News

The ninth leg of The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition marked the end of the road for swimming legend Ian Thorpe and his longtime friend Christian Miranda. The duo’s journey came to a close in Namibia, where the physical demands of the competition proved too challenging for Thorpe, who had been grappling with persistent shin […]

Ian Thorpe and Christian Miranda Exit The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition...

Matildas teammates Chloe Logarzo and Emily Gielnik were eliminated in the seventh leg of The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition on Sunday evening. The duo, aiming to be the first all-female team to win, faced setbacks, including a crucial mistake involving Emily’s misplaced bumbag. Despite their competitive spirits, the time lost due to the error […]

Matildas Chloe Logarzo and Emily Gielnik Eliminated from The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition...

“Australian Survivor” is determined to give America’s version a run for its money in the casting department, judging by the first six names revealed for “Australia v The World.”

Paramount Australia and New Zealand announced early Monday morning that Parvati Shallow, Cirie Fields and Tony Vlachos will all be taking part in the upcoming, shortened international all-stars season of the Down Under competition reality show.

They will be joined by fellow “As” fan favorites Shonee Bowtell, George Mladenov and Kirby Bentley, as well as unnamed contestants from South Africa, Norway, New Zealand and, presumably, others from “Australian Survivor.”

“When it comes to ‘Survivor,’ we Aussies reckon we’re tough as nails. We talk the talk but now the time has come to walk the walk when our local ‘Survivor’ legends take on players from ‘Survivor’ franchises around the world,” Paramount teased in a press release. “This is a world-first...

The second season of The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition, premiering soon on Channel 10, is taking the competition to new extremes, pushing celebrities out of their comfort zones and into unexpected challenges. The diverse cast includes athletes, entertainers, and influencers, who will race across spectacular locations in South America, Africa, and Asia. The teams, […]

The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition New Trailer...

Paramount+’s plan for growth in Asia-Pacific is taking shape.

Replicating the global Formula 1 promotional deal the streamer struck with Formula 1 will be a key tentpole of the strategy in the region, according to Executive VP and International General Manager Marco Nobili.

He appeared via video link on stage at the Asia TV Forum & Market today to discuss how premium tier offerings and unusual pacts such as the Formula 1 agreement would drive business locally.

Following its launch in Korea and Japan earlier in recent months, Paramount+ is competing with local players and international rivals such as Prime Video and Netflix in Apac. Nobili said striking non-traditional deals would increase its market penetration.

“We are bringing entertainment to people that want to be entertained,” he said, referring to the Formula 1 partnership, which has seen Paramount+ shows such as Special Ops: Lioness advertized during races around the world. “People are already...

Festival

Anurag Kashyap, Sunny Leone, Taapsee Pannu, Rahul Bhat, Ranjan Singh, Anup Singh, Don Palathara, and Sami Khan are among the guest list at the 12th edition of Bmo International Film Festival of South Asia (Iffsa), Toronto (Oct. 12-22).

With a lineup of some 120 films and more than 30 events, Iffsa is among the largest South Asian-themed festivals in the world. Selections include Cannes duo – Kashyap’s “Kennedy,” starring Leone and Bhat, and Kanu Behl’s “Agra,” Laetitia Colombani’s “The Braid” starring Kim Raver (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Berlin selections “Ghaath” by Chhatrapal Ninawe and “Aatmapamphlet” by Ashish Bende. From Rotterdam, Palathara’s “Family,” starring Vinay Forrt and Devashish Makhija’s “Joram,” headlined by Manoj Bajpayee, feature alongside Jagath Manuwarna’s Sri Lankan film “Whispering Mountains.”

Acclaimed Bangladesh series “Pett Kata Shaw” will feature as will Canadian Bengali-language production “Meghna Konnya” by Fuad Chowdhury, Atul Sabharwal’s Hindi-language “Berlin” and Osman...

Trent Chapman.

Former Seven Network executive producer Trent Chapman has rejoined the company as head of non-scripted development at Seven Studios.

Chapman, who reports to Andrew Backwell, Seven Studios director of production, non-scripted, takes over from Sonya Wilkes, now co-head of unscripted.

Until last month he was head of production and development at the Nine Network where he oversaw such shows as Travel Guides, Married At First Sight, This Time Next Year, The Hot Plate and 20 to One. According to Nine, his former role is not being filled.

