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Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope on the set of 2015 feature Now Add Honey.

Gristmill honcho, writer and producer Robyn Butler is currently in post on two Little Lunch specials (one due for Halloween and one at Christmas) as well as season three of Upper Middle Bogan..Last year Butler and her partner Wayne Hope released their first feature, Now Add Honey, directed by Hope and written, produced by and starring Butler. If catches up with her on a break from the cutting room.

You.re in the middle of sound mix, is that right?

I.m back in picture post today, but yeah, sort of all over the place. I.m doing both Upper Middle Bogan season three and two Little Lunch specials. Gone are the days where you just make television shows; [now] you have to make 400 versions of online content and deliverables, so we.ve got four edits and...

Little Lunch.

Filming is underway in Melbourne on comedy series Little Lunch, with specials filmed at St Kilda Primary School yesterday.

Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley met the cast and crew and toured the set with series creators Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope of Gristmill, the production company behind the series.

The creative and life partners have a long list of credits, including The Librarians, Upper Middle Bogan, Very Small Business, and 2015 feature Now Add Honey.

The specials are backed by Film Victoria and will air on ABC3 and iView later this year.

The original 26 episode series, .based on the popular books written by Victorian author Danny Katz and illustrated by Mitch Vane, premiered on ABC3 in July 2015 and has since sold to Canada and Hong Kong and to Netflix in the USA, UK and Ireland.

Foley called the show a .great example of Victorian creativity with universal appeal...

Little Lunch.

Filming is underway in Melbourne on comedy series Little Lunch, with specials filmed at St Kilda Primary School yesterday.

Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley met the cast and crew and toured the set with series creators Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope of Gristmill, the production company behind the series.

The creative and life partners have a long list of credits, including The Librarians, Upper Middle Bogan, Very Small Business, and 2015 feature Now Add Honey.

The specials are backed by Film Victoria and will air on ABC3 and iView later this year.

The original 26 episode series, .based on the popular books written by Victorian author Danny Katz and illustrated by Mitch Vane, premiered on ABC3 in July 2015 and has since sold to Canada and Hong Kong and to Netflix in the USA, UK and Ireland.

Foley called the show a .great example of Victorian creativity with universal appeal...

Mick Taylor’s return is teased in a new, brief promo video for the six-episode Wolf Creek series, premiering later this year on the Australian streaming service Stan.

Comprised of six one-hour episodes, the Wolf Creek series is directed by Tony Tilse and Greg McLean (director of Wolf Creek and Wolf Creek 2) from a script by Peter Gawler and Felicity Packard.

All six episodes are set to debut exclusively on Stan in mid-2016. John Jarratt will reprise his role as Mick Taylor and Lucy Fry (11/22/63) will play Eve, the young woman pursuing the serial killer.

We’ll keep Daily Dead readers updated on the Wolf Creek series as more details are revealed. In the meantime, we have highlights from the previous press release as well as the new teaser video:

From the Press Relesae (via mUmBRELLA): Ten years since the release of the hugely successful feature film Wolf Creek,...

Outback killer Mick Taylor will return this year in a six-episode Wolf Creek series on the Australian streaming service Stan, and a new teaser video offers a glimpse at the vengeful 19-year-old Eve, who’s looking to give Mick a taste of his own torturous medicine.

Comprised of six one-hour episodes, the Wolf Creek series is directed by Tony Tilse and Greg McLean (director of Wolf Creek and Wolf Creek 2) from a script by Peter Gawler and Felicity Packard. All six episodes are set to debut exclusively on Stan in mid-2016. John Jarratt will reprise his role as Mick Taylor and Lucy Fry (11/22/63) will play Eve, the young woman pursuing the serial killer.

We’ll keep Daily Dead readers updated on the Wolf Creek series as more details are revealed. In the meantime, we have highlights from the previous press release as well as the new teaser video:

From...

Upper Middle Bogan is set to be remade by CBS for American audiences.

The show's co-creator, Robyn Butler, told 774 ABC Melbourne's Jon Faine that the Us version would be "the same, but in America".

