Business of Media
Nine loses a ‘path to victory’ in Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial
Nine newspapers have lost one key “path to victory” against Ben Roberts-Smith‘s lawsuit after a court refused to compel a SAS soldier to testify about an alleged war crime murder, reports News Corp’s Perry Duffin.
The unnamed soldier, known only as Person 66, had warned he faced potential war crime prosecutions if the court forced him to testify against Australia‘s most famed veteran.
The newspapers called Person 66 to testify about a mission in the Afghan region of Syahchow where he was deployed under the command of Mr Roberts-Smith in 2012.
Nine claims Roberts-Smith forced Person 66 to shoot a PUC in a field at Syachow so the SAS soldier could be “blooded”.
Person 66 objected to answering questions about his missions in 2012 on the grounds of self-incrimination.
Federal Budget reactions: Screen Producers, MEAA
Industry groups Screen Producers Australia and Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance have issued statements following the Federal Budget, reports TV Tonight.
The statements can be seen in full by clicking the below link.
Sport Media
King’s ultimate send-off: Warne would’ve loved it
Shane Warne has been given the perfect send-off in front of a packed MCG, with some of the biggest names from the world of sport and entertainment paying tribute to the spin king, report News Corp’s Patrick Carlyon, Emily Benammar, Liam Twomey and staff.
Warnie, the cricketer, star and fan, would have loved it.
From 5pm on Wednesday, fans started turning up. Some, as requested, were splotched green and gold, at odds with the sobriety of the private service for Warne 10 days earlier.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison rushed from budget duties in Canberra to nestle among cricket fans at home in Bay 13.
“My message to … Shane’s family is thank you,” he said beforehand.
“Thank you for sharing Shane with all of us.”
They came to celebrate a life led – and at times misled.
Eddie McGuire touted the MCG Shane Warne memorial as one of the greatest events in the city’s history.
Certainly, the banks of TV news crews doing live crosses near Warne’s statue are usually reserved for a grand final.
“AB was just over there,” a fan said, amid the hushed awe at the statue’s base. “But I didn’t want to hassle him today.”
The outpouring for Warne compares with the send-off of his friend Michael Gudinski, a year earlier, when Ed Sheeran and Kylie Minogue farewelled their friend at Melbourne Park.
For numbers, it compared with Victoria’s first state funeral – for fallen explorers Burke and Wills – in 1863, when 40,000 people were said to throng four city blocks. Warne’s undoubted bigness in death owes something to pranksters, who in 1995, hoodwinked then premier Jeff Kennett into staging a state funeral for footy legend Ted Whitten.
We can reach back to 1931 for another historical comparison.
Sir John Monash’s state funeral was said to attract 300,000 mourners. Like Warne, Monash, the war hero and civic visionary, was adored as a kind of outsider to the established way.
Unlike Warne, Monash didn’t get an MCG stand named after him.
Entertainment
Amazon Prime Video looks for Australian ‘Euphoria’
Amazon Prime Video is telling Australian production companies it is open for business and wants to tell Australian stories, highlighting a hunger to create the next Euphoria-style TV show for young adults, reports AFR‘s Miranda Ward.
Erika North, Amazon Studio’s head of originals in Asia Pacific, told the Screen Forever conference on the Gold Coast on Tuesday her role is to bring together “the most talented team of content professionals in APAC…to ensure we are championing authentic, diverse stories”.
She said Amazon Prime Video is always searching for “bold and innovative ideas, ideas that drive conversation, excitement, entertainment”.
Entertainer Ernie Carroll dies, aged 92
Daryl Somers has paid a heartfelt tribute to his mentor and friend Ernie Carroll who has died aged 92, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
Carroll passed away on Wednesday surrounded by family at his Mornington residence.
Coming from a radio background, Carroll started in TV in the late 1950s at Channel 9 where he worked on shows such as The Tarax Show and wrote for Graham Kennedy.
He is best known, however, for creating Oswald Q Ostrich (aka Ossie Ostrich) who became Somer’s sidekick on Cartoon Corner and then Hey Hey It’s Saturday.
Television
Foxtel releases first look at Australian crime drama, The Twelve
Foxtel has released the first official images from the set of new Australian crime drama series The Twelve currently in production in Sydney.
The first look images reveal the extensive cast including Sam Neill as Brett Colby – The Defence, Marta Dusseldorp as Lucy Bloom – The Prosecution, and Kate Mulvany as Kate Lawson – The Accused along with jurors Brendan Cowell as Garry, Pallavi Sharda as Corrie, Hazem Shammas as Farrad and Ngali Shaw as Jarrod.
The Twelve will plunge viewers into a gripping murder case beginning on the first day of jury selection in a complicated trial. Twelve ordinary citizens from diverse backgrounds have been summoned to the Supreme Court to decide the fate of a woman charged with murder. Over 10 episodes the lives and loves of the people who will decide if she is guilty or not are explored, their histories, their conflicts, their families, and their secrets.