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Prime Video has announced that the Australian Original The Office will premiere on October 18. The comedy series is the thirteenth version of the global hit juggernaut franchise and has the first-ever female lead in the iconic role, comedian and actor Felicity Ward who plays Hannah Howard, Managing Director of Flinley Craddick.

All eight episodes of The Office Australia will be available on October 18 exclusively on Prime Video in 240 countries and territories worldwide (excluding the U.S.) in the Prime membership.

Prime Video also released a first-look image from the series, which features an ensemble of Australian and New Zealand comedy talent. Starring alongside Felicity Ward is Edith Poor, Steen Raskopoulos, Shari Sebbens, and Josh Thomson.

Jonny Brugh, Susan Ling Young, Raj Labade (Appetite), Lucy Schmidt (The Pledge), Zoe Terakes, Pallavi Sharda (The Twelve), and Claude Jabbour round out the regular cast.

Susie Youssef, Justin Rosniiak, Carlo Ritchie (Mikki vs the World), Rick Donald,...

The Australian edition of “The Office” — the 13th global incarnation of the iconic comedy series — is taking shape, with Prime Video setting a release date and releasing a first-look at its lead, Felicity Ward.

The “Time Bandits” and “Wakefield” star will play Hannah Howard, managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick and the first female lead of “The Office” franchise. All eight episodes will become available globally on Oct. 18 via Prime Video (excluding the U.S.).

Starring alongside Ward is an ensemble of Australian and New Zealand comedy talent. The cast includes Edith Poor (“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”), Steen Raskopoulos (“The Duchess”), Shari Sebbens (“The Sapphires”), Josh Thomson (“How to Please a Woman”), Jonny Brugh (“Thor: Love and Thunder”), Susan Ling Young (“Reckoning”, “Hungry Ghosts”), Raj Labade (“Appetite”), Lucy Schmidt (“The Pledge”), Zoe Terakes (“Talk to Me”), Pallavi Sharda (“The Twelve”) and Claude Jabbour (“Last King of the Cross”). Meanwhile,...

Music Milestone

Rap icon Eminem has received a Brit Billion Award from the BPI, marking seven billion U.K. streams as calculated by the Official Charts Company. The artist holds a U.K. record for most consecutive No. 1s on the Official Albums Chart, with 10 studio albums topping the list in succession.

Recently, Eminem scored his 11th U.K. No. 1 single with “Houdini” and his 11th No.1 album with “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).” Over 60 of his songs have been Brit Certified, with 15 certified multi-platinum. His top three streamed hits have accumulated over 770 million U.K. streams.

The Brit Billion award, launched in 2023, has recognized 39 artists for surpassing one billion U.K. career streams, including diverse acts like Green Day, The Rolling Stones and Billie Eilish.

This award reflects streaming’s impact on the music industry, with over 85% of U.K.’s recorded music consumption now occurring through streaming.

Exclusive: Indie distributor Brainstorm Media is keeping it in the family with the selection of its new CEO.

Michelle Shwarzstein is taking the reins of the company founded in 1995 by her father, Meyer Shwarzstein. Before being elevated to CEO, she had spent more than a decade running Brainstorm’s distribution business and leading the acquisitions and marketing of dozens of films.

After the executive transition, Meyer Shwarzstein, will start a new venture focused entirely on development and production.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” Meyer Shwarzstein said. “I’m impressed by Michelle’s team’s vision and their passion for the business.”

Brainstorm’s executive roster also includes Abbey Warner, VP of Marketing and Strategy, who recently joined Brainstorm Media from Gunpowder & Sky; and Alex Peters, who was recently promoted to VP of Sales and Acquisitions.

“Abbey, Alex and I are honored to build on Brainstorm’s legacy,” Michelle Shwarzstein said.

Twelve Times Two

Production is under way on season two of “The Twelve,” a crime drama which follows a controversial murder trial as seen through the lens of the 12 jury members, ordinary members of the public with their own realities and struggles. On completion, it will screen on Foxtel’s Binge streaming service. International distribution is by Fifth Season. Western Australia premier Roger Cook said that the “The Twelve S2” is the largest ever production in the state.

