Australian drama The Slap up for an Emmy

Dramatic Emmy nod ... ABC telemovie The Slap.

Michael Idato, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports

Three Australian shows and one Australian nominated for International Emmys.

The critically acclaimed Australian drama The Slap has been nominated for an award at the prestigious International Emmy awards. The local version of The Amazing Race, produced by the Seven Network, has also been nominated.

The Slap is nominated in the drama category, against dramas from France, Hong Kong, Singapore and Argentina. The Amazing Race Australia is nominated in the non-scripted entertainment category, against programs from Singapore, Spain and Brazil.

There are a total of 38 nominees from 15 countries in nine categories.

In a separate announcement overnight, the Australian teen drama SLiDE was nominated for an International Emmy for children's programming. It is the first time the US-based Television Academy has held separate awards for children's programs.

SLiDE was a multi-platform drama jointly produced for the cable platform Foxtel by production companies Hoodlum and Playmaker Media. It has been nominated in the kids drama series category against programs from Brazil, Japan and Norway.

Other nominated programs at the main International Emmy awards include the British hit Absolutely Fabulous, which has been nominated in the comedy category against another British comedy, Spy, as well as programs from Brazil and Belgium.

Australia could take some credit for that Emmy nomination as well: the nominated episodes of Absolutely Fabulous were produced by London-based Australian Justin Davies.

The anthology drama Black Mirror, which launched on SBS this week, has been nominated in the outstanding TV movie or miniseries category, against dramas from Japan, Brazil and France.

The International Emmy awards are connected to the annual "primetime" Emmy awards, although they are only open to programs produced outside the United States.

Australian programs are not often nominated as the process to nominate programs is expensive and the awards themselves are not as prominently positioned on the Australian radar as the "primetime" Emmys. They are one of several spin-off awards ceremonies produced annually under the Emmy banner.

In addition to the "primetime" Emmys in September and the International Emmys in November, they include the Daytime Emmys, the Sports Emmys, the News and Documentary Emmys and the Technology and Engineering Emmys.

The winners of the 40th annual International Emmy awards will be announced at a gala event held in New York on November 19. The winners of the International Emmy Kids Awards will be announced on February 8 in New York.

Australian Directors’ Guild Awards: Julia Leigh wins for Sleeping Beauty, Sydney Dogs and Cats Home is best directed TV ad

Robin Hicks, Encore Magazine, reports

This evening’s Australian Directors’ Guild Awards saw Julia Leigh claim the best direction in a feature film gong for Sleeping Beauty.

Matthew Saville won two awards – for best direction in a TV mini series for Cloudstreet and best direction in a TV drama series for The Slap.

SBS series Go Back To Where You Came From, which has just won international acclaim at the Rose d’Or Festival in Switzerland, took the best direction of a documentary series award for Ivan O’Mahoney.

Best direction of a TV ad went to Damien Toogood for Sydney Dogs and Cats Home.

The results in full:

• Best Direction in a TV Drama Series: Matthew Saville for The Slap (Ep 3 – Harry)
• Best Direction in a TV Mini Series: Matthew Saville for Cloudstreet
• Best Direction in a Feature Film: Julia Leigh for Sleeping Beauty
• Best Direction in a Documentary Feature: Tony Krawitz for The Tall Man and Bob Connolly and Sophie Raymond for Mrs Carey’s Concert
• Finders Award: Tony Krawitz
• Directors Guild of America Finders/ADG award (film gets screening in LA in front of key distributors): The Tall Man
• Best Direction in a Documentary Series: Ivan O’Mahoney for Go Back to Where You Came From
• Best Direction in a Documentary (Stand Alone category): Phoebe Hart for Orchids: My Intersex Adventure
• Best Direction in a Telemovie: Emma Freeman for Hawke
• Best Direction in a TV Comedy: Jeffrey Walker, Stuart MacDonald and Chris Lilley for Angry Boys
• Best Direction in a TV Drama Serial: Geoffrey Nottage for Home & Away (Ep 5215).
• Best Direction in TV Reality Program/Light Entertainment: Ken Connor and Kathy Chambers for RocKwiz – On the Road, and Mark Adamson for Dancing with the Stars
• Esben Storm Award for Best Direction in a Children’s TV Program: Jeffrey Walker for H20: Just Add Water (Series 3)
• Best Direction in a Television Commercial: Damien Toogood for Sydney Dogs and Cats Home
• Best Direction in a Music Video: Steve Rogers for Jack Ladder ‘Cold Feet’
• Best Direction in an Original Online Project: Dario Russo for Danger 5: The Diamond Girls
• Best Direction of a Short Film: Ashlee Page for The Kiss
• Best Direction in a Student Film: Epiphany Morgan for The Room
• Cecil Holmes Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Australian Directors Guild: Stephen Wallace