The redo is untitled, and presumably won't have the word "bogan" in the American title.

The original is available in the Us on streaming service Hulu and ABC iview in Australia. A third series will screen on the ABC later this year.

Butler and Wayne Hope, who made the feature Now Add Honey last year, will team with American writer Dan O'Shannon (Cheers, Frasier, Modern Family) on the pilot script.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer, director and co-executive producer Douglas Petrie is heading to Australia for this year's National Screenwriters' conference.

Petrie joins emmy nominated writer and showrunner Alexa Jung and NCIS executive producer, Shane Brennan, for the biennial conference at Silverwater Resort, Phillip Island in Victoria from March 9-11 next year.

Petrie was also recently nominated for an Outstanding Miniseries Emmy for American Horror Story.

Actor, writer and producer Robyn Butler will also attend the event. .

Bulter is the co-creator of The Librarians and Upper Middle Bogan. She also acts, writes and produces in feature film Now Add Honey..

There will also be masterclasses, mentorships, panel discussions and networking opportunities to develop ongoing creative partnerships and concrete career prospects.

Click here to register for the conference.

While the screen industry has plenty to celebrate as Australian films are set to finish the year with around $87 million in B.O. takings, the results show a sizable number of films failed to address fundamental questions.

Namely: Who precisely will watch my film and which cinemas will play it at a time when theatrical release here increasingly is a sure way to lose money?

Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason is delighted with the range of films and documentaries that have resonated with audiences this year.

Mad Max Fury Road, The Dressmaker, Oddball and The Water Diviner all grossed more than $10 million, and Paper Planes just under. Last Cab to Darwin, Blinky Bill: The Movie, That Sugar Film and Holding the Man performed well, although Mason believes Neil Armfield.s gay-themed romance, which grossed $1.2 million, deserved to make double that.

Still, Mason questions the mindset of a sizable section of the screen industry.

Word of mouth could not be stronger for The Dressmaker, judging by its superb second weekend takings in Australian cinemas.

However Wayne Hope.s comedy Now Add Honey misfired, perhaps illustrating the gulf in sensibility between TV and cinema.

Jocelyn Moorhouse.s The Dressmaker scored $3.6 million at 289 locations, a drop of just 3 per cent, which hoists its earnings to $8.26 million.

With that kind of stamina, the dramedy based on the Rosalie Han novel, starring Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth and Hugo Weaving, could be headed for $20 million.

The Universal release was a cut above the rest as none of the newcomers made an impression and nationwide receipts dropped by 7 per cent to $9.9 million, according to Rentrak.s estimate.

Ridley Scott.s The Martian advanced to $25.3 million after earning $1.4 million in its sixth orbit (off just 10 per cent), while Steven Spielberg.s Bridge of Spies took $973,000 in its third weekend (down 25 per cent), reaching $5.6 million.

Us writer, producer and showrunner Alexa Junge has been a writer or producer on Friends, Sex and the City, West Wing and United States of Tara.

Next year she will be one of the international headline guests at the 2016 National Screenwriters' Conference, Australia's premier gathering of film and television writers.

Junge has been an important figure in the screenwriting industry for two decades and is now leading the charge into online entertainment with projects including Netflix.s Emmy-nominated Grace and Frankie starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Martin Sheen.

The conference at Phillip Island in Victoria from 9-11 March next year will bring together screenwriters from around Australia together with international speakers and other industry luminaries from around the world.

Awg executive director, Jacqueline Elaine, said Nsc 2016 would be one of the major film and television industry events of the year and a must-attend for professional and aspiring screenwriters and...

