Australian Screenwriters Podcast

Finally the second part to the interview with Aussie writer of Stan. and TV Land's Younger, created by Darren Star (Sex And The City) and starring Sutton Foster and Hilary Duff.

If you're new to the podcast, you can listen to part 1 of the interview in episode 52.

Recorded live at Knox St Bar on in Chippendale, Sydney on 11 September, two internationally acclaimed playwrights, Alana Valentine and Noëlle Janaczewska, discuss documentary theatre and the creative process. How do we best transform real experience into drama? How do we place non-fiction on stage?

Nick Watson is another Aussie who's made it in Hollywood. After moving to LA and doing whatever work he could, Nick and his writing partner landed a gig writing the second season of Final Space for TBS network (Netflix internationally).

It's well worth checking out the original pilot and comparing it to the final product.

Michael Chamberlin is a stand-up comedian, podcast host (Junktime AFL Podcast ) and currently head writer of Tonightly with Tom Ballard.

We run through a typical day in the Tonightly writer's room, how Michael came to write for comedy shows and treading the fine line between comedy and being offensive.

This episode, I sat down with Ellie Beaumont and Drew Proffitt the showrunners of new SBS crime thriller, Dead Lucky.

We talk all things Dead Lucky, what they learned from their first showrunning experience on House Husbands and lots more.

If you haven't seen Dead Lucky, check it out here...

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/dead-lucky

Maya The Bee is beloved children's character in Germany and I recently chatted to Fin Edquist, the Australian writer of Maya's latest big screen adventure, The Honey Games.

We talk about Fin's career, how he came to write this German character and how writing a movie for a predominantly German audience differs to writing for Australian audiences.

Maya The Bee: The Honey Games opens Thursday 26 July at all major cinema chains and is a great watch if you have kids.

See the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJBAizYWpGo

This episode is part 1 of 2 with Joe Murphy, writer on the US hit show Younger.

In this ep, Joe talks about how he went from a small country town near Albury-Wodonga, Tangambalanga, to Deal Or No Deal and eventually on to Younger. We also talk about the difference between writer's rooms here and in the US, what he had to do as an assistant and how having a support group of writers really helped him hone his scripts and propel his career.

If you're a fan of Younger and/or inspired by stories of Aussie's making it overseas, you won't want to miss this episode!

Mark O'Toole is one of Australia's premier comedy writers. He started on shows like Full Frontal, Eric and Totally Full Frontal and has written everything from John Safran vs God to Adam Hills Tonight and Spicks and Specks.

So naturally, this is the definitive conversation about writing comedy in Australia.

Stephen Vagg rejoins us to discuss the History of Australian Screenwriting; a topic he knows a lot about having written an article for the AFTRS Lumina publication.

It maybe educational, but don't let that stop you listening, as Stephen has some great tidbits, like Australians were nominated for three Academy Awards for screenwriting in the 70's.

You can read Stephen's excellent article at AFTRS Lumina here...

http://www.aftrs.edu.au/media/books/lumina/lumina11c-ch7-1/index.html

This is a special episode. Stephen Vagg - most recently the Script Producer on Neighbours - memorialises his good friend and colleague, James Walker.

James passed away, in January of 2018, aged only 41. My condolences go out to his wife and two children.

James was a veteran of both Neighbours and Home & Away and also wrote for shows like McLeod's Daughters, Wild Boys and Wonderland.

I'm really thankful to Stephen for coming to me with this idea, so people who didn't know James can get to know him and his legacy and also so his family, friends and colleagues can relive fond memories.