‘Frayed.’
Merman Television and Guesswork Television’s comedy Frayed created by and starring Sarah Kendall will premiere on the ABC and iview on Wednesday October 16 at 9.10 pm.
The UK-based Australian comedian plays Simone Cooper, a fabulously wealthy London housewife who in 1988 is forced to return to her Newcastle hometown after her husband has a fatal attack during sex with a prostitute.
Broke, homeless and a social outcast, back home with her children she must revisit her past and the events that led her to flee as a teenager years earlier.
The ensemble cast includes Kerry Armstrong as Simone’s mother, Ben Mingay as her brother Jim, Doris Younane as Jim’s partner Bev, Matt Passmore as Dan, Simone’s high school sweetheart whom she left behind in Newcastle 20 years earlier, Diane Morgan and Robert Webb.
Nicole O’Donohue is the producer and the directors are Jennifer Leacey and Shaun Wilson.
Merman Television and Guesswork Television’s comedy Frayed created by and starring Sarah Kendall will premiere on the ABC and iview on Wednesday October 16 at 9.10 pm.
The UK-based Australian comedian plays Simone Cooper, a fabulously wealthy London housewife who in 1988 is forced to return to her Newcastle hometown after her husband has a fatal attack during sex with a prostitute.
Broke, homeless and a social outcast, back home with her children she must revisit her past and the events that led her to flee as a teenager years earlier.
The ensemble cast includes Kerry Armstrong as Simone’s mother, Ben Mingay as her brother Jim, Doris Younane as Jim’s partner Bev, Matt Passmore as Dan, Simone’s high school sweetheart whom she left behind in Newcastle 20 years earlier, Diane Morgan and Robert Webb.
Nicole O’Donohue is the producer and the directors are Jennifer Leacey and Shaun Wilson.
- 9/3/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Rick Kalowski.
ABC head of comedy Rick Kalowski has a ready answer when producers complain they can’t get a show funded because they have been unable to land an international financier or co-producer.
“If you can’t co-finance your scripted show internationally it’s not because it’s too local, it’s because it’s not good enough,” he tells If.
“There is so much hunger out there for scripted content that if you can’t finance it, it’s not a conspiracy. Many good Australian producers have had a lot of success selling their shows internationally.”
Most ABC scripted comedies are now co-financed internationally by streaming platforms or cable broadcasters such as Sky TV. “One of the few good things about the budget cuts in the past few years is that they have forced us to think internationally about our financing,” he says.
“Since I started in September 2013, I,...
ABC head of comedy Rick Kalowski has a ready answer when producers complain they can’t get a show funded because they have been unable to land an international financier or co-producer.
“If you can’t co-finance your scripted show internationally it’s not because it’s too local, it’s because it’s not good enough,” he tells If.
“There is so much hunger out there for scripted content that if you can’t finance it, it’s not a conspiracy. Many good Australian producers have had a lot of success selling their shows internationally.”
Most ABC scripted comedies are now co-financed internationally by streaming platforms or cable broadcasters such as Sky TV. “One of the few good things about the budget cuts in the past few years is that they have forced us to think internationally about our financing,” he says.
“Since I started in September 2013, I,...
- 7/23/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Ben Mingay.
When Ben Mingay awoke at 4 o’clock one morning, he checked his emails and saw he’d been sent the scripts for an ABC TV comedy drama.
The 1989-set series created by UK-based Australian comedian Sarah Kendall is set in Newcastle, which struck a chord with the Novocastrian-born actor/performer.
He started reading, laughing so loud and so often he woke up his wife, and didn’t stop until he had read all five episodes of Frayed he’d been sent.
Ben was asked to audition for the role of Jim, the brother of Kendall’s Sammy, a fabulously wealthy London housewife. Sammy is forced to forced to return to her Newcastle hometown with her two kids after her husband died while having sex with a prostitute.
He nailed the part after doing chemistry reads with Kendall, with whom he had an instant rapport (“we were riffing like...
When Ben Mingay awoke at 4 o’clock one morning, he checked his emails and saw he’d been sent the scripts for an ABC TV comedy drama.