Cinema on-demand platform Tugg Australia is growing month-by-month, delivering tidy sums to the producers of hot-button documentaries and incremental revenues for narrative features. The top-grossing title so far is Frackman, Richard Todd.s profile of environmental activist Dayne Pratzky, which has generated $160,000 from 90 screenings. Among other films in demand are Maya Newell.s Gayby Baby; Joao Dujon Pereira.s Black Hole, which chronicles the battle against Whitehaven Coal to save a woodland forest from being cleared to make way for an open cut coal mine; and Avi Lewis. This Changes Everything, an attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change filmed in nine countries and five continents over four years. Last week was a milestone as the platform had its biggest week ever since its soft launch in 2013, with 26 screenings and 3,000 ticket sales. .With 27 confirmed screenings through the end of the month, October will deliver more than 80 screenings and...

Originally revealed in February, the Wolf Creek miniseries is now coming to fruition, as production has begun on the project with a full cast in front of the camera, including John Jarratt as the malevolent Outback killer Mick Taylor.

Directed by Tony Tilse and Greg McLean (who helmed the films Wolf Creek and Wolf Creek 2) and written by Peter Gawler and Felicity Packard, the Wolf Creek miniseries (titled Wolf Creek) will comprise six one-hour episodes that will all debut at the same time in mid-2016 exclusively on the streaming service Stan.

Set in the same universe as the Wolf Creek movies (its exact spot on the timeline has not been revealed), the miniseries will follow a 19-year-old named Eve (played by Lucy Fry), who sets her vengeful sights on Mick Taylor after he slaughters her family. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more updates. We have the official press...

The tables are turned on serial killer Mick Taylor in the latest iteration of Wolf Creek commissioned by Stan, which starts shooting today at the Adelaide Studios and numerous locations in South Australia.

Vampire Academy.s Lucy Fry plays Eve, an American tourist in the six-part series directed by Tony Tilse and Greg Mclean, scripted by Peter Gawler and Felicity Packard.

John Jarratt.s Mick sets out to murder Eve.s family but she survives, rebuilds her shattered existence and vows revenge.

The series will have a markedly different tone to Mclean.s horror movies, focusing on Eve.s journey. Stan content and product director Nick Forward tells If, .No one wanted to make a 6-hour horror movie. We spent six months with the producers and writers looking for a hook for a televisual drama.

.Mick Taylor is still the grim reaper but this is a thriller about Eve.s journey.

If is offering five double passes to the filmmaker and friends screening of new Australian feature film, Now Add Honey. You and a friend could be be part of the audience in a screening with the filmmakers and their friends on first night of the season on November 5.

To enter:

Just watch the Now Add Honey trailer here then answer the question: .What is the name of Hamish Blake's character in the film? ..

There are five double passes to attend the November 5 screening.

Note: .The film maker and friends screening is in Melbourne. Travel and transport are not provided. .All entrants will have the option of attending the Melbourne screening or seeing the film in another location in Australia where it is screening.

The winners will be drawn on October 26.

Please send answers to bkarlovsky@if.com.au...

Propelled by Oddball and Blinky Bill: The Movie, next week Australian films are set to smash the record for the biggest B.O. total in a single year.

The feature films and docs released in 2015 plus holdovers have amassed an estimated $61.8 million.

Produced by Steve Kearney and Richard Keddie and directed by Stuart McDonald, Oddball raked in $3.55 million in its second week, lifting its earnings to $6.3 million. Deane Taylor.s Blinky Bill climbed to $1.9 million after pocketing a tad over $1 million in its sophomore session.

So by the end of next week the 2015 total will surpass the current record of $63.4 million set in 2001, the year of Moulin Rouge!, Lantana, The Man Who Sued God and Crocodile Dundee in La..

In that year the Australian films. market share was 7.8 per cent. If the 2001 total was adjusted for inflation then 2015 would not be a record in real terms but the market share is a consistent barometer.

Netflix has bought Us, UK and Ireland rights to Gristmill Productions. mockumentary series Little Lunch.

The deal was negotiated by the international distributor, the Australian Children.s Television Foundation, which also sold the 26 x 15. series to Tvo in Canada and Tvb in Hong Kong.

Based on the books written by Danny Katz, the show set in a primary school playground at snack time premiered on ABC3 in May and had 997,000 views on iview.