'The Slap' producers "fascinated" by show's success

Rebecca Davies, Digital Spy, reports

The Slap's producers have revealed that they find its success "fascinating". 

The Australian television drama starring Sophie Okonedo, Jonathan LaPaglia and Melissa George - which looks into the repercussions for a group of friends after one of them slaps another's child at a barbecue - has now been picked up by a US television network.

Producer Helen Bowden told The ABC: "The Slap is selling everywhere, right around the world. There's been a huge interest in it. It's a fascinating idea that something so Australian is translating so well." 

Around 700 producers - including Bowden - are currently gathering in Sydney for the SPAA Conference 2011, hoping to help the Aussie television industry evolve further. 

Brian Rosen from the Screen Producers Association said: "If we want to have an Australian voice, if we want an Australian audience, if we want to find Australian content, then we need to support [the industry] stronger than we do." 

Screen producers are reportedly fighting for the support of the government and for increased tax offsets for all screen content, to bring it into line with the 40% available only to movies.  

Bowden said of the move: "It would bring a lot more money into the industry, generate productivity and result in a lot more content." 

Although independent financing of Australian screen content has been scarce in the past few years, it is believed that private investors are gradually returning and producers are talking of an industry turnaround. 

The Slap is currently being aired on BBC Four in the UK and has been a huge ratings success in Australia.

Jonathan LaPaglia hires Aussie accent coach to iron out the Americanisms

Story by Richard Clune, The Sunday Telegraph 

HE HAS carved out a successful small-screen career in the US, but Anthony LaPaglia's little brother says he found himself ill-prepared to make his television debut on home soil - because he couldn't do an Australian accent.

After spending 17 years in the US appearing on shows such as Law and Order, The Sopranos and Bones, Jonathan LaPaglia ruefully admitted he had to hire a dialect coach to reclaim his Aussie twang for new ABC series The Slap.

"I am ashamed, it was weirdly tough. By the end of the day I'd be, like, 'I got it' - and then I'd wake up and be f ... . . g American again," he told The Sunday Telegraph.

Despite the unexpected accent challenges, LaPaglia said he was thrilled to be finally making his Aussie debut at the age of 42, when The Slap premiered on the ABC last Thursday with an impressive audience of 946,000, making it the fifth-most watched program.

LaPaglia, who plays Hector in the series - about the breakdown of a group of friends after one of them slaps another's child for misbehaving at a barbecue - said he was long overdue for a local gig.

"I kind of did things ass backwards. I wasn't really established as an actor in Australia and most actors establish themselves there and then come to America," he said.

"Five years ago I started thinking about working back in Australia. I'm like most actors, lazy, so I didn't do anything about it and then a couple of years ago I got approached by an agent and we hooked up and [The Slap] came together."

The younger LaPaglia turned to acting after becoming disillusioned with medicine and credits his sibling with providing the motivation to change careers.

"I spent a couple of years working in the emergency room," he said.

"It was halfway through medicine I started to get disillusioned and wanted a creative outlet ... my brother was definitely an influence."

The Slap is on the ABC on Thursday nights