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The Black List founder and CEO Franklin Leonard.

The top scripts from Warner Bros, The Black List and Veerhuis Pictures’ second iteration of the Australian Scriptwriting Opportunity have been unveiled, with each of the writing teams now in consideration for a two-step blind feature film deal with WB.

This years “Aussie List” features 11 scripts rather than 10, given Maziar Lahooti, last year’s co-recipient of the blind deal, remarkably made it in again, this time as a solo writer.

More than 250 writing teams opted-in their scripts for the 2019 opportunity via The Black List, with each evaluated and rated via the site’s industry readers and processes. Producer Chris Veerhuis of Wa-based Veerhuis Pictures will now work with WB to determine from the list the recipient(s), if any, of the WB script deal. That opportunity will commit a writer to write a new script (first draft and a rewrite) for WB.

Restoration (Photo credit: Jeff Paine).

Sci-fi thriller Restoration recently aired on the Nine Network and is currently streaming on Stan.

Shot at Docklands and on location around Melbourne, the film is set in a near-future world where humans are able to have their memories downloaded and backed up.

Oliver Klein (Grant Cartwright, Barracuda) wakes up.after a routine backup with his memories restored into the body of another man (Steve Carracher, Vanished).

Restoration also stars Craig McLachlan (The Doctor Blake Mysteries), Nadia Townsend (Knowing, City Homicide), Rosie Lourde (Starting From Now, Embedded) and Elizabeth Nabben (Winners & Losers).

The film was directed by Stuart Willis, who co-wrote the screenplay with Matthew Clayfield. Willis told If the idea was inspired by the ubiquity of smartphones and cloud technology, and influenced by the extended periods that both writers often spend away from home for work.

.There.s always that moment when you come...

Restoration.

Midnight Snack Productions has announced that science fiction thriller Restoration, starring Craig McLachlan, will premiere on the Nine Network and Stan later this year.

Directed by Stuart Willis and independently produced by Midnight Snack.s Toby Gibson, Restoration is a one-hour film set in a near-future world where humans have their memories downloaded for backup.

It follows the story of a man who awakens with his memories restored into a body that is not his own.

.We.re thrilled to have closed a deal with one of Australia.s leading free-to-air commercial television networks and with pioneering Svod service Stan,. said Gibson.

.We.re very pleased Restoration will be seen by a wide Australian audience..

Midnight Snack is also currently exploring international options for the film.

.Having secured an audience in Australia, as well as Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu territories, we.re now looking to expand...

Nine features have been nominated for this year's Awgie Awards for performance writing.

Eight telemovies and miniseries are in contention. The Australian Writers. Guild says nominations in the 25 categories for the 48th Annual Awgie Awards reflect the abundance of outstanding work currently being produced in Australia. Nominees for best original telemovie are Steven McGregor for Redfern Now: Promise Me and Katherine Thomson for House of Hancock, while Christopher Lee.s Gallipoli and Jan Sardi and Mac Gudgeon.s The Secret River contend for best adaptation in a television miniseries. There are four nominees for original television mini-series: The Principal by Alice Addison and Kristen Dunphy; The Kettering Incident by Vicki Madden, Andrew Knight, Cate Shortland and Louise Fox; Deadline Gallipoli by Jacquelin Perske, Stuart Beattie, Shaun Grant and Cate Shortland; and Love Child: Series 2 from Tim Pye, Cathryn Strickland, Chris McCourt, Jane Allen and Tamara Asmar. In the categories...

Craig McLachlan has joined the cast of Australian science-fiction film Restoration..

McLachlan will play the role of Andrew Majury, chief executive of a high profile law firm and charismatic powerbroker.

McLachlan rounds out the cast of Nadia Townsend (Knowing, City Homicide), Grant Cartwright (Mtc.s The Crucible, Death Star PR), Stephen Carracher (Vanished), Rosie Lourde (Felony), Elizabeth Nabben (Childhood.s End) and Ailis Logan.

Producer Toby Gibson said he was absolutely thrilled to attach Craig to the project..

"Not only is Craig outstanding in the role, he.s a perfect fit for the world of Restoration," he said..

"Introducing additional key characters now will be exciting for our audience knowing that we have big plans for the Restoration property..

Director, Stuart Willis, said it was an incredible opportunity to work with a genuine star of the Australian screen and stage..

"Craig brought his magnetic personality to the screen and to the set,...

Grant Cartwright as Oliver Klein and Nadia Townsend as Emma Laws (Photo by Jeff Paine)

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The producers of Restoration are negotiating Australian and international multi-platform deals for the futuristic sci-fi project which doubles as a one-hour film and a 3-part online series. Set in 2019 when humans have their memories downloaded for backup, Restoration stars Grant Cartwright as Oliver Klein, a committed family man and corporate lawyer who awakes to find his memories restored into a body that is not his own.

Nadia Townsend plays Emma Laws, a technician who works at Restoration Life Services, the facility which enables people to have their memories downloaded for back-up so when death happens, those memories can uploaded into a new body.

Stephen Carracher portrays Gavin Worth, whose body becomes the vessel for Oliver.s restored memories, and Rosie Lourde is Oliver.s wife.

The project is the first collaboration between Toby Gibson.s...

Grant Cartwright, Nadia Townsend, Stephen Carracher and Rosie Lourde head the ensemble cast in Restoration, a 3-part,online sci-fi series which is due to start shooting at Docklands Studios on August 4.

Cartwright (whose credits include Mtc.s The Crucible and web series Death Star PR) will play Oliver Klein, who awakes to find his memories restored into a body that is not his own.

Townsend (Old School, City Homicide, Knowing) is cast as Emma Laws, a technician who works at Restoration Life Services, the facility which enables people to have their memories downloaded for back-up so when death happens, those memories can uploaded into a new body.

Carracher (Us thriller Vanished, The Doctor Blake Mysteries) is Gavin Worth, whose body becomes the vessel for Oliver.s restored memories.

Lourde (Felony, Stephen Sewell.s Embedded) portrays Talia Klein, Oliver.s wife. Rounding out the cast is Ailis Logan as Dr Francis Parr.