As previously announced, Sam Neill and Frances O’Connor (“The End,” “AI”) reprise their roles as senior lawyers.

Joining them is an all-star Australian cast including: Tasma Walton (“Mystery Road,” “Sweet As”), Kris McQuade (“Rosehaven”), Amy Mathews (“A Place to Call Home”), Erroll Shand (“The Clearing”), Fayssal Bazzi (“Shantaram”), Josh McKenzie (“La Brea”), Anthony Brandon Wong (“Queen of Oz”), Stefanie Caccamo (“Fighting Season”), Sharon Johal (“Neighbours,” “Shantaram”), Luke Pegler (“Ladies In Black”), Adriano Cappelletta...

Susan Sarandon, playing the U.S. Secretary of State Alaska Adams, gets the better of Bryan Brown, as the Australian prime minister, in a fast-paced verbal duel that represents the first footage from the Sean Penn-produced satirical comedy series “C*A*U*G*H*T.”

An elite team of Aussie soldiers is sent to an island nation to retrieve a secret file that has gone astray. Mistaken for Americans, they are captured by freedom fighters and produce a hostage video that goes viral. When the soldiers achieve celebrity status on social media, they realize that being caught might just be the best thing that could’ve happened to them.

“C*A*U*G*H*T” explores themes of identity, fame, and the absurdity of the viral age. “Why can’t we comedically deconstruct the intellectual ideas that humanity is facing right now?” says Kick Gurry who directs, produces and stars in the six-part series.

Exclusive: Stan has ordered a trio of original drama series as part of its content boss Cailah Scobie has called “a massive week” for the Australian streamer.

We can reveal Stan has commissioned Bluey producer Ludo Studio to make eight-part road series Thou Shalt Not Steal, and also ordered coastal mystery thriller Exposure and Invisible Boys, a contemporary drama about a closeted gay teenager in small-town Western Australia. A trio of UK-based international distributors have signed on for the shows.

Stan has been working closely with international partners as it builds out its slate, with Deadline in the past year revealing comedy series C*A*U*G*H*T, which stars Sean Penn and Matthew Fox, and epic family drama Prosper, developed with Lionsgate.

“The shows are representative of our entire slate,” Stan Chief Content Officer Scobie said of the new originals in an exclusive interview with Deadline. “We back distinctive voices and tell Australia...

Alycia Debnam-Carey is delivering her best work in Prime Video's The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.

The 100 and Fear the Walking Dead alum plays the titular character in the adaptation of Holly Ringland's novel.

As you'll recall if you've been watching the show on Fridays as it unspools on the streaming service, Alice is living with her grandmother after becoming an orphan.

Throughout the first four episodes, the series touched upon Alice's violent upbringing, and Friday's new episode, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, sends things in an emotional direction.

Twig (Leah Purcell) is trying to find Alice in the episode while Alice is off trying to piece together her past.

Alice is hiding a significant burden in the form of setting the fire that got her into her current predicament, but she was driven by the abuse at the hands of her father.

Her fateful decision changed her life forever,...

If the official trailer for The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart doesn't make you want to watch Prime Video's upcoming drama series, I don't know what will.

The trailer for the new series, starring and executive-produced by the incomparable Sigourney Weaver, dropped today.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart launches on the streaming service exclusively in over 240 countries and territories on August 4. 

Three episodes will be released on August 4, with one episode rolling out weekly until the series finale on September 1.

Going into a series knowing when you'll have all the answers is always interesting.

Thankfully, Amazon Prime Video has already announced The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart will be one-and-done, telling a complete story over the first season.

Many limited series on streaming services get a binge release from the jump, but it's good to know the series will benefit from the weekly conversation that comes with weekly series.

