AACTA Awards

Television General Television Topics
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MasterChef Australia Wins AACTA Best Reality TV Series.

MasterChef Australia has cemented its position as the most acclaimed reality series in Australia, winning the Best Reality Television Series category at the AACTA Awards last night.

The announcement heralds the third year in a row that MasterChef Australia, which is produced for Network Ten by Endemol Shine Australia, has taken the prize. Network Ten congratulates the other nominees Australian Survivor, Little Big Shots and My Kitchen Rules.

The AACTA Award caps another highly successful year for MasterChef Australia. On television, the 2017 series ranked #1 in its timeslot among people 25 to 54 and under 55, while the Winner Announced episode drew a national audience of more than 1.8 million and dominated its timeslot.

MasterChef Australia also performed strongly in digital and social media. Viewing on Network Ten’s online catch-up and streaming service, tenplay, increased 11% during 2017 and the show remained the biggest local television series on Facebook, with 1.55 million “likes”.

Next year marks the 10th season of Australia’s most-loved and iconic reality television series. With a season full of surprises, MasterChef Australia is thrilled to welcome internationally renowned, Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay to the kitchen for the first time and excited to welcome back domestic goddess Nigella Lawson.

Network Ten Chief Content Officer, Beverley McGarvey, said: “As MasterChef Australia heads for its exciting and highly engaging 10th season in 2018, we are delighted that it has again won the AACTA Award for Best Reality Television Series.

“MasterChef Australia is the best in its category thanks to the talent, passion and hard work of a lot of people, including our extraordinary judges and mentors – Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris, Matt Preston and Shannon Bennett – our wonderful partners at Endemol Shine Australia led by Peter Newman and Marty Benson, and the great team at Network Ten led by Executive Producer Rick Maier.

“We are very proud of MasterChef Australia and we can’t wait to present its remarkable 10th season to all Australians,” she said.

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Every year it happens and I still can’t see how the awards that make the televised event are chosen. Best Reality Show, Best Light Entertainment and Best Drama make the cut but Best Comedy misses out.

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Yeah that really is disappointing and I bet more people watching at home would know the producers of Utopia than the producer of Australian Ninja Warrior.

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Foxtel’s hit programs win at last night’s AACTA Awards

Stars of the big and small screen came together last night to celebrate Australia’s top screen achievements at the 7th AACTA Awards Ceremony, with Foxtel securing a total of 11 awards honouring some of the finest local productions from the past year.

Foxtel’s critically-acclaimed event series, TOP OF THE LAKE: CHINA GIRL (BBC First) swept the television category with four awards, including Best Television Drama Series, Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama for Elisabeth Moss, Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama for Ewen Leslie, and Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama for Nicole Kidman.

Top-rating renovation series SELLING HOUSES AUSTRALIA (Lifestyle) was also honoured, taking out the highly contested award for Best Lifestyle Television Program.

Foxtel’s Executive Director of Television, Brian Walsh, said: “This year’s AACTA Awards have been a terrific and a fitting celebration honouring outstanding achievements in Australian film and television. At Foxtel we are very proud that our ongoing commitment to producing a broad range of Australian content for our customers is recognised by the vibrant Australian industry.

“I’d like to congratulate all of our nominees and winners, particularly our producing partners at BBC First and See-Saw Films for the extraordinary success of Top of the Lake: China Girl,” he said.

Other programs to enjoy the accolades across Foxtel’s drama, lifestyle, sports and news platforms were:

  • Best Production Design in Television – Fiona Donovan, A PLACE TO CALL HOME (showcase)

  • Best Visual Effects or Animation – GAME OF THRONES (showcase)

  • Subscription Television Award for Best Female Presenter – Margaret Pomeranz (Foxtel Arts)

  • Subscription Television Award for Best Male Presenter – David Speers (Sky NEWS)

  • Subscription Television Award for Best Live Event Production – JEFF HORN V MANNY PACQUIAO (FOX SPORTS)

  • Subscription Television Award for Best New Talent – Zahra Newman, WENTWORTH (showcase)

Encore screenings of the 7th AACTA Awards Presented by Foxtel at 10:30pm AEDT Friday December 8 on Foxtel Movies Masterpiece, 8:30pm AEDT Sunday December 10 on Foxtel Arts and available anytime On Demand.