The 1989-set series created by UK-based Australian comedian Sarah Kendall is set in Newcastle, which struck a chord with the Novocastrian-born actor/performer.
He started reading, laughing so loud and so often he woke up his wife, and didn’t stop until he had read all five episodes of Frayed he’d been sent.
Ben was asked to audition for the role of Jim, the brother of Kendall’s Sammy, a fabulously wealthy London housewife. Sammy is forced to forced to return to her Newcastle hometown with her two kids after her husband died while having sex with a prostitute.
He nailed the part after doing chemistry reads with Kendall, with whom he had an instant rapport (“we were riffing like...
- 6/26/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘The Hunting’ (Photo: Nat Rogers).
Closer Productions’ The Hunting and Guesswork Television/Merman Television’s Frayed will premiere at Series Mania Melbourne in early July.
Headlining this year’s event, which is held with the support of Acmi and Film Victoria, is Jessica Jones creator and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, who will appear in conversation.
Rosenberg will also speak at the industry day, alongside screenwriter Luke Davies; Foxtel director of television Brian Walsh; Series Mania creative director Francois-Pier Pelinard-Lambert and actor, director and producer Rachel Griffiths.
Commissioned by Sbs, The Hunting is a four-part drama set in Adelaide that explores the lives of four teenagers, their teachers and families as they deal with the fallout of a nude teen photo scandal. Toplined by Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh, the ensemble cast also includes Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher, Pamela Rabe, Leah Vandenberg, Rodney Afif, Sachin Joab, Elena Carapetis,...
Closer Productions’ The Hunting and Guesswork Television/Merman Television’s Frayed will premiere at Series Mania Melbourne in early July.
Headlining this year’s event, which is held with the support of Acmi and Film Victoria, is Jessica Jones creator and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, who will appear in conversation.
Rosenberg will also speak at the industry day, alongside screenwriter Luke Davies; Foxtel director of television Brian Walsh; Series Mania creative director Francois-Pier Pelinard-Lambert and actor, director and producer Rachel Griffiths.
Commissioned by Sbs, The Hunting is a four-part drama set in Adelaide that explores the lives of four teenagers, their teachers and families as they deal with the fallout of a nude teen photo scandal. Toplined by Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh, the ensemble cast also includes Sam Reid, Jessica De Gouw, Luca Sardelis, Yazeed Daher, Pamela Rabe, Leah Vandenberg, Rodney Afif, Sachin Joab, Elena Carapetis,...
- 6/20/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
From unemployed actress to now a hot commodity, Sharon Horgan is riding a wave of creative success that includes the recently concluded hit show “Catastrophe,” a deal with Amazon Studios and a busy production company, Merman, that’s female-dominated and gets “more interesting stories because of it.”
“It was completely deliberate,” Horgan said of the choice to be a women-centric company. “And weirdly, we were worried we were being slightly too…female [a] company.” But the decision has been rewarded story-wise.
The proudly Irish Horgan, speaking to reporter Stewart Clarke at Variety’s European TV Summit on Thursday, laughed about how much of her time Merman is occupying, which she had no idea would be the case when she founded the company with Clelia Mountford. ““Honest to God, I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said.
Horgan’s breakout hit with Rob Delaney, “Catastrophe,” wrapped after its fourth season a few months ago.
“It was completely deliberate,” Horgan said of the choice to be a women-centric company. “And weirdly, we were worried we were being slightly too…female [a] company.” But the decision has been rewarded story-wise.
The proudly Irish Horgan, speaking to reporter Stewart Clarke at Variety’s European TV Summit on Thursday, laughed about how much of her time Merman is occupying, which she had no idea would be the case when she founded the company with Clelia Mountford. ““Honest to God, I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said.
Horgan’s breakout hit with Rob Delaney, “Catastrophe,” wrapped after its fourth season a few months ago.
- 6/14/2019
- by Henry Chu
- Variety Film + TV
Doris Younane in ‘Five Bedrooms’
After years of fighting against being typecast as Lebanese or other Middle Eastern characters, actor Doris Younane is in a very happy place in her career.