Previously he spent three years at Endemol Shine Australia, initially as an executive producer and then as head of production and development.

From 2001-2012 he worked at Seven as an executive producer on productions including The Amazing Race Australia, The Mole, Beauty and the Geek Australia and World’s Strictest Parents.

The post Trent Chapman joins Seven Studios appeared first on If Magazine.

A documentary series on the history of the Australian continent, makeover series Bringing Sexy Back and a crime show starring Rebecca Gibney are among the highlights of the Seven Network.s 2014 line-up.

The previously announced miniseries Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of Inxs and new seasons of The X Factor; My Kitchen Rules, House Rules, The Amazing Race Australia and Dancing with the Stars are among the other local shows which the network is counting on to continue its run of seven straight years as the primetime ratings leader.

Essential Media & Entertainment will produce Australia: The Story of Us, which will use CGI and dramatic re-enactments to chronicle the history of the Australian people, places and events from the first footprints to the present day.

Bringing Sexy Back is a makeover series which aims to transform ordinary Australians into something extraordinary. It.s an original Seven format being produced in-house.

It was a glorious evening for The Sapphires at the 2nd Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Ceremony last night, with the feature film bagging six Aacta awards, including Best Film and Best Director.

The awards top off what has been a sparkling year for the Sapphires team, who have already won a host of international audience choice awards and enjoyed great box office success in Australia.

Other than Best Film and Best Director (Wayne Blair), the musical drama took home the Aacta award for Best Lead Actress (Deborah Mailman), Best Lead Actor (Chris O'Dowd), Best Supporting Actress (Jessica Mauboy) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Keith Thompson, Tony Briggs), bringing their Aacta award total to eleven. (The film picked up a further five awards at the Aacta luncheon held on Monday.)

The film also bagged the news.com.au Audience Choice Award for Most Memorable Screen Moment.

The...

Vietnam war period movie The Sapphires dominated the Aacta’s last night, winning best film, best director (Wayne Blair), best actress (Deborah Mailman), best actor (Chris O'Dowd) and best supporting actress (Jessica Mauboy).

The film about an aboriginal troupe of entertainers who performed for American – and not Australian – soldiers swept the awards, and also won the best screenplay (Keith Thompson and Tony Briggs).

The event staged at Sydney’s Star casino and hosted by Russell Crowe was televised on delay by the Ten Network, but failed to make a dent in OzTam ratings.

It had just 318,000 viewers. But Ten claimed to be was happy as it was a 9.3% increase on the broadcast in 2012 on rival Nine.

The complete list of winners announced at the second AACTAs.

Byron Kennedy Award

Sarah Watt

Aacta Award For Best Young Actor

Saskia Rosendahl. Lore.

Television

Aacta Award For Best Television Drama Series

Puberty Blues.

Russell Crowe has been announced as the new Aacta host after a conflicting La schedule forced original host Hugh Sheridan to pull out.

The second annual Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards will see Crowe headline an impressive line-up of presenters, including Aacta president Geoffery Rush and Aacta ambassador Cate Blanchett.

The awards, to be held on January 30 at The Star Event Centre, will see more than 1000 Australian film and television performers and practitioners in attendance.

In addition to the Aacta Awards in Sydney, Crowe will also host the Aacta International Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, which Sheridan will now also attend.

"The Australian Academy is making its mark in the States, and I'm equally as honoured to represent the Australian industry in L.A. as host of Aacta's International Awards, as I am to return home to celebrate the success of my peers at the 2nd Aacta Awards Ceremony in Sydney,...

Local industry demand has prompted Aacta to launch a campaign to create 10 new Aacta Awards.

This comes after the 2013 Aacta award nominations created much controversy amongst industry professionals, who in particular suggested inconsistency across award categories.

The academy, formerly titled the Australian Film Institute but renamed the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts in 2011 to better recognise television production, has itself has admitted that some crafts working in television are not properly recognised in the current Awards structure.

Aacta Chief Executive Officer, Damian Trewhella, says, .While we do cover a lot of ground . feature films, short films, documentaries and TV to a point, I do agree. there is a real gap.

.Particularly for the craft categories in TV, (there is a situation) where only half the team gets recognised.

