and Svod rights for its family entertainment platform BYUtv, as well as Tvnz and Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

Based on the books from UK television and radio presenter Simon Mayo, Itch follows the follows the adventures of Itchingham Lofte, a science obsessed teenager who pursues the unusual hobby of collecting all the elements on the Periodic Table. When Itch gets his hands on a new, previously unknown element, things start to get interesting.

It stars Samuel Ireland opposite a cast of newcomers including Melanie Wozniak, Charles Russell, Kylah Day, Harry Popple, Henry Mendez and Keala Kern. ABC Commercial launched the series, aimed at 8-to-12 year olds,...

‘Itch’. (Photo: David Dare Parker)

The BBC has snapped up the UK rights to Komixx Entertainment children’s series Itch, to be broadcast on kids channel Cbbc.

Based on the books from UK television and radio presenter Simon Mayo, the 10 x 30 minute series follows the follows the adventures of Itchingham Lofte, a science obsessed teenager who pursues the unusual hobby of collecting all the elements on the Periodic Table. When Itch gets his hands on a new, previously unknown element, things start to get interesting.

Shot in Albany, Wa, the series is aimed at 8-to-12 year-olds and stars Samuel Ireland opposite a cast of newcomers including Melanie Wozniak, Charles Russell, Kylah Day, Harry Popple, Henry Mendez and Keala Kern. ABC Commercial launched the series at MIPJunior last October.

The scripts were written by Melanie Halsall, Dan Berlinka, Ron Elliott, Heather Wilson, Jessica Brookman and Roger Monk. The series produced by Amanda Morrison,...

Exclusive: Netflix is going it alone on The A List after the BBC decided against commissioning a second season of the teen drama.

Produced by Lionsgate-Backed Kindle Entertainment, the 13-part first season of The A List was commissioned for the BBC’s streaming service iPlayer. It launched on iPlayer in October last year before being picked up by Netflix in July 2019, with the U.S. streamer carrying the drama globally except in the UK.

Nina Metivier, who co-created and wrote The A List with Dan Berlinka, told Deadline that the BBC has since backed out of the project and they are now developing a second season exclusively for Netflix.

“It was picked up by Netflix for worldwide and now they’re looking at a second series,” she said in an interview after being named as one of Deadline’s 10 British TV writers to watch in 2020.

The A List’s first season centered around Mia,...

Amanda Morrison.

Komixx Entertainment has elevated Asia Pacific MD Amanda Morrison to head of global production.

In her new role, Morrison will remain based in Perth and report directly to group CEO Ed Glauser.

Komixx was founded in London in 2007, where its headquarters remains. Since then it has expanded to Los Angeles, and in 2017, opened an Asia Pacific office based in Perth, which Morrison has led over the last two years.

“Komixx is a dynamic and truly global production company focusing on the iGeneration that is growing up digital. Our shows are currently in production all over the world so I am super excited to take on this new role,” Morrison told If.

For Morrison, working internationally from Australia gives Komixx a unique opportunity to draw from the depth of Australian talent while leveraging established relationships overseas.

The company’s expansion has been propelled by success in the kids and young-adult genre,...

“The A List” are set for Netflix in the U.S. and around the world after the streamer picked up the U.K.-produced teen drama.

The supernatural thriller series is set in what appears to be an idyllic island summer camp. Mia, played by Lisa Ambalavanar, arrives there expecting the holiday of a lifetime, but the trip turns into a twisted nightmare with the arrival of the mysterious Amber (Ellie Duckles).

Kindle Entertainment produced the 13-part series, which bowed on the iPlayer, the catchup and on-demand service of U.K. pubcaster the BBC. It was written by Dan Berlinka and Nina Metivier (“Doctor Who”), and executive produced by Kindle’s Anne Brogan (“Hank Zipzer”).

Kindle is backed by Lionsgate, which distributes “The A List” and did the Netflix deal. The streamer has it everywhere except the U.K.

“’The A List is an intense and powerfully addictive drama for teen audiences everywhere,...

Netflix has picked up British teen drama The A List and will launch its globally excluding the UK.

The series is produced by Lionsgate-backed producer Kindle Entertainment, which produced series including Henry Winkler-fronted kids’ series Hank Zipzer and Netflix/C4 Vr thriller Kiss Me First.

The A-List is a 13-part drama produced for BBC’s digital platform iPlayer. It explores universal teen concerns of friendship, romance, loyalty and betrayal.

The show centers around Mia, played by Lisa Ambalavner (Doctors), who arrives at an idyllic summer camp expecting to be Queen Bee, but the ‘holiday of a lifetime’ turns into a twisted nightmare with the arrival of the mysterious Amber, played by Safe’s Ellie Duckles. Shot on the Scottish west coast, the show features pervasive psychological tension and themes of teen betrayal.

The A List is written by Dan Berlinka, who has worked on Thunderbirds Are Go! and...

(l-r) Renée Webster with cast members Ben Mortley and Keala Kern and Dop Darrell Martin (Photo credit: Nic Duncan).

