Brad's blog

Veteran US television presenter Dick Clark has died, aged 82.

Clark suffered a heart attack at a hospital in Santa Monica a day after he was admitted for an outpatient procedure.

Known as “the world’s oldest teenager” due to his youthful appearance and enthusiasm, Clark hosted the popular music series American Bandstand and over the years was instrumental in the creation and success of the likes of the American Music Awards, TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes and The $25,000 Pyramid. Continue reading »

The Australian Directors Guild today announced nominees in the 2012 ADG Awards.

Nominees for Best Direction in a TV Drama Series are Matthew Saville for The Slap (Ep 3 – Harry), Peter Andrikidis for East West 101 (The Price of Salvation), Jet Wilkinson for Crownies (Ep 22) and Peter Duncan for Rake (Ep 1 – vs Murray).

Nominated in the Documentary Series are Ivan O’Mahoney for Go Back to Where You Came From, Paul Scott for Outback Fight Club and Jacob Hickey for Immigration Nation. Nominated in the Documentary Stand Alone category are Phoebe Hart for Orchids: My Intersex Adventure, Celeste Geer for Then The Wind Changed, Robert Nugent for Memoirs of a Plague and James Bradley for Ochre & Ink. Continue reading »

To launch the high quality TV channel TNT in Belgium, they placed a big red push button on an average Flemish square of an average Flemish town. A sign with the text “Push to add drama” invited people to use the button…

Game of Thrones may be one of the most acclaimed shows on television at the moment yet it still only averages around 3 million viewers per episode in the US, a tiny fraction of the total viewing public.

So how does a critically-acclaimed show that is watched by so few people actually make money for HBO?

Slate.com has answered this question by looking beyond mainstream ratings success and looking more at the way cable networks such as HBO build audiences through beloved shows like Game of Thrones.

Instead of basing success solely on the ratings figures from the premiere of a certain episode, premium networks pay attention to the weekly figures that show both the episode in its prime timeslot and subsequent replays in the days that follow.

So therefore an audience of 3 million for an episode of Game of Thrones can grow to around 9 million across a week. Add to that the millions more who will watch the show on HBO subscriptions outside of the US.

“Buzz” also plays a large part in the success of shows like Game of Thrones, as the more hype a show has the more viewers want to subscribe to pay TV and cable networks like HBO in order to see it.

The Wire is a great example of a show that was viewed by very few people on TV but that was hyped up enough through critical acclaim and praise to warrant five seasons on HBO.

Positive attention is one of the keys to success for the likes of HBO, who produce only a small amount of original television each week.

HBO also owns most of its shows, whereas other cable networks license theirs. This means HBO can make money through selling the likes of Game of Thrones internationally, which covers a large chunk of the production costs.

Controlling the distribution and syndication of DVDs is another way HBO can make money from its shows, timing their releases to maximise sales and subscriptions. For example, the first season of Boardwalk Empire wasn’t released on DVD until the second season had concluded, meaning the only way to catch up was to be a HBO subscriber.

As a rule, HBO aims to bank half the subscription fee from all new subscribers while the rest goes to cable and satellite providers such as Time Warner Cable, who put in the marketing work to draw new subscribers.

Other cable networks such as Showcase tend to strike deals in which distributors pay a flat licensing fee and then keep customer subs for themselves.

Source: slate.com

The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel and Chris Taylor have been confirmed as hosts of the Australian Directors Guild Awards, to be held on Friday May 11 at Australian Maritime Museum in Sydney.

The gala Awards ceremony will this year celebrate the ADG’s 30th anniversary. Craig Reucassel and Chris Taylor have been both writers and presenters of such TV series as The Election Chaser (2001), CNNNN (2002, 2003), The Chaser Decides (2004), The Chaser’s War on Everything (2006-2008), Yes We Canberra! (2010) and The Hamster Wheel (2011). 

“The Awards are a great opportunity to mark the ADG’s 30th anniversary and to celebrate the achievements of our directors over the past three decades. The night will be lots of fun too – Craig and Chris will make sure of that!” says ADG General Manager Kingston Anderson. 

Nominations in the ADG Awards will be announced April 16. 

As well as winners in the 18 Award categories, the ADG Awards will also announce the winner of the ADG and Directors Guild of America Finders series.

One Australian feature film, which is yet to secure US distribution and is an entry in the 2012 ADG Awards, will be selected to screen in Los Angeles to key industry figure, including distributors. 

Tickets to the Awards are now on sale and cost $135 for members and $185 for non members.  

Tickets include dinner and wine and are available at: http://www.adg.org.au/awards.aspx orhttp://www.moshtix.com.au/event.aspx?id=56060&adgweb

Milano cast in Mistresses remake

Alyssa Milano has been cast in the US version of British drama series Mistresses. The actress will play a married lawyer called Savannah.

Penn to return to House for finale

Actor Kal Penn will reportedly return to House for the show’s season finale this year despite the fact his character committed suicide in the fifth season.

Kardashian hit by flour bomb

Reality star Kim Kardashian was on the receiving end of a bag of flour thrown by a woman in a hotel lobby. “That probably is the craziest, unexpected, weird thing that ever happened to me,” Kardashian told E! Online. “Like I said to my makeup artist, I wanted more powder and that’s a whole lot of translucent powder right there.”