Amazon’s Prime Video released the trailer for its television adaptation of Holly Ringland’s “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart” on Wednesday. Starring Sigourney Weaver and Alycia Debnam-Carey, the limited series hails from the producers behind “Big Little Lies” and “Nine Perfect Strangers.”

The seven-episode show will tell the story of Alice Hart (Debnam-Carey) as she digs deep into the secrets of her family history at Thornfield flower farm, a refuge for traumatized women run by her grandmother June (Weaver). Alice goes to live there after losing her family in a tragic fire.

“When I was little, I used to dream about fire,” Debnam-Carey’s grownup version of Alice whispers at the beginning of the trailer before her younger counterpart (Alyla Browne) takes over. “Fire is an element that requires friction, fuel and oxygen. Then one day, everything went up in flames.”

Set to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams, Alice...

Prime Video has released the teaser trailer for Amazon Original series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, launching exclusively on Prime Video in over 240 countries and territories on August 4. Three episodes will be released on August 4, with one episode rolling out weekly until the series finale on September 1. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is the latest addition to the Prime membership. Based on Holly Ringland’s best-selling debut novel, the seven-part series tells the emotionally compelling story of Alice Hart. When Alice, aged 9, tragically loses her parents in a mysterious fire, she is taken to live with her grandmother June at Thornfield flower farm, where she learns that there are secrets within secrets about her and her family’s past. Set against Australia’s breathtaking natural landscape, and with native wildflowers and plants providing a way to express the inexpressible, this enthralling family drama spans decades. As she grows from her complicated past,...

Prime Video is adding another A-list star to its programming roster this summer.

The streaming service has revealed The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, launching exclusively in over 240 countries and territories on August 4.

Three episodes will be released on August 4, with one episode rolling out weekly until the series finale on September 1.

Yes, you read that right. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a limited series, so you'll have all the answers by the end of the season.

Based on Holly Ringland's best-selling debut novel, the seven-part series tells the emotionally compelling story of Alice Hart.

"When Alice, aged 9, tragically loses her parents in a mysterious fire, she is taken to live with her grandmother June at Thornfield flower farm, where she learns that there are secrets within secrets about her and her family's past," the official logline teases. 

"Set against Australia's breathtaking natural landscape, and with native...

Prime Video launched a teaser trailer of “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart,” starring and executive produced by Sigourney Weaver, on Monday.

Based on the best-selling debut novel by Holly Ringland, the seven-part television adaptation follows Alice Hart (Alicia Debnam-Carey), who lost her parents at age 9 in an unexpected fire. Alice goes to live with her grandmother June (Weaver) at Thornfield flower farm in Australia, where she unearths several family secrets from her past. The native flora and fauna of the Australian landscape becomes a character in the show. Alice eventually finds her life threatened by a man she loves.

A collage of memories of the fire mixed with mystical garden encounters leads to someone opening a card that reads “You lied!”

“I just promised I’d keep her safe,” Weaver’s June says at the end of the teaser. “Can we do that?”

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A family’s long-standing mystery puts forth new roots in the trailer for Sigourney Weaver’s new drama The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, which Prime Video released Monday.

The drama is an adaptation of Holly Ringland’s 2018 novel, which tells the story of Alice, who is brought to her grandmother June’s flower farm at age 9 after her parents die in a mysterious fire. Weaver, whose lengthy resumé includes the Alien and Avatar films, plays June.

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Prime Video Australia is remaking The Office as a female-led comedy starring stand-up Felicity Ward in the role Ricky Gervais first made famous.

Gervais’ David Brent will become Hannah Howard in the series, with Ward putting her own spin on bad team management at packaging company Flinley Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her ‘work family’ together.

Ward is best known as a stand-up and for ABC series Spicks and Specks and The Ronnie Johns Half Hour. She also appeared in Wakefield and The Inbetweeners.

Additional cast includes Edith Poor (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Power of the Dog), Steen Raskopoulos (The Duchess, Feel Good), Shari Sebbens (The Sapphires, Thor: Love and Thunder), Josh Thomson...

