Friday 16 November, 2007
Omnilab Media, Australia/NZ’s largest, privately owned, vertically integrated content development and media service business and Kennedy Miller Mitchell (KMM), the company behind the award winning Happy Feet, Babe and Mad Max movies - today announced their partnership in a significant new digital media company. This is the media release. More news follows.

News Feature by: Anne Richey
Friday 16 November, 2007
Private equity investors, according to Douglas Abrams from Parallax Capital Management, are looking for producers who can provide some very specific items of value:... what a surprise.

News Feature by: Anne Richey
Friday 16 November, 2007
The development agenda' is known mostly as some strange voodoo ceremony in a temple built by agency money and swept on hands and knees by writers. The prayer book (edition for the new millenium with classical Greek interpolations), was written by Stephen Cleary.

News Feature by: Jennifer Yourell
Friday 16 November, 2007
Pitching is bad enough, but the Comedy Gold comp was even worse - the actual pitch + real money + cameras + a broadcast. Hi Mum, I'm working..

News Feature by: Anne Richey
Friday 16 November, 2007
Chaos in post is a ghastly money sink which can crush hope, ruin friendships and leave producers wishing for a time machine back to the Stone Age. But it can be avoided (honest)

News Feature by: Anne Richey
Friday 16 November, 2007
Matt Costello, author, screenwriter and games writer, began the session by describing his real-life experiences while diving in the Bahamas. The audience was in the hands of an active interactivist.

News Feature by: David Tiley
Friday 16 November, 2007
SPAA kept the most prestigious of its own peer awards to last, making the announcement at Seaworld, described by one veteran dancer as 'very fun.'

News Feature by: David Tiley
Friday 16 November, 2007
The funding for children''s television has run into a crisis only days before the final policy bids are made by both parties for the election - and the industry is Not Happy, Jan.

News Feature by: David Tiley
Friday 16 November, 2007
Geoff Brown approached the session he ran about the Future Directions in the industry determined to go beyond the usual optimistic mantras we all know so well by now. He had a good panel.

News Feature by: David Tiley
Friday 16 November, 2007
John Simpson, producer from NSW, is a happy man. Surrounded by people who are a little slow off the mark on the last SPAA morning, he bouncily says, “I should be happy. Last night I won DigiSPAA”.

News Feature by: Jennifer Yourell
Friday 16 November, 2007
Producers and funding body representatives held a big square table discussion this afternoon to vent their frustrations at their attempts to secure mutually beneficial co production opportunities

News Feature by: David Tiley
Friday 16 November, 2007
Phil Hunt is the co-director of Bankside Films, an international film sales agency based in Britain. Working as a sales agent for last year, he claims, has taught him ten times as much as his work as a producer over a decade. He is at SPAA “ in order to begin long term relationships with people who make quality movies.”

Friday 16 November, 2007
Yesterday Screen Hub published a story stating that Sir Llew Edwards had resigned as Chair of the Pacific Film and Television Commission. The Queensland Department of the Arts has issued a strong statement denying Sir Llew�s resignation.

News Feature by: David Tiley
Thursday 15 November, 2007
William Weil, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) Entertainment Group, National Geographic Ventures is at SPAA with a simple, uncomplicated message.

Thursday 15 November, 2007
At the end of a crowded opening session, SPAA announced the winners of its own awards, saving only the Producer of the Year Award, to be announced at the Thursday dinner.

Thursday 15 November, 2007
Before the Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture, Trish Lake presented a state of nation summary about the industry.

News Feature by: Anne Richey
Thursday 15 November, 2007
The golden rules of co-productions in China, according to Mathew Alderson, Managing Partner of Gray & Perkins, are to first forget everything you know about business and law.

News Feature by: Anne Richey
Thursday 15 November, 2007
Georgia Clark wins the SPAA Pitching Competition. The finalists from the Holding Redlich SPAA pitching competition took to the stage straight after lunch, and after David Parker�s scandalous speech, had a hard act to follow.

News Feature by: Jennifer Yourell
Thursday 15 November, 2007
In the opinion of Michael Smellie, Bertelsmann�s President of Media Development in the region, that would be a resounding �not likely.� In a rather bleak discussion with Variety�s asian representative Patrick Frater, Michael shared his diverse experiences attempting to build business opportunities in the Asian market.