Fergie not joining The X Factor USA

Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie has denied that she will be joining The X Factor USA this year due to issues with timing.

Martha Stewart to guest on Law & Order: SVU

Martha Stewart will reportedly make a guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, playing a private school headmaster.

Minaj to perform on Idol

Nicki Minaj has tweeted that she will be performing on American Idol next week. The show is yet to confirm the appearance.

Downton Abbey adds Speleers

Downton Abbey has added Eragon actor Ed Speleers to its cast for the new season. The actor will play a footman named Jimmy.

MTV announces new shows

MTV has announced four new shows called The Heights, Epic Fail, Totally Clueless, and MTV’s This Is How I Made It. They range from docu-dramas to panel shows.

Helms and Hader join pilot

Ed Helms and Bill Hader have been added to the cast of a new comedy pilot from The Office’s Mindy Kaling.

To mark the release of Family Guy Season 11 on DVD today, the Griffin Clan took a trip to Australia to visit four of the country’s hot spots, as voted by Australian Family Guy fans. 

Over 6,600 votes were cast on the Family Guy Facebook page, whichboasts over 42 million fans, 137,282 are Australian.

The four locations that received the most votes were: Kings Cross Sydney, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Great Barrier Reef. 

Check out these snaps from the Griffin Clan’s family album.

Channel Ten has launched this new website for Breakfast.

Filming began today in Queensland on the new multiplatform comedy series for ABC, The Strange Calls produced by Emmy award winning production company Hoodlum. 

Starring Toby Truslove, Barry Crocker, Katherine Hicks and Patrick Brammall, this 6x 30 minute comedy is Hoodlum’s second multiplatform series, following Slide, which Hoodlum created and produced in 2011 for Foxtel in partnership with Playmaker Media. 

The Strange Calls is produced by Tracey Robertson and Nathan Mayfield and written and directed by Daley Pearson, who wrote and directed the cult film $quid currently in post-production. 

Productions begins just days after the announcement that Hoodlum has received International Digital Emmy® Award nomination – it’s sixth Emmy nomination – for its series Slide.

Hoodlum has won two Emmys previously for their work on ABC’s LOST and ITV’s Primeval Evolved.The Strange Calls narrative will play out over TV broadcast, Twitter, Facebook, and with scripted content on The Strange Calls website including webisodes and video blogs.

“Multiplatform is a style of storytelling that includes but goes beyond just the traditional TV broadcast or cinema screen, by using digital platforms, like bespoke websites and social media networks to tell more story and give the audience more opportunities to engage with the world of the show,” says Tracey Robertson.

Leigh McGrath, head of Hoodlum’s Original Production Division, is Story Producing and also a co-producer, Leigh joined Hoodlum in early 2011 following a career as scriptwriter and story editor on such Australian dramas as Home and Away and Neighbours, later moving to the UK where he was Story Editor on ITV’s long-running police drama series The Bill.

He joined the BBC and script edited a variety of independent drama productions commissioned by BBC children’s. His UK credits include the BBC 1 telemovie The Lost Christmas starring Eddie Izzard, MI High for Kudos, Me & My Monsters for Tiger Aspect and Combat Kids for Lime Pictures.   He left Channel 7’s Winners and Losers after Season 1 as Script Producer to join Hoodlum. 

“Hoodlum’s success in the digital production arena is well known in Australia and internationally and we’re very proud that the work has brought us many accolades, including recognition at the Emmy and BAFTA Awards.  Bringing Leigh onto the senior Hoodlum team is at the forefront of our strategy to build the company’s original programming slate beyond the on-line world,” said Tracey Robertson, Hoodlum CEO.

“Leigh now heads a five-person strong team identifying strong creative ideas and developing narrative programs for Australian and international broadcasters.” 

“At the same time, we will continue working with some of the entertainment industry’s top content creators to tell stories and create entertainment properties in the digital space. Everything Hoodlum does is multiplatform. 

“My partner at Hoodlum and fellow producer Nathan Mayfield is, for example, currently in the US working with the creator of Heroes, Tim Kring.” 

Hoodlum recently co-produced the highly successful multiplatform TV series SLIDE, for FOXTEL, a first of its kind in Australia.

The company also created the interactive experience DAYXEXISTS for Sony Pictures Entertainment, released internationally ahead of the Angelina Jolie feature film SALT.

In 2008 Hoodlum won two BAFTA Awards for the BBC’s Spooks Interactive. The company was also recognised with a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy nomination in 2008 and a win in 2009 for its work with ABC US on LOST as well as an International Emmy win for Primeval Evolved in 2010. 

The Strange Calls will be filmed on location in Coolum and Brisbane for four weeks. The series is about a hapless city cop Toby Banks, who is demoted to night duty in the sleepy beachside village of Coolum.

Working out of a run-down caravan on the outskirts of town, he meets Gregor, town cleaner, board game collector and paranormal authority. They team up to investigate “The Strange Calls” – bizarre late night phone calls that expose the paranormal mysteries haunting the sleepy town. A place where men turn into chickens, mermaids fall in love with locals and cats return from the grave.

(From a press release)