Director/producer Wayne Hope said, .We.re thrilled that the seemingly small stakes of the playground resonated so widely. Thankfully, the anxieties around having the wrong costume on dress- up-day or a weird snack in your lunch box are universally funny..

Roadshow will launch Hope.s debut feature, Now Add Honey, a comedy starring Robyn Butler, Portia de Rossi and Hamish Blake, on November 5.

Last month Netflix bought comedy series Small Time Gangster , produced by Boilermaker Pty...

Australian films are poised to record their highest share of the national box-office for 14 years, which goes a long way towards regaining the faith of audiences after a long lean spell.

Through last Sunday, the feature films and docs released in 2015 plus holdovers had racked up $52.9 million. With Jeremy Sims. Last Cab to Darwin and Neil Armfield.s Holding the Man earning tidy sums and Stuart McDonald.s Oddball and Deane Taylor.s Blinky Bill the Movie opening on Thursday, the total will soon surpass 2009.s $54.7 million.

It might be a stretch but 2015 could come close to the all-time record of $63.4 million in 2001, the year of Moulin Rouge!, Lantana, The Man Who Sued God and Crocodile Dundee in La. After a strong start to the year from Mad Max: Fury Road, The Water Diviner, Paper Planes and That Sugar Film, Aussie films already have eclipsed 2014.s lowly $26.1 million (a market...

Australian films are poised to record their highest share of the national box-office for 10 years, which goes a long way towards regaining the faith of audiences after a long lean spell.

Through last Sunday, the feature films and docs released in 2015 plus holdovers had racked up $52.9 million. With Jeremy Sims. Last Cab to Darwin and Neil Armfield.s Holding the Man earning tidy sums and Stuart McDonald.s Oddball and Deane Taylor.s Blinky Bill the Movie opening on Thursday, the total will soon surpass 2009.s $54.7 million, the best result in the past 10 years. After a strong start to the year from Mad Max: Fury Road, The Water Diviner, Paper Planes and That Sugar Film, Aussie films already have eclipsed 2014.s lowly $26.1 million (a market share of 2.43 per cent) and 2013's $38.5 million. Despite some critical acclaim, Ruben Guthrie, Women He.s Undressed and Partisan did not resonate strongly and Manny Lewis tanked.

The Adelaide Film Festival has announced its competition line-up for 2015.

Four directorial debuts are among the Adelaide Film Festival’s (Oct 15-25) 10 competition titles: Visar Morina’s Father, a refugee story that opens in 1990s Kosovo and closes in Germany; Danish director Daniel Dencik’s historical drama Gold Coast, set in Africa; Lamb, set in director Yared Zaleke’s homeland of Ethiopia; and South Korean thriller Office from Hong Won-Chan.

The two Australian films in the mix are Sue Brooks’ Looking For Grace, starring Richard Roxburgh, Radha Mitchell and rising star Odessa Young, and a love story complicated by tribal tradition that was filmed in Vanuatu and sees documentary collaborators Bentley Dean and Martin Butler cross over into narrative drama.

Carol, Todd Haynes’ story of lady love set in Manhattan in the 1950s, also has a strong Australian connection given that the homegrown Cate Blanchett plays a wealthy socialite whose life becomes entangled with that of a shop...

The feature-length documentary with no sales agent has won Australia’s richest film award, the $71,000 (A$100,000) CinefestOZ Film Prize for homegrown films.

“Putuparri seems to work with audiences because the story touches people’s hearts,” producer John Moore told Screendaily. “We have had many people come up to us after screenings with a tear in their eye saying it has helped them understand what Aboriginal culture is all about … We are hoping that winning the prize will help us find an international sales agent who can get the film into some big international festivals.”

The CinefestOZ Film Festival has been running in Western Australia’s (Wa) Margaret River region for eight years and – especially since the introduction of the prize last year – has become a significant gathering place for Australian filmmakers.

The festival also provided an opportunity for state government agency ScreenWest to stage several industry events, including a day-long series of discussions about the importance of the...