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Russell Crowe ‘reminiscing’ about a sex scene with
Jacqueline McKenzie, while talking about sexual harrassment, was cut from the Seven broadcast.

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Not something that should have been shared at an awards ceremony but of all the years to share that story, this was some really poor judgement.

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Good of her to clarify. I still think it wasn’t wise of Russell to choose that moment to share that story.

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Am glad that Sunshine won Best Mini-Series. Such a great show made from SBS.

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Russell Crowe has apologised for his comments re. Jacqueline McKenzie.

The way I delivered the story was to elicit that half cringe/half laugh reaction.
Obviously I was only intending to make people laugh. Especially Jacquie, and she did.
I didn’t mean any offence to anyone and it wasn’t a comment on other issues.

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Nominations for the 2018 AACTA Awards were announced overnight. Among the TV shows nominated were Mystery Road, Riot, Jack Irish, Safe Harbour, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders and Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy.
Ladies in Black leads the film nominations with 11, followed by Sweet Country (10), Breath (9) and Boy Erased (7).
All the nominations can be found here
The 2018 awards will be held at The Star in Sydney on Wednesday, December 5, and shown on slight delay on Seven.

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2018 AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel

The winners will be announced at the two major 2018 AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel events held at The Star Event Centre in Sydney: the Industry Luncheon on Monday December 3, and the AACTA Awards Ceremony on Wednesday December 5.

Foxtel congratulates its AACTA nominees after securing a total of 21 nominations across Drama, Lifestyle, Entertainment and Factual in the highly competitive Television Award categories for the 2018 AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel.

Foxtel’s award-winning drama series from FOX SHOWCASE – Foxtel’s premium On Demand drama destination – performed well with Mr Inbetween , Wentworth, Picnic At Hanging Rock and A Place to Call Home all receiving multiple nominations.

Created by and starring Scott Ryan and directed by Nash Edgerton , Mr Inbetween is a six-part FX Originals drama that delves into the very funny and very dark world of ‘Ray Shoesmith’, a hitman with a heart of gold. Recently renewed for a second series, Mr Inbetween , the successful Australian export which has been described by the Hollywood Reporter as “one of 2018’s best shows”, has been nominated for several awards including Best Drama Series, Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama for Scott Ryan , Best Direction in a Television Drama or Comedy, and Best Screenplay in Television.

Ground-breaking prison drama Wentworth is also up for Best Drama Series, while Leah Purcell , who plays inmate Rita Connors, is up for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama, and Celia Ireland is up for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Drama for her role as Liz Birdsworth.

Foxtel’s critically-acclaimed mini-series Picnic at Hanging Rock fared well with a swag of nominations including Best Telefeature or Miniseries, Best Cinematography in Television, Best Editing in Television, Best Sound in Television, Best Original Music Score in Television, Best Production Design in Television and Best Costume Design in Television.

A Place to Call Home was also recognized, with nominations including Best Cinematography in Television and Best Costume Design in Television.

Foxtel’s Executive Director of Television, Brian Walsh , said: “These 21 nominations firmly re-enforce our commitment to producing a wide range of Australian content for our customers across drama, lifestyle, entertainment and factual. It is particularly rewarding to see our diverse drama slate celebrated so comprehensively. We strive to provide viewers a rich offering of Australian drama that matches our incredible international line-up, and we congratulate our partners, producers, creatives and casts on these nominations.”

Other nominations for Foxtel include three of the Lifestyle channel’s highest-rating series: Selling Houses Australia and The Great Australian Bake Off , both nominated for Best Lifestyle Program, and Gogglebox Australia , which is up for Best Entertainment Program.

Rounding out Foxtel’s nominations in the Television categories are The Real Housewives of Melbourne (Arena), nominated for Best Reality Series and The Queen & Zak Grieve (Crime + Investigation), up for Best Documentary or Factual Program.

The 2018 AACTA Awards mark the 60th Anniversary of AFI I AACTA, giving the Australian Academy and the screen industry the opportunity to celebrate its incredible history, talented practitioners and world-class productions.

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ABC tops AACTA Award nominations as new report shows it leads the way in backing Australian drama

The ABC has scored an unrivalled 57 AACTA Award nominations across 23 categories, more than any other broadcaster, with Mystery Road and Riot both in line to win 11 of Australia’s top screen prizes.

The ABC’s landmark Mystery Road (Best Drama) and Riot (Best Telefeature or Mini Series) received more nominations than any other television program, including Best Lead Actor, Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Original Music Score.

The nominations came as Screen Australia’s annual Drama Report revealed the ABC is the nation’s leading broadcaster when it comes to supporting home-grown stories. The report into the health of Australia’s screen industry found the largest contribution from a single broadcaster in 2017-18 was from the ABC, which provided finance for 23 titles.

For the first time, the combined budgets for content produced for first release on the ABC ($144 million) was higher than the combined figure for the commercial free-to-air networks.

Friday on My Mind received six nominations, including Best Telefeature or Miniseries, while Series 5 of Rake received four nominations including Best Drama Series.

Nominated for Best Lead Actor or Actress in a Drama Series or Telemovie are: Damon Herriman ( Riot ), Richard Roxburgh ( Rake ), Aaron Pedersen ( Mystery Road ) , Judy Davis ( Mystery Road ), Kate Box ( Riot ); and nominated for Guest or Supporting Roles in a drama are Caroline Brazier ( Rake ), Deborah Mailman ( Mystery Road ), Tasma Walton ( Mystery Road ), Wayne Blair ( Mystery Road ), Damien Garvey ( Rake ), Xavier Samuel ( Riot ) and Ashley Zukerman ( Friday On My Mind ).

Rosehaven, The Letdown and Black Comedy are amongst the finalists for Best Comedy Program, with Alison Bell ( The Letdown ) and Celia Pacquola ( Rosehaven ) up for Best Performance in a Television Comedy, along with Back in Very Small Business’s Wayne Hope and Robyn Nevin. Hard Quiz, Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering are all nominated for Best Entertainment Program, while The Checkout received a nod for Best Lifestyle Program.

Best Children’s Program nominations include Guess How Much I Love You, My Year 7 Life, Grace Beside Me and The New Legends of Monkey. Best Documentary or Factual include: Employable Me, Hawke: The Larrikin and the Leader, and You Can’t Ask That.

Nominations for Best Direction in Drama, Comedy or Non-Fiction include: Rachel Perkins for Mystery Road , Jeffrey Walker for Riot, David Batty for Black As, Bruce Permezel for Episode 1 of Hawke: The Larrikin and the Leader and Aaron Smith and Kirk Docker for Episode 1 of You Can’t Ask That.

Mystery Road is also in the mix for Best Cinematography. Friday on My Mind also scored nominations for Best Sound and Production Design and Best Editing. Riot was also nominated for Best Production Design and Casting. Riot and New Legends of Monkey were nominated for Costume Design in Television.

The ABC’s nominees for Best Documentary or Factual Program are Employable Me, You Can’t Ask That and Hawke: The Larrikin and the Leader.

Deadlock and Kiki and Kitty were both nominated for Best Online Video or Series.

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There’s not much love out there for Commercial Television, apart from the Reality Program category. Pretty much like every other year! lol.

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Stephen Curry is hosting this year, he last hosted in 2008.

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Stephen Curry is a good choice as host. He is an actor, who has appeared in both film and television - which fits perfectly for the AACTAs (which is for both film and television).

On another note - I do hope that Seven air all the major awards on the night of the telecast. They have left some awards out in the past!

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Rebecca Gibney, Marta Dusseldorp and Jack Thompson will be among the presenters for next month’s awards while Katie Noonan and Vance Joy will perform.

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Have Seven started showing ads yet for the Awards?

I know the AACTA’s don’t usually set the ratings world on fire (and there isn’t as much hype compared to the “Logies” or even the Oscars), but it would be nice to see Seven give some buzz to these awards.

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Saw one tonight on main channel during Orange is the New Brown.

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Current handing out awards at AACTA Luncheon. Awards not prominent enough for the TV event?