.It.s a tough thing to resolve. We recognise, we philosophically agree with them all. But we can.t wave...

Hit musical drama The Sapphires has scored 12 nominations at the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) Awards including in the coveted best feature film category.

The Sapphires, which follows four indigenous singers during the Vietnam war, has grossed more than $14 million in Australia to become the biggest local film of the year.

Three other films will be also be vying for the best feature film award: Burning Man (10 nominations in total), Lore (eight nominations in total) and Wish You Were Here (eight nominations in total) at the main Aacta ceremony, which will be held on January 30, 2013, at The Star Event Centre. Last year's event was held at the iconic Sydney Opera House.

P.J. Hogan's Mental also scored eight nominations including Best Lead Actress (Toni Collette), Best Supporting Actor (Liev Schreiber) Best Young Actor (Lily Sullivan) and Best Supporting Actress for Rebecca Gibney and Deborah Mailman.

Not Suitable for Children...

The Sapphires has led the Academy of Australian Cinema and Television Arts Awards nominations being nominated in 12 categories.

Awards will be handed out over two events, with an awards luncheon, focused on craft categories on Monday January 28 and the main event on January 30. Both events will be held at the Star Event Centre, the first public events for the venue.

The Sapphires, distributed by Hopscotch/eOne has been nominated for Best Film, Best Direction and best adapted screenplay as well as Best Lead Actor and Actress for Chris O’Dowd and Deborah Mailman, and Best Supporting Actress for Jessica Mauboy.

Burning Man was not far behind on 10 nominations including best film and best direction as well as best lead actor for Matthre Goode and Best Supporting Actress for Essie Davis.

Three more films, Lore, Mental and Wish You Were Here received eight nominations while Not Suitable For Children received four.

The Amazing Race Australia has been awarded an Emmy in the category of non-scripted entertainment.

The 40th International Emmy Awards, held at the New York Hilton last night, saw 38 nominees from 15 different countries competing across a field of nine categories.

The Amazing Race Australia triumphed over other nominated shows The Challenger Muaythai of Singapore, El Hormiguero (The Anthill) of Spain and Brazil.s Planeta Extremo (Extreme Planet).

It is the second consecutive year El Hormiguero has been nominated but failed to.bag the big prize.

.The host of The Amazing Race Australia, Grant Bowler, and Active TV President Michael McKay, accepted the award..

Despite a string of nominations at various international awards, The Slap missed out on the Emmy for best drama series.

Instead, the award went to French crime series Braquo, which stars Jean-Hugues Anglade.

Australian producer Justin Davis.was also unsuccessful with.popular choice.Absolutely Fabulous...The prize...

The Australian Screen Editors’ Guild has added a new category to include online and new content streams to its awards night and announced the nominees for the 2012 Ase Awards.

The announcement:

The Australian Screen Editors’ (Ase) Guild is dedicated to the pursuit and recognition of excellence in screen editing across all its forms. It aims to highlight the often invisible art of editing to the public while supporting the people who construct our screen narratives frame by frame.

In 2012 the Ase expanded its activities by opening a new Committee in Brisbane, growing the membership base already established in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, and expanding its year-round program of seminars, screenings, masterclasses, training days and mentorships. This year the Ase also celebrated its 10th anniversary of Accreditation, the highest honour the Guild can bestow on an editor.

The culmination of the Guild’s year happens at the annual Ase Awards,...

Ogilvy has launched a new campaign for Coca-Cola orange drink brand Fanta.

The announcement:

7 November 2012, Sydney Australia – Coca-Cola South Pacific has today unveiled the Fanta Unbottle the Fun campaign, calling on Aussie teens to add a bit of spontaneity to their everyday lives through a series of tongue-in-cheek ‘Funstigator’ challenges.

The core activity of the summer campaign is a Fanta Funstigator app available on the Fanta Australia Facebook page at www.facebook.com/FantaAustralia and as a smartphone app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Through the Fanta Funstigator app, users can take on Funstigators challenges as well as well as send them to their mates, earning points and competing for a range of prizes including Playstations 3s and Sony High Definition Cameras

The Fanta Unbottle the Fun campaign runs until December 31st across multiple touch points including specially marked Fanta products which carry Funstigators challenges, cinema, mobile and digital media.

Puberty Blues: 925,000 debut

The debut of Cronulla period drama Puberty Blues rated 925,000 for Ten last night in one of the most competitive Wednesday nights of the ratings year.

The remake of the 1979 Australian novel by Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette was the second most watched show in the key advertising demographics of 18-49, 16-39 and 25-54 – behind Nine’s Big Brother, which rated 1.131m in total viewers.

Big Brother was down around 500,000 viewers on its debut on Monday.Puberty Blues , produced by Southern Star, aired from 8.36pm to 9.36pm, peaking with 1.06m

Meanwhile, the series final of The Amazing Race Australia, which ran from 7.30pm to 9pm on Seven, rated 976,000.

The series return of The Farmer Wants A Wife on Nine which aired from 8-9pm pulled in 909,000.

Puberty Blues ran after The Shire, which rated just 502,000, according to preliminary overnight metro ratings from OzTam.

Following Puberty Blues was...

Nine’s heavily promoted Big Brother made a strong debut on Monday night, rating 1.618m.

The show was the centrepiece of the network’s on air promotion during its Olympics coverage.

Nine also launched the latest in its Underbelly franchise, Underbelly: Badness. It rated even better, averaging 1.78m, according to preliminary overnight metro ratings from OzTam.

It left little room for the second night of Ten’s Everybody Dance Now, which struggled with a desperate 304,000 – half of Sunday night’s debut of 598,000 – in 31st position. Masterchef All Stars rated 702,000 in 16th.

Underbelly and Big Brother’s positions of One and Two held across the three key advertising demographics of 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54.

Everybody Dance Now climbed to 18th in 16-39, 24th in 18-49 and 27th in 25-54.

Meanwhile, Seven’s series final of Once Upon A Time rated 799,000 while The Amazing Race Australia rated 787,000.

Nine’s live, morning coverage...

Tricky Business failed to find a bigger audience in its new slot in the schedule on Monday night.

The Nine Australian drama rated 716,000, a disappointing 17th for the night, according to preliminary overnight metro ratings from OzTam.

The show averaged similar numbers when airing at 9:30pm after The Voice, but last night failed to capitalise on an earlier, prime time slot.

In its 8-9pm time slot, Tricky Business lost to The ABC’s Australian Story and Four Corners special on Gina Rinehart which took 1.096m and 1.04m respectively and Seven’s The Amazing Race Australia which took 971,000.

However, it beat Ten’s Us sitcom Last Man Standing which rated 691,000.

In the demos, Tricky Business did manage to jump up to 9th spot in the 16-39 and 18-49 and 11th in the 25-54.

Winning the night overall was The Block with 1.543m followed by Nine News on 1.375m and Seven News on 1.373m,...

Online travel agency Zuji Australia is the official sponsor of The Amazing Race Australia, which will soon air in its second season on the Seven Network,

The announcement:

Online travel agency Zuji Australia has been named official sponsor of Channel Seven’s TV show, The Amazing Race Australia.

James Gaskell, Managing Director of Zuji Australia and Apac, says Zuji is thrilled with the synergies between the show’s sense of adventure and travel diversity and their own brand platform ‘Travel Your Way’:

“As a tier one sponsor of The Amazing Race Australia, we want to show viewers that the travel experiences they see on the show are, in fact, far more accessible to them than they may think and we want all Australians to make the most of their travel aspirations,” says Gaskell.

Channel Seven’s Director of Production Brad Lyons says, “We’re stoked to be partnering with...

The Australian Screen Editors’ (Ase) Guild has announced its nominees for the 2011 Ellie Awards.

Across seven categories, the Ase Guild recognises achievements in editing across feature film, television, documentary, music videos, commercials and short films.

Blame, Mad Bastards, Oranges and Sunshine and Tomorrow When the War Began, are all up for an award. So to is East West 101, Jandamarra’s War, Spirited, short film Something Fishy, Carlton Draught’s Slo Mo ad and Tim and Jean’s music video for Don’t Stop.

The awards are nicknamed the Ellies after the bronzed elephant statues.

Actor Rob Carlton (Underbelly, Paper Giants) is to host the night. Carlton said he feels the pressure to nail the night: “If you’re an actor, hosting the Awards night for the Screen Editors is a high-stakes business. Get it right and I’m assured lots of smouldering close-ups. Get it wrong and all you...