Thursday 15 November, 2007
UK low-budget mini-studio Warp X has a business model that drives down the cost of low-budget filmmaking, creating a better product on the budget. Warp X Head Mark Herbert is in the process of shooting seven features back to back in three years. Films he describes as �left of centre product but for the market.�

News Feature by: Alex Prior
Thursday 15 November, 2007
Rex Wong, founder of distributed streaming company DAVE Networks, came to SPAA armed with reassuring and exciting statistics for broadcasters and content owners. He also has a revenue model.

News Feature by: Jennifer Yourell
Thursday 15 November, 2007
The fragmentation of the traditional kid’s television market is a hot topic at SPAA. Today’s panel of children’s programmers discussed just where the opportunities might lie in the changing media landscape.

News Feature by: Jennifer Yourell
Thursday 15 November, 2007
A panel representing an international powerhouse of kid�s entertainment shared their time with us today to talk about how their alliances with each other and Australian productions can ultimately rule the world of kid�s entertainment.

Thursday 15 November, 2007
BBC Worldwide�s Head of Content and Production has a job to do. Having recently bought 75% of travel producer Lonely Planet, he needs them to help develop a Blackberry that actually display the states, cities, towns of Australia � and possibly even Highway One.

Wednesday 14 November, 2007
The Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture is SPAA's chance to set a conference agenda which deals with big ideas. Noni Hazlehurst delivered in spades.

News Feature by: Jenny Yourell
Wednesday 14 November, 2007
A panel of nine very enthusiastic school children from Holland Park and McGregor State Primary Schools and Centenary State High School were more than happy to tell a room full of network executives and producers exactly what they wanted to see on television today. The question is whether the network executives will take their most honest and constructive comments on board.

News Feature by: Alex Prior
Wednesday 14 November, 2007
Canadian – Australian co-productions are on the increase, as the new producer tax offset helps Australian producers reach the 30% treaty threshold.

News Feature by: David Tiley
Wednesday 14 November, 2007
Peter Du Cane, respected Western Australian producer-director, startled the sector with an angry email and a public no-show at SPAA.

News Feature by: David Tiley
Wednesday 14 November, 2007
Onj the first night of SPAA, delegates streamed off the plane, picked their way north through the charmless plastic sprawl of the Gold Coast, with just enough time to iron frocks and hit an awards ceremony.

News Feature by: Tina Kaufman
Monday 12 November, 2007
Jetting into Brisbane, veteran cultural commentator and festival insider Tina Kaufman discovers jealousy at 24 frames a second. The Cinematheque is leaving Sydney for dead, and that is very, very bad.

Monday 12 November, 2007
Palace Films have 15 double passes to the romantic French comedy Hunting and Gathering to give away.

News Feature by: David Tiley
Monday 12 November, 2007
While the screen industry basks in the glow of the new legislation, the television sector should be watching the politicians very closely. They can make us laugh, cry, or grind our teeth, depending on our perspective, politics and hopes of a seat on the board. Oh, and attitudes to fat kids.

Monday 12 November, 2007
Did you know that CanWest employs 10,627 people around the world? Including of course the loyal staff of Network Ten. At least, they did until the 'buyout offers' went out last week.

Saturday 10 November, 2007
Do we lead the world in beer ads? We've certainly posted some European ads which give us a run for our money. While the VB orchestra ad may lack the punch of some others, or the zany sophistication, it has a certain peculiar persistence which deserves to be celebrated.

Wednesday 24 October, 2007
Just another day at the office for Seven, scoring the top five shows again.

News Feature by: David Tiley
Monday 22 October, 2007
Low budget filmmaking - nightmare or liberation? Two of the best Australian films of the last decade are dissected from the writer's point of view. It is no coincidence they were both made for such low budgets.

News Feature by: Kim Baston
Friday 19 October, 2007
While most distributors scramble to get their films into other people�s film festivals, Melbourne-based MG Distribution started their own. It looks like a popular festival, it feels like a popular festival, it even has prizes. It features one distributor�s product. Kim Baston discovers a marketing campaign with balls of steel.

Wednesday 17 October, 2007
It was a very entertaining way to start the second day of the ADG Conference, with a conversation between Matthew Saville and Tony (Home Song Stories) Ayres, who said, “let’s make this as informal as possible,” inviting the audience to “sing out” if they had any questions. Tina Kaufman kept schtumm.

Monday 15 October, 2007
Who is lying on the floor gasping with delight knowing they won an award at the absolutely historic first time inaugural Australian Directors' Guild Awards?