The feature-length documentary with no sales agent has won Australia’s richest film award, the $71,000 (A$100,000) CinefestOZ Film Prize for homegrown films.

“Putuparri seems to work with audiences because the story touches people’s hearts,” producer John Moore told ScreenDaily.

“We have had many people come up to us after screenings with a tear in their eye saying it has helped them understand what Aboriginal culture is all about.

“We hope that winning the prize will help us find an international sales agent who can get the film into some big international festivals.”

The CinefestOZ Film Festival has been running in Western Australia’s (Wa) Margaret River region for eight years and – especially since the introduction of the prize last year – has become a significant gathering place for Australian filmmakers.

The festival also provided an opportunity for state government agency ScreenWest to stage several industry events, including a day-long series of discussions about the importance of the...

Adrian Brody in Backtrack..

.

Five Aussie films will vie for the $100,000 CinéfestOZ Film Prize, with two of the entries to have their Australian premiere at the Festival in August.

Backtrack, Now Add Honey, Pawno, Putuparri and the Rainmakers and The Daughter have each been selected out of over 30 submissions to make up the shortlist for the prize, now in its second year.

The winner will be announced at the Festival on Saturday 29th August, 2015.

The Film Prize is awarded to the producer of an Australian feature film (including feature documentaries) and last year was taken out by Robert Connolly for his family feature Paper Planes.

The film, which Connolly also directed, went on to enjoy huge success at the Australian box office and will be released by distribution companies Lionsgate in the UK and in North America by Eone.

The finalists for this year.s prize were determined by five...

After playing a drug mule in The Mule, Angus Sampson is staying on the wrong side of the law with a recurring role iin the second season of Fargo.

The La-based Sampson is cast as a member of the Gerhardt crime family in the sequel to the series inspired by the Coen brothers' movie, which starred. Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Allison Tolman, and Colin Hanks and aired on the FX network in the Us and here on Sbs.

His character Bear Gerhardt is described as an intimidatingly large, inarticulate man who happens to be the most decent of the clan.

Shooting of the 10-episode series starts in in Calgary on January 19, forcing Sampson to relinquish the job of hosting the 4th Aacta Awards luncheon in Sydney on January 27.

Writer/actor/producer/director Adam Zwar (Agony Aunts, Lowdown and Wilfred) will host the luncheon. Zwar said: .My role is to...

The gambit of launching Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson.s dark comedy The Mule simultaneously on digital platforms in Australia, New Zealand, the Us and Canada last Friday, bypassing cinemas, seems to be paying off.

Initial reports from iTunes and distributor eOne are very encouraging, according to Sampson, who served as one of the producers.

Consumers can buy the title on digital platforms for $24.99 and it will be available to rent online and on DVD and Blu-ray on December 3.

The caper starring Sampson as a naive guy who is caught with lethal narcotics hidden in his stomach and tries to withhold the evidence, literally, ranks as the most popular indie title on iTunes in Australia and in the Us.

.In Australia iTunes says the film is doing three times better than its estimates, .Sampson tells If. .EOne just told me the pre-orders for physical sales are five times better than they would have done normally.

The sales company’s Ken DuBow is talking to Afm buyers on the film starring Portia de Rossi, Lucy Fry, Robyn Butler and Ben Lawson.

Wayne Hope directed from a screenplay by Butler about a child movie star who visits her mother at a chaotic time. The film screens at the market.

Hope and Butler of Australia’s Gristmill Productions produce Now Add Honey alongside Louisa Kors. The executive producers are Geoff Porz and Greg Sitch.

Acquisitions and sales consultant Richard S Guardian negotiated the deal with attorney Sitch. Lightning and Wme Global jointly represent Us rights.

Barring a miracle or at least several hits, the Australian films released in cinemas this year have no hope of matching 2013.s combined gross of $38.5 million.

Through last Sunday, 43 local features and documentaries had racked up $18.5 million nationwide. That includes mostly small amounts earned by 20 titles that opened in 2013 or earlier. As the Safc.s Richard Harris has pointed out, the results of each film should be evaluated on the basis of its release strategy rather than regarding every film that earns less than $1 million as a disaster and proof that Australian audiences have turned away from Aussie cinema.