Australian children’s TV series rarely venture into the fast-paced action adventure genre. Rarer still is a teenage protagonist who is highly intelligent and passionate about science.

That’s the premise of Itch, the 10-part ABC-tv series now shooting in Albany, Wa, produced by Komixx Entertainment in association with Feisty Dame Productions.

It was an irresistible hook for Renée Webster, who directed the first block before handing over to co-director Nick Verso.

Adapted from former BBC broadcaster Simon Mayo’s novel Itch, the series stars Waapa graduate Samuel Ireland as Itchingham Lofte, a science-obsessed teen who pursues the unusual and sometimes dangerous hobby of collecting all the elements on the periodic table.

“I am attracted to projects whose values resonate with mine: that is really important,” she tells If. “Nick and...

Young adult, action-adventure TV series “Itch” has begun shooting in Western Australia through indie film and TV producer Komixx Entertainment. The show, to be delivered next year, will be broadcast in Australia by ABC Me, part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and distributed worldwide by ABC Commercial.

The 10-part series is a TV adaptation of former BBC 2 Radio broadcaster Simon Mayo’s best-selling teen novel of the same name, after Komixx acquired the rights in 2013. “Itch” tells the tale of a science obsessed teenager who discovers a new chemical element with extraordinary powers and is forced to go on the run to protect it from a sinister organization which wants it for its own ends.

It was developed for television by Komixx’s head of development, Melanie Halsall and writer Dan Berlinka. Other writing credits go to Ron Elliott, Heather Wilson, Jessica Brookman and Roger Monk. The producers are Amanda Morrison...

Charles Russell, Samuel Ireland, Melanie Wozniak and Kylah Day in ‘Itch’ (Photo credit – Nic Duncan).

When BBC announcer Simon Mayo wrote a short story for Joe, his then 10-year-old son, he had no agent or publisher and he could not imagine the book turning into a TV series set halfway across the world in Australia.

Mayo’s tome Itch was published in 2012 and optioned the following year by Komixx Entertainment, the film and TV production company with headquarters in London and offices in Los Angeles.

Melanie Halsall, Komixx’s head of development, laboured for years on the project, which chronicles the adventures of Itchingham Lofte, a science-obsessed teenager who pursues the unusual and sometimes dangerous hobby of collecting all the elements on the periodic table.

When he discovers a new element with extraordinary powers he is forced to go on the run to protect it from sinister organisations who want it for their own ends.

Cbbc's online and interactive drama Dixi is set to return for a 3rd series. Claudia Jessie, April Hughes, Kerry Boyne and Jordan Loughran (hot from the set of Disney’s live action series Evermoor) are all returning, along with two new cast members:

Chloe May Cuthill (represented by Debbie Allen Associates), has previously appeared in Eastenders and The Midnight Beast and has recently filmed the feature Reason To Leave. She will play Zoe in the new series.

And also joining the cast is Shaquille Ali-Yebuah. Shaquille (represented by Identity Agency Group) has previously appeared in features Legacy and Social Suicide as well as the Radio 4 sitcom What Does The K Stand For?

This new series' plot sees the arrival of a new online menace as the gang are thrown together with a rival set of students to put on a showcase. The anonymous troll is determined to stop the show...

Claudia Jessie (represented by Debbie Allen Associates) leads the cast of Dixi, Cbbc's first ever online comedy drama.

The young cast also includes Jordan Loughran (represented by Robert Kelly Associates) as Evie, Kerry Boyne, April Hughes (represented by Olivia Bell Management) as Mimi, Bethan Wright, Alexander Nicolaou (Morwenna Preston Management) as Syd, Joseph Ashworth, and Martin Bobb-Semple (Robert Kelly Associates) as Josh.

Created and directed by Dan Berlinka, Dixi is a story of intrigue and deception in a fictitious social network, and will be available exclusively across mobile, tablet and desktop platforms from 24 February, with 30 webisodes scheduled across three weeks.

In a first-person ‘selfie’ style of shooting, the show follows teen Shari, whose entire life is on Dixi: from chatting to friends and sharing pictures to posting funny vlogs. This social network is her life. That is, until her page is defaced, her password changed and she is locked out.

Filming has completed on Series Two of Sparticles Productions' hit live action children's science-fiction drama series The Sparticle Mystery. It was filmed at fourteen locations across Yorkshire including Spofforth Castle, Harewood House, Plumpton Rocks, Temple Newsam House, Armley Mills and Devonshire Hall in Leeds.

The 10 episode new series follows the continuing adventures of the Sparticles; a tribe of children formed after an accident at a particle accelerator teleports everyone on Earth over the age of 15 away into a parallel dimension.

Series Creator Alison Hume, who lives in York, says; "The new adventures of the Sparticles tribe will keep our audience on the edge of their seats and their imaginations fizzing as well as delivering lots of humour, wit and laugh-out-loud moments."

Executive Producer for Cbbc Sue Nott adds; “I’m thrilled that the Cbbc audience will soon have the chance to journey further with the Sparticles on their quest to bring back their parents,...