ACTF News

Every Cloud Productions has commenced development on a new adaptation of Ethel Turner’s classic Australian novel Seven Little Australians. The 4 x 1hr miniseries received development funding from the ACTF in March and will be an imaginative and playful re-telling of the much loved story, capturing 1880s Australia in an entirely unique way.  

This landmark series will be a showcase for Australian female talent, honouring one of Australia’s best-loved authors, Ethel Turner. Highly accomplished screenwriter and playwright Elizabeth Coleman will lead the writing team. Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox from Every Cloud as Executive Producers are utilizing their strong track record of producing distinctive, high quality period drama. Fiona and Deb will be mentoring Katherine Fry, under the auspices of the Screen Australia Enterprise People scheme, with Katherine working as Creative Producer on the series.

ACTF CEO Jenny Buckland says: “The ACTF is very excited by the prospect of a modern telling of Seven Little Australians for a new generation of children and their families, and very pleased to support Fiona, Deb and Katherine with its development.”

The four-part series follows seven unruly, mischievous Australian children, who rebel against the strictures imposed upon them by their Anglophile father. Seven Little Australians is intended as landmark family viewing, delighting parents and capturing the imagination of a whole new audience of kids as they are transported back to simpler days when children ran wild from dawn till dusk and a large brood of siblings were a law unto themselves. A joyous celebration of an Australian childhood, affirming one of life’s great truths – that family comes first.

Every Cloud is thrilled with the outline Elizabeth has written for Seven Little Australians, as it is all too aware of the gap in the market for family viewing.  Executive Producer Fiona Eagger said: “Ethel Turner’s Seven Little Australians is a shining star in the Australian literary firmament. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this classic to life, a yarn for audiences young and old.”

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