However distributors and producers were counting on far stronger ticket sales for the Spierig brothers. Predestination, Matt Saville.s Felony, David Michôd.s The Rover and Zak Hilditch.s These Final Hours.

Only The Railway Man (which opened on Boxing Day and has a lifetime cume of $7.3 million), Wolf Creek 2...

Fledgling filmmaker Fergus Grady is planning a movie based on Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler.s adventures and he has shot the pilot for a half-hour TV comedy/drama.

Grady, whose day job is acquisitions coordinator at Umbrella Entertainment, has bought a 2-year option for the film rights to the Wheelers. story. He.s talking to prospective writers and directors and envisions a road movie set in the 1970s.

English-born Wheeler, a former automotive engineer, and his wife published their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap, after an overland trip from Europe to Asia and then to Australia in 1972.

Grady says the film will look at the Wheelers. experiences in countries such as Afghanistan, Nepal and Bali. Tony Wheeler has agreed to serve as a consultant. Grady will seek development funding from Film Victoria and/or Screen Australia to nurture the project over the next 12 months.

Ben Lawson is the latest Aussie to land a major role in a Us TV pilot. He.ll play Michael, a smart, funny, good-natured, dermatologist in the ABC comedy Damaged Goods. The show will feature Justin Hartley and Steve Talley as screwed-up guys who hook up with equally screwed-up women.

This is a big year for Lawson. with roles in Hoodlum Entertainment.s Network Ten drama Secrets & Lies, Wayne Hope.s comedy Now Add Honey, Playmaker Media.s Love Child on Nine, and his brother Josh Lawson.s directing debut, black comedy The Little Death. He.s also had guest roles in Rake and the Us series The Exes, Bones and Friends with Better Lives.. He's repped in Australia by United Management.

Aussie actress Indiana Evans has just been added to the cast of ABC.s drama pilot Secrets & Lies, which. starts shooting today in Wilmington, North Carolina. She plays Natalie,...

An analysis of the Australian films released in cinemas in 2013 makes for grim reading, with a handful of critical and/or commercial successes outnumbered by misfires and under-achievers.

On the positive side, the debut films from directors Kim Mordaunt (The Rocket), Catriona McKenzie (Satellite Boy) and Mark Grentell (Backyard Ashes) unearthed talent with plenty of potential.

The year ended on a strong note with the Boxing Day launch of Jonathan Teplitzy.s The Railway Man, which ranks as the second-highest local grosser behind Baz Luhrmann.s The Great Gatsby, which amassed $27.4 million to become the fifth-biggest Australian title of all time.

Tellingly, the drama starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman raked in more money in its first week than the lifetime earnings of every other title. According to If.s estimate, the combined B.O. tally of the 26 local films and documentaries is $38.88 million, well short of 2012.s $47.9 million.

Only...

The combined B.O. tally of the Australian films and documentaries released theatrically this year will fall far short of 2012.s $47.9 million.

Through last Sunday, the 24 local titles had raked in about $37.5 million, according to If.s estimates. Only four titles earned more than $1 million and of those, Goddess. result was generally regarded as soft. Excluding Baz Luhrmann.s The Great Gatsby, which amassed $28.2 million to rank as the fifth-highest Australian grosser of all time, and Tim Winton.s The Turning, the per-picture grosses vary from modest to skimpy.

To be fair, the eight lowest-ranked titles had limited playing time and three, Uncharted Waters, Circle of Lies and Lasseter.s Bones, had Q&A screenings.

Australian B.O. takings should not be seen as the sole barometer of each film's success, given many have multiple viewings on VOD, pay-tv and free-to-air TV. Festival exposure and critical acclaim are also important,...

This may turn out to be a premature and fanciful call but 2014 is shaping as potentially one of the strongest years for Australian films, commercially and critically, in recent memory.

