Press release from AWG
The Australian Writers' Foundation is pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2011 Kit Denton Disfellowship, awarded to a project for the screen judged to be exciting, subversive, innovative and courageous.
Previously known as the Kit Denton Fellowship, the competition has been re-launched in its fifth year as a Disfellowship. Attracting almost 500 submissions, the shortlisted writers tackled some big issues including euthanasia, the plight of carers in our community, politics and music in the 70s.
The $30,000 Disfellowship was set up in 2007 in memory of Andrew’s father, Kit Denton, scriptwriter, author, poet and lyricist, whose most famous work was the international best-selling novel The Breaker. The award allows the selected writer to develop their proposed project into a marketable script.
The winner of the fellowship will be announced at the 44th Annual AWGIE Awards on Friday, 23 September in Sydney.
In addition to Zapruder's other films, the Disfellowship is generously supported by Animal Logic, FremantleMedia Australia, Hopscotch, GNWTV, Princess Pictures, Shine Australia and TressCox Lawyers.
The 2011 Kit Denton Disfellowship Shortlist:
John Alsop – Jumping the Gun
There is considerable community support for the right of terminally ill persons to shorten their extreme suffering will the aid of medically assisted suicide. Jumping the Gun looks at the controversial, if not taboo, idea that anyone not terminally ill still has the right to decide when they've had enough of life. John Alsop is a Writer and Script Editor. His writing credits include Brides of Christ, Bordertown and The Leaving of Liverpool (all with Sue Smith). He has also written with Sue Smith many comedy sketches for television including Six Pack and My Brother Jack. He has won six AWGIE awards and two Logies. John adapted Roger McDonald's award winning Mr. Darwin's Shooter and David Malouf’s An Imaginary Life for Penny Chapman. In 2005 he was awarded the Hector Crawford Award for Significant Contribution to the craft via a body of Script Editing work as well as the AWGIE Award for Best Television Series for his work on episode two of RAN.
Blake Ayshford – Stranded
Stranded is a story of time and place – Brisbane in the 1970s, the music that was created there and the political climate that helped to produce it. Blake is an award-winning writer for film and television. His recent credits include Crownies, The Straits, My Place, i-rock and Love My Way. He’s a previous winner of the Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Best Television Script and his feature Cut Snake, a winner of the AWG/BAFF INSITE competition, will be directed by Tony Ayres in 2012.
Kelly Lefever – Care
Care follows the lives of four carers and their families and aims to bring to light issues such as sexuality and disability, parental expectations and the role of the community in today's society. Kelly has written over 30 hours, and script produced, script edited, storylined, and story edited more than 300 hours of TV for every free to air network in the country. Shows and films with which she has been involved have won multiple awards including; Logies, AFI’s, Berlin’s Crystal Bear and Panorama awards, An IF award, The Dendy Award, and AWGIES. Kelly is the co-creator, Script producer and head writer of the multi-award winning mini series The Circuit.
Zachary Gillam – The Coalface
The Coalface is a satire that depicts Australian Federal politics in 2009-2010 from the perspective of a coal industry lobbyist. Zac cut his teeth writing, directing and producing University and independent theatre in Perth before moving to Melbourne to study film at the VCA in 2008. Zac’s satirical feature script, The End of Work, was long-listed in the 2005 AWG/BAFF INSITE competition and is now in development. The following year another feature script, Tough Love, was shortlisted for the Screenwest Bill Warnock Unproduced Screenplay Award. Zac was also shortlisted for the 2011 Edward Albee International Playwriting Residency, and has since been invited to participate in the AWG Pathways Program (Theatre Stream). Zac has written across a variety of genres and has an abiding interest in satire and political comedy.
Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney- Bleak
Bleak is about reaching your thirties, being spat out of a relationship and realising that you've accomplished absolutely none of the things you thought you would. No partner, no possesions, no career. It’s like being back in your twenties, but without the hope. Kate McCartney is a Melbourne-based writer, animator and illustrator. Her work as a comedy writer/performer has featured in Channel 7 HSV's Big Bite and Hamish and Andy. Her animated short The Astronomer screened in competition internationally and in 2006 she was nominated for an Australian Film Industry award for Best Animated Short and was awarded Best 2-D Animation at Animex 2007. Kate was also a contributor to Penguin's 2009 anthology Thanks For The Mammaries. Kate McLennan gained a reputation as one of Australia’s funniest character comedians, with her work featuring on The Mansion for the Comedy Channel and the 2009 Logies presentation. Her critically acclaimed one-woman comedy The Debutante Diaries toured nationally in 2009 and won various awards. She is a regular on the Melbourne stand-up scene and is currently working on her new show Homeward Bound for the Melbourne Fringe Festival.