She’s played a variety of characters, most of no specific ethnicity, in the past five years with recurring roles in Five Bedrooms, The Wrong Girl and Party Tricks plus guest appearances in Secret City, Harrow and Janet King.
“I just want to be seen as an actor in Australia,” she tells If. “I no longer want to be a pin-up for multiculturalism; I have passed that baton on to others. I’ve been really lucky. I think I am a good, solid actor and that’s what has got me through.”
Currently Younane is winning plaudits for her performance as the firebrand Heather in Five Bedrooms, Hoodlum Entertainment’s eight-part comedy-drama for Network 10 created by Christine Bartlett and Michael Lucas.
After years of fighting against being typecast as Lebanese or other Middle Eastern characters, actor Doris Younane is in a very happy place in her career.
She’s played a variety of characters, most of no specific ethnicity, in the past five years with recurring roles in Five Bedrooms, The Wrong Girl and Party Tricks plus guest appearances in Secret City, Harrow and Janet King.
“I just want to be seen as an actor in Australia,” she tells If. “I no longer want to be a pin-up for multiculturalism; I have passed that baton on to others. I’ve been really lucky. I think I am a good, solid actor and that’s what has got me through.”
Currently Younane is winning plaudits for her performance as the firebrand Heather in Five Bedrooms, Hoodlum Entertainment’s eight-part comedy-drama for Network 10 created by Christine Bartlett and Michael Lucas.
- 5/22/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Jolene Anderson and Remy Hii in ‘Harrow’ 2.
Here’s a shout-out to producers: The ABC is keen to find another genre series to fill a gap as Matchbox Pictures’ Glitch comes to its conclusion after three seasons.
The pubcaster is also looking for a multi-generational relationship drama, comedies for Wednesday nights and shows with diverse casts and creatives across all genres.
It is less interested in programs set in small country towns and procedural crime series, particularly with the second series of Hoodlum Entertainment’s Harrow premiering on May 12 and the second season of Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road due to shoot later this year in Broome.
That’s the word from ABC head of scripted production Sally Riley. She hopes the funding for her domain – drama, comedy and Indigenous content – for the next financial year will not be less than the last couple of years, despite the federal government-imposed three-year $83.7 million funding cut.
Here’s a shout-out to producers: The ABC is keen to find another genre series to fill a gap as Matchbox Pictures’ Glitch comes to its conclusion after three seasons.
The pubcaster is also looking for a multi-generational relationship drama, comedies for Wednesday nights and shows with diverse casts and creatives across all genres.
It is less interested in programs set in small country towns and procedural crime series, particularly with the second series of Hoodlum Entertainment’s Harrow premiering on May 12 and the second season of Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road due to shoot later this year in Broome.
That’s the word from ABC head of scripted production Sally Riley. She hopes the funding for her domain – drama, comedy and Indigenous content – for the next financial year will not be less than the last couple of years, despite the federal government-imposed three-year $83.7 million funding cut.
- 5/6/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
(L-r) Peta Astbury-Bulsara, Que Minh Luu and Warren Clarke (Photo credit: Bohdan Warchomij).
The ABC had greenlit the development of The Heights when Que Minh Luu, who co-created the drama serial with Warren Clarke, was alerted to a job vacancy at the public broadcaster.
Sally Riley, the ABC’s head of drama, comedy and Indigenous, suggested Luu apply for the role of an executive producer.
That presented a dilemma for the Matchbox Pictures development executive. “On one hand I was keen to see the show through to completion,” she tells If. “On the other hand I wanted to get into producing, jobs like that are rare and I may not have had the opportunity again.”
So she applied, got the position and continued to oversee the 30-episode production from Matchbox and Peta Astbury-Bulsara’s For Pete’s Sake Productions as an Ep.
Clarke and Luu had set up the writers...
The ABC had greenlit the development of The Heights when Que Minh Luu, who co-created the drama serial with Warren Clarke, was alerted to a job vacancy at the public broadcaster.
Sally Riley, the ABC’s head of drama, comedy and Indigenous, suggested Luu apply for the role of an executive producer.
That presented a dilemma for the Matchbox Pictures development executive. “On one hand I was keen to see the show through to completion,” she tells If. “On the other hand I wanted to get into producing, jobs like that are rare and I may not have had the opportunity again.”
So she applied, got the position and continued to oversee the 30-episode production from Matchbox and Peta Astbury-Bulsara’s For Pete’s Sake Productions as an Ep.
Clarke and Luu had set up the writers...
- 4/2/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
(L-r) Kevin Whyte, Lisa Wang and Todd Abbott accepting Spa’s Comedy Television Production of the Year award for ‘Please Like Me’ s2.
The screen industry needs to stop cutting writers’ fees and to do a lot better in providing career paths for writers, according to Guesswork Television MD Kevin Whyte.
Chiming with the concerns of the Australian Writers’ Guild and Cjz executives Nick Murray and Matt Campbell, Whyte tells If: “Working out how we can make Australia an attractive and lucrative place to be a television writer, which means we put stories and ideas first and foremost, is critically important.
“The struggling artist cliché is wearing a bit thin. The industry should focus on creating career paths, not just so people stay but to entice people in into the industry.
“I am not saying there is an easy solution but as our budgets come under more and more pressure...
The screen industry needs to stop cutting writers’ fees and to do a lot better in providing career paths for writers, according to Guesswork Television MD Kevin Whyte.
Chiming with the concerns of the Australian Writers’ Guild and Cjz executives Nick Murray and Matt Campbell, Whyte tells If: “Working out how we can make Australia an attractive and lucrative place to be a television writer, which means we put stories and ideas first and foremost, is critically important.
“The struggling artist cliché is wearing a bit thin. The industry should focus on creating career paths, not just so people stay but to entice people in into the industry.
“I am not saying there is an easy solution but as our budgets come under more and more pressure...
- 3/11/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Peep Show and Back star Robert Webb and Motherland’s Diane Morgan have joined the cast of Sky and ABC Australia comedy Frayed.
The pair will star alongside Sarah Kendall, Hacksaw Ridge’s Ben Mingay, The Glades’ Matt Passmore and Razzle Dazzle’s Kerry Armstrong in the six-part comedy, which is produced by Guesswork Television, the production company behind Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, and Sharon Horgan’s Merman.
The series sees Kendall, who also appeared in Motherland, as a well-off London housewife who suddenly finds herself back in the Australian town that she grew up in, facing the flawed family she left behind. Set in 1988, Kendall plays Simone Burbeck, whose life appears perfect with a mansion in London with her perfect husband and children. However, it’s all lies. When her husband has a fatal heart attack in a disastrous session with a prostitute, the true state of their finances is revealed.
The pair will star alongside Sarah Kendall, Hacksaw Ridge’s Ben Mingay, The Glades’ Matt Passmore and Razzle Dazzle’s Kerry Armstrong in the six-part comedy, which is produced by Guesswork Television, the production company behind Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, and Sharon Horgan’s Merman.
The series sees Kendall, who also appeared in Motherland, as a well-off London housewife who suddenly finds herself back in the Australian town that she grew up in, facing the flawed family she left behind. Set in 1988, Kendall plays Simone Burbeck, whose life appears perfect with a mansion in London with her perfect husband and children. However, it’s all lies. When her husband has a fatal heart attack in a disastrous session with a prostitute, the true state of their finances is revealed.
- 11/19/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths lead the cast of ‘Black B*tch’.
Leading the ABC’s drama slate in 2019 is Blackfella Films’ Black B*tch, starring Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths, with the broadcaster reconfirming its commitment to Australian stories and diversity at its upfronts today.
Other new drama/comedy series on the ABC’s slate for new year include the previously announced Frayed, a Mermaid Television production that stars Sarah Kendall, RevLover’s Diary of an Uber Driver, Synchronicity Films’ The Cry, and 30-episode serial The Heights, from Matchbox and For Pete’s Sake Productions.
Speaking at the content launch, ABC acting MD David Anderson put forward that the ABC is Australia’s “chief storyteller”. He cited statistics from the most recent Screen Australia drama report – that showed the ABC invested more in Australian drama content than any other single broadcaster in the last financial year, and that its...
Leading the ABC’s drama slate in 2019 is Blackfella Films’ Black B*tch, starring Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths, with the broadcaster reconfirming its commitment to Australian stories and diversity at its upfronts today.
Other new drama/comedy series on the ABC’s slate for new year include the previously announced Frayed, a Mermaid Television production that stars Sarah Kendall, RevLover’s Diary of an Uber Driver, Synchronicity Films’ The Cry, and 30-episode serial The Heights, from Matchbox and For Pete’s Sake Productions.
Speaking at the content launch, ABC acting MD David Anderson put forward that the ABC is Australia’s “chief storyteller”. He cited statistics from the most recent Screen Australia drama report – that showed the ABC invested more in Australian drama content than any other single broadcaster in the last financial year, and that its...
- 11/19/2018
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Guesswork Television, the production company behind Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, is teaming with Sharon Horgan’s Merman for a period comedy series for Sky and Australia’s ABC.
The British pay-tv broadcaster and Australian public broadcaster have commissioned Frayed, a six-part series fronted by comedian Sarah Kendall and The Glades star Matt Passmore.
The series sees Kendall, who has appeared in a number of British comedies including Horgan-penned Motherland, as a well off London housewife who suddenly finds herself back in the Australian town that she grew up in, facing the flawed family she left behind. It is set in 1989.
Kendall said, “I just wanted to visit my family in Newcastle but I ended up shooting a six-part comedy here for the ABC and Sky,” she said. “I’m incredibly excited to be given this opportunity. And I also love free flights.”
“We can all relate in some way to complex family drama,...
The British pay-tv broadcaster and Australian public broadcaster have commissioned Frayed, a six-part series fronted by comedian Sarah Kendall and The Glades star Matt Passmore.
The series sees Kendall, who has appeared in a number of British comedies including Horgan-penned Motherland, as a well off London housewife who suddenly finds herself back in the Australian town that she grew up in, facing the flawed family she left behind. It is set in 1989.
Kendall said, “I just wanted to visit my family in Newcastle but I ended up shooting a six-part comedy here for the ABC and Sky,” she said. “I’m incredibly excited to be given this opportunity. And I also love free flights.”
“We can all relate in some way to complex family drama,...
- 10/30/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Review by Roger Carpenter
My guess is that all true movie lovers have a list of films which remain unavailable on a decent DVD or Blu-Ray release and for which they are waiting for some company to pick up and give it a nice release. This was true for me regarding The Slayer. I first saw the film in the early-to-mid-eighties on a VHS double-bill with Fred Olen Ray’s Scalps. Both films were pretty terrible quality but both were fun in their own way and I duped both and kept them for a long time. Scalps has long since been on DVD (and recently Blu-Ray), and I have long owned a copy of that film which I still pull out from time to time and watch again. But my dupe of The Slayer died decades ago and I hadn’t viewed the film in a long time…...
My guess is that all true movie lovers have a list of films which remain unavailable on a decent DVD or Blu-Ray release and for which they are waiting for some company to pick up and give it a nice release. This was true for me regarding The Slayer. I first saw the film in the early-to-mid-eighties on a VHS double-bill with Fred Olen Ray’s Scalps. Both films were pretty terrible quality but both were fun in their own way and I duped both and kept them for a long time. Scalps has long since been on DVD (and recently Blu-Ray), and I have long owned a copy of that film which I still pull out from time to time and watch again. But my dupe of The Slayer died decades ago and I hadn’t viewed the film in a long time…...
- 10/12/2017
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This August, Arrow Video enters the deranged mind of Herbert West with their limited edition 4K restoration of Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (which was initially slated for a July 25th release), and we now have the full list of special features for the anticipated release, along with two other horror Blu-rays coming out this month from Arrow: The Slayer and a limited edition steelbook of Society.
Press Release: The summer really hots up in August, as Arrow Video releases a special edition of an 80s classic, a white-knuckle thriller, a splatter horror masterpiece, a box set of crime classics, a rare Italian sword-and-sandal epic, and an amazing new limited edition steelbook.
First up, one of the most wildly popular horror movies of all-time, Stuart Gordon's enduring splatter-comedy classic Re-Animator returns to Blu-ray in a stunning restoration packed with special features. According to the distributor (Mvd), this awesome package is officially sold out already,...
Press Release: The summer really hots up in August, as Arrow Video releases a special edition of an 80s classic, a white-knuckle thriller, a splatter horror masterpiece, a box set of crime classics, a rare Italian sword-and-sandal epic, and an amazing new limited edition steelbook.
First up, one of the most wildly popular horror movies of all-time, Stuart Gordon's enduring splatter-comedy classic Re-Animator returns to Blu-ray in a stunning restoration packed with special features. According to the distributor (Mvd), this awesome package is officially sold out already,...
- 8/3/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
On Thursday's episode of “Swamp People,” Troy Landry learned that even after years of hunting gators, the swamp is still full of surprises.
While Troy was hauling what he thought was a dead gator into his boat, it came back to life.
"Whoa!" Troy said, as his son cried, "Watch out!"
"What the hell?" Troy said, confused.
Troy and his son shot the gator one more time and hauled it on board. But when they brought the gators to their buyer and started to unload them, another one came back to life. The gator bit Troymultiple times before his son shot the gator again.
Troy's bravery got thousands of likes on Facebook, and on Twitter, viewers sang their praises to Troy and his family.
Holy Cow!!! The gator comes back to life. @troylandry #Chootem @swamppeople
— Steve(@stingrays01) April 19, 2013
And the gator came back to life.. what are those odds @swamppeople...
While Troy was hauling what he thought was a dead gator into his boat, it came back to life.
"Whoa!" Troy said, as his son cried, "Watch out!"
"What the hell?" Troy said, confused.
Troy and his son shot the gator one more time and hauled it on board. But when they brought the gators to their buyer and started to unload them, another one came back to life. The gator bit Troymultiple times before his son shot the gator again.
Troy's bravery got thousands of likes on Facebook, and on Twitter, viewers sang their praises to Troy and his family.
Holy Cow!!! The gator comes back to life. @troylandry #Chootem @swamppeople
— Steve(@stingrays01) April 19, 2013
And the gator came back to life.. what are those odds @swamppeople...
- 4/19/2013
- by Leigh Weingus
- Huffington Post
Stand-up comedian Sarah Kendall has said that Katy Perry's music videos are "full of phallic symbolism". The 2004 Perrier Award nominee, who returns to the Edinburgh Festival this year, was asked by Stylist if comedy needs feminism. "There's a whole generation of women who don't care about feminism," she said. "A lot of younger women think 'lezzing off' for the boys is equal rights. It's not!" She added: "Little girls are obsessed with Katy Perry. Her videos are full of phallic symbolism; liquid shooting out of tubes, lollipops, hairbrushes by the (more)...
- 8/1/2012
- by By Mayer Nissim
- Digital Spy
Welcome to another installment of It Came From 1980X where I tackle the 80′s like a running clothes line fresh off the turnbuckle. Tonight we have a double feature for you straight from Continental Video. Don’t know Contintental Video? I’m not surprised, but I assure you by the end of this whole thing you most certainly will know them, fear them and maybe enjoy them a bit better. They’ve put out so much of what you love, but I don’t think they were marketed nearly as well as Midnight, Wizard, Canon or Media. For Christ’s sake somebody get me a T-shirt of this beautiful company. The double feature in question comes courtesy of Vhsps as is often the case. The Slayer and Scalps were released as a part of a special promotion as is stated on the cover of the VHS (or in this case handsome DVD rip).
2 Films.
2 Films.
- 6/25/2012
- by Jimmy Terror
- The Liberal Dead
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