With How to Please a Woman now showing, the actor and writer answers your questions on clown school, pouring sheep’s blood over her head and the worst sex scene of all time

Your new film, How to Please a Woman, looks great. Along with Emma Thompson’s Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, isn’t it about time women’s pleasure is discussed on screen? VickyTupper

Women’s pleasure has been discussed endlessly on screen, although usually it’s just: which angle is best? The only area in the media where women are now better represented is in pornography. Women are allowed to write and direct their own porn films, which is a massive blow for womankind; people were hoping for more women running news corporations.

The women of Renée Webster’s “How To Please A Woman” have problems. Multiple women, multiple problems: they’re disrespected at work, they’re depressed about their bodies, their husbands don’t give them the time of day, and on top of everything, their homes are messy. If only there was a service, or a person, who could solve all of this. Lucky — maybe — there is.

Enter Gina (Sally Phillips), a newly 50-year-old woman with an idea and a plan. When her friends misguidedly hire a male escort for her birthday, Gina makes him clean her house shirtless rather than please her in other ways. Isn’t this what women really want anyway? From there, she turns that venture into a business, hiring a group of eager men from a recently shut-down moving company to be the cleaners and helpers. Only her friends are perhaps more interested in the crew...

"There are a lot of women who really like the thought of a man cleaning their house." Brainstorm Media has revealed an official US trailer for an Australian indie sex comedy called How to Please a Woman, both written and directed by filmmaker Renée Webster. The film opens later this month in a few American cities, and it also played at the 2022 Bentonville Film Festival. This looks like pure unadulterated fun! When her all-male house-cleaning business gets out of control, a mature woman must embrace her own sexuality, if she is to make a new life for herself. The film is described as "a precarious, often hilarious and revealing journey into the vulnerable world of what women really want and how hard it can be to get it right." Starring Sally Phillips as Gina, with Erik Thomson, Alexander England, Ryan Johnson, Caroline Brazier, Josh Thomson, Hayley McElhinney, and Tasma Walton.

The lineup of films premiering in the narrative, documentary, short film and episodic selections at the 2022 Bentonville Film Festival’s competition program have been released today, the Bentonville Film Foundation announced. The annual festival is set to run in-person from June 22-26 in Bentonville, Ark, with a virtual component having an extended run from June 22 to July 3.

Led by “Thelma and Louise” star and vocal feminist Geena Davis, the festival aims to amplify female, non-binary, LGBTQ, Bipoc and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment. In collaboration with founding partner, Walmart, and presenting sponsor, Coca-Cola, this year’s programming includes a wide array of storytelling with more than 82 of the competition program from creators who identify as female or gender non-conforming. Additionally, 65 of the creators identify as Bipoc, Asian, or Pacific Islander and 62 identify as LGBTQ. The vast majority of onscreen leads — 90, to be exact — are women or gender non-conforming.

“We...

Australian cinema made a welcome return to box office top three on the weekend as Madman's Fremantle-shot 'How To Please a Woman' came in behind Marvel juggernaut 'Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness' and 'Downton Abbey: A New Era'.

The post Bo report: Satisfying start for ‘How To Please a Woman’ as ‘Doctor Strange 2’ remains on top appeared first on If Magazine.

Sales agency Beta Cinema has revealed the casting of further lead roles for action thriller “The Climb”: Hero Fiennes Tiffin, star of the global box office franchise series “After,” as well as the upcoming Sony/Tristar feature “The Woman King,” and IMDb break-out star Hannah John-Kamen, best known for her performances in “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and “Black Mirror,” will star alongside Cara Delevingne, who was announced earlier this year.

After Signature Entertainment picked up the project ahead of the Marché du Film in Cannes for U.K. and Ireland, Beta Cinema has closed further deals for Germany, Austria and Italy (Koch Films), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Spain (Youplanet Pictures) and Middle East (Front Row). Further major territories are being negotiated.

Based on the true-life 2013 Greenpeace protest on top of London’s iconic skyscraper The Shard, and directed by experienced visual effects art director Hayley Easton-Street,...

