THE AUSTRALIAN – Michael Bodey

THE Americans are coming — but the Australians are also heading to the US.

As a number of local production companies merge with US partners or “dress themselves up for sale”, