There was a great turnout for the 14th Screen Producers Australia Awards which was held last Tuesday in the Palladium Room at Crown Casino as part of the 29th Screen Forever Conference. The four day conference featured seminars, workshops and gala parties attended by hundreds of film and television professionals from across Australia.
The event was hosted by comedian and writer Adam Zwar who was one of the award recipients when The Agony of Modern Manners, which he produces, was named best light entertainment production.
There were five new awards introduced at this year’s ceremony: Best Telemovie or Mini Series Production, Best Comedy Television Production, Best Reality Television Production, Best Feature Length Documentary Production and the Lifetime Achievement Award. In total there were seven categories for television programs but only two for feature films. There was also a single category for interactive productions.
The inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award went to Des Monaghan, one of Australia’s leading executive producers. In a career spanning over half a century, Monaghan has transformed the screen culture of Australia and New Zealand, and established him as one of Australian TV’s most influential figures. In May this year, May Monaghan stepped down as Executive Chairman of the Screentime group, following eighteen years with the company.
The Moodys took home best comedy; Nowhere Boys took the children’s production gong, and Who Do You Think You Are? was voted best television documentary.
Carbon Media, which produced the first Australian indigenous segment ever aired on Sesame Street and is now co-producing Camp Crazy, a children’s series with Essential Media & Entertainment, was named breakthrough business of the year. The Railway Man won Feature Film category prize. Producer Chris Brown who accepted the award dedicated it to all the diggers who returned from wars and went on to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The full list of Award recipients and nominees of the 2014 Screen Producers Australia Awards are as follows (Winners are in bold). :
Telemovie or Mini Series Production:
ANZAC Girls, Screentime
Better Man, FremantleMedia Australia
INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, Shine Australia
Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch Story, Endemol Australia
The Gods of Wheat Street, Every Cloud Productions
Drama Television Production:
Love Child, Playmaker Media
Offspring, Endemol Australia
Rake, Essential Media and Entertainment
The Time of Our Lives, JAHM Productions
Wentworth, FremantleMedia Australia
Children’s Television Production:
Bushwhacked!, Mint Pictures
Buzz Bumble, Blue Rocket Productions
Hoopla Doopla!, Beyond Screen Productions
Nowhere Boys, Matchbox Pictures
The Flamin’ Thongs, Media World Pictures
Comedy Television Production:
It’s a Date, Princess Pictures
Ja’mie: Private School Girl, Princess Pictures
Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell, ITV Studios
The Moodys, Jungleboys
This Is Littleton, High Wire Films
Light Entertainment Television Production:
RocKwiz, Renegade Films
Stand Up @ Bella Union, Princess Pictures
The Agony of Modern Manners, High Wire Films
The Marngrook Footy Show, Toombak Indigenous Production
Reality Television Production:
Big Brother, Endemol Australia
MasterChef, Shine Australia
The Real Housewives of Melbourne, Matchbox Pictures
The Voice, Shine Australia
The X Factor, FreemantleMedia Australia
Documentary Television Production:
Kids on Speed?, Essential Media and Entertainment Redesign My Brain, Mindful Media
Taking on the Chocolate Frog, Screentime
The War That Changed Us, Electric Pictures
Who Do You Think You Are?, Artemis International
FEATURE FILM Feature Length Documentary Production:
I Am A Girl, Media Stockade
Lasseter’s Bones, Scribble Films
Rise of the Eco-Warriors, Virgo Productions
The Real Mary Poppins, Essential Media and Entertainment
The Waler: Australia’s Great War Horse, Mago Films
Feature Film Production:
Felony, Goalpost Pictures
The Railway Man, Pictures in Paradise
The Rover, Porchlight Films
Tracks, See-Saw Films
Wolf Creek 2, Emu Creek Pictures
INTERACTIVE Interactive Production:
#7DaysLater, Ludo Studios
ACO VIRTUAL, Mod Productions
After 6/4, Freehand Productions
Nowhere Boys: The 5th Boy, Matchbox Pictures
Secrets & Lies, Hoodlum
Breakthrough Business of the Year:
Carbon Media
Services and Facilities Business of the Year:
Fox Studios Australia for work on Playmaker Media’s Love Child