French sales agency Elle Driver is giving a Cannes Market launch to “Kid Snow,” a West Australian-produced tale of redemption set in the 1970s world of tent boxing. Production starts on Monday in Australia’s Goldfields-Esperance region, making it the first feature film to kick off production in the state since its border re-opened.

Boxing tents toured Australia’s small towns from the early 1900s until the 1970s, and were venues where professional fighters faced off against local challengers. The troupes criss-crossed the outback, boasted a carnival-like atmosphere and were places where Indigenous fighters could become heroes.

Penned by writers John Brumpton and Stephen Cleary, the story involves a washed-up Irish boxer named Kid Snow who is finally given a chance to redeem himself when he is offered a rematch against the man he fought a decade prior, on a night that changed his life forever. When Kid Snow meets single mother Sunny,...

Comedy “How to Please a Woman,” starring “Veep” and “Bridget Jones Diary” actor Sally Phillips, has generated brisk business for Beta Cinema. Brainstorm Media has taken all rights for the U.S. and will release the film theatrically on July 22, and pay TV operator Sky has secured all rights for the U.K.

Beta Cinema also sold all rights for Canada (Mongrel Media), Poland (Monolith Films), former Yugoslavia (Discovery), Czech Republic (Bohemia Motion Pictures) and Hungary (Ads).

Madmen will put the film out in Australia and New Zealand on a wide release on May 19 and May 26, respectively.

Phillips stars as 50-year-old Gina, who feels she has become “invisible to everyone.” Establishing a house-cleaning service, staffed by good-looking male cleaners who provide cleaning with benefits, the film follows her as she learns how to ask for what she wants and encourages other women to do the same.

“We fell in love...

Initial investments include Daina Reid’s ‘Run Rabbit Run’ and Gracie Otto’s ‘Seriously Red’.

More feature films driven by female creatives are likely to emerge from Australia following the launch of private investment firm Storyd Group.

The outfit has been established by entrepreneur Deanne Weir and Olivia Humphrey, founder of streaming platform Kanopy, to support female storytellers by investing in internationally targeted feature films from Australian female creatives and content-related technology start-ups.

Initial investments include horror thriller Run Rabbit Rabbit, which marks the feature directorial debut of Daina Reid, and Seriously Red, a drama from documentary filmmaker Gracie Otto.

Actress Isla Fisher, director Zak Hilditch, producer Judi Levine, and producer Julia Redwood will make up the jury for next week’s CinefestOZ Film Festival.

They are set to join jury chair Nadia Tass to decide which of the four in-competition films will take home the $100,000 Film Prize at the Closing Gala Night August 28 at Orana Cinemas Busselton.

This year’s finalists include Leah Purcell’s The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, Justin Kurzel’s Nitram, anthology feature drama Here Out West, and Jennifer Peedom’s River.

Fisher has more than 35 years of film and TV experience, having begun appearing in commercials from the age of nine before playing Shannon Reed in Home & Away. She has since gone on to appear in a raft of international productions, including The Wedding Crashers, Rango, The Great Gatsby, Nocturnal Animals, Definitely, Maybe, Now You See Me, Hot Rod, The Brothers Grimsby,...

US producer Alan Poul will be the industry guest speaker for this month’s CinefestOZ Industry Program.

Poul’s producing and directing credits include Netflix’s The Eddy, and Tales of the City, BBC’s MotherFatherSon, as well as HBO’s Westworld, The Newsroom, and Six Feet Under.

He has also directed episodes of HBO’s Rome, and Big Love, as well as Netflix’s Grace and Frankie, and the pilots for the TNT series Perception.

The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning producer is in the midst of executive producing the upcoming HBO Max series Tokyo Vice at Endeavour Content, where his company Boku Films is based.

Poul, whose appearance will be presented via the American Film Showcase, will be joined by local, national, and international guests in the two-day program, which incorporates 10 sessions across August 26-27.

Available online and in-person, the discussions are set to address the contemporary challenges faced...