There are numerous grounds for optimism, starting with the overwhelmingly positive responses and, in some cases, deals for Tracks, The Railway Man, Wolf Creek 2, Felony and Canopy after their world premieres at either the Toronto or Venice film festivals.

Given the talent attached, the slate of films now shooting or in post-production looks highly promising, including Kill Me Three Times, The Rover, Son of a Gun, I, Frankenstein, Predestination, Charlie.s Country, Fell and Now Add Honey.

Added to that are several films from experienced filmmakers that are due to roll soon: Cut Snake, The Dressmaker and Paper Planes.

Industry figures whom If consulted are bullish about the prospects for the year ahead. There is a .very good reason for such optimism,...

Directing his first feature film, Now Add Honey, Wayne Hope staged a scene in Melbourne on Tuesday in which a character played by his wife Robyn Butler gets so angry she smashes a windscreen.

100 Bloody Acres actor Angus Sampson was on the other side of the windscreen. The glass duly shattered, nobody got hurt and Hope got the shots he wanted.

Asked if anyone was concerned about how his wife would handle the scene, Hope told If, .I wasn.t worried, but other people were.. That.s the kind of easy rapport you would expect between the husband and wife who collaborated on the ABC-tv series The Librarians and Very Small Business.

Butler wrote the screenplay for Now Add Honey, which stars Lucy Fry (who.ll be seen in the upcoming Hollywood film Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters), Portia de Rossi, Hamish Blake, Sampson, Ben Lawson and Lucy Durack.

Fry plays Honey Halloway,...

Portia de Rossi ("Arrested Development"), Lucy Fry ("Vampire Academy"), Angus Sampson ("Insidious"), Ben Lawson ("No Strings Attached"), Robyn Butler (TV's "The Librarians"), stage actress Lucy Durack and acclaimed comedian/actor Hamish Blake are all set to star in the Australian feature comedy "Now Add Honey".

The story follows Honey Halloway (Lucy Fry), a shining Hollywood teen star returns home to Australia for a short trip and finds her life crumbling into chaos when her mother (Portia de Rossi) is suddenly sent away.

She is soon forced to stay with her aunt Caroline (Robyn Butler) in the suburbs of Melbourne, and her once normal existence is turned upside down and discovers her family is not so normal at all.

Butler penned the script and is producing, while her husband Wayne Hope will direct. The six week shoot began in Melbourne, Victoria today. Gristmill is producing the film, while Roadshow Films is set to distribute locally.

Portia de Rossi, Lucy Fry, Robyn Butler, Hamish Blake and Erik Thomson head the cast of feature comedy Now Add Honey, which started shooting in Melbourne today.

It.s the first feature film from Gristmill, producers of ABC- TV.s The Librarians, Very Small Business and Upper Middle Bogan.

Wayne Hope makes his film directing debut. His wife Robyn Butler wrote the script and is producing with Hope and Louisa Kors, as well as playing one of the leads.

Vampire Academy.s Lucy Fry plays Honey Halloway, a Hollywood teen star who returns home to Australia for a short trip and finds her life crumbling into chaos when her mother (de Rossi) is suddenly sent away. Honey is forced to stay with her aunt Caroline (Butler) in the suburbs of Melbourne, and. discovers her family is not so normal at all.

The cast also includes 100 Bloody Acres. Angus Sampson, Ben Lawson,...

Screen Australia says it has not mismanaged its finances by spending its annual production funding in just six months - a state of affairs which it says reflects the strength of the local film industry.

The government screen agency revealed in mid-December 2012 that it had spent its entire annual $42 million drama production allocation due to the unprecedented number of quality feature film and television projects seeking support. The shock announcement was reminiscent of the agency's abrupt decision to cut its investment cap in 2009 while several films were mid-financed. That decision.threw several major Australian productions into dissaray including The Tree and the biggest box office hit of.2010, Tomorrow When the War Began (Omnilab Media had to increase its investment at the last minute to ensure production).

Overspending on such a scale has never occurred before, even going back to the era of Screen Australia.s predecessor funding arm, the Film Finance Corporation.