TV adaptations of Cheng, Clarke books receive development funding

26 February 2020 Books+Publishing

TV adaptions of Melanie Cheng’s short story collection Australia Day (Text) and Maxine Beneba Clarke’s Foreign Soil (Hachette) have received funding from Screen Australia in its latest development funding announcement.

The six-part TV adaptation of Australia Day begins when a person is stabbed late one night and an unlikely group of people runs to their aid. These strangers come together by chance and, experiencing a connection in this moment of crisis, their lives are changed for the better.

The project, currently under the working title Australia Day, is written by Alison Bell, who previously wrote the ABC comedy series The Letdown, and Niki Aken, writer of the SBS drama series The Hunting. It is produced by Martha Coleman and Lauren Edwards of Revlover Films.

The six-part adaptation of Foreign Soil will explore six thematically linked stories ‘in which the marginalised and othered collide with their environment, as they search for empowerment and belonging’. The project will be written by Clarke and produced by Philippa Campey and Samantha Dinning.

The adaptations received a share of $750,000 in Screen Australia funding, with the total pool also funding nine feature films, 11 television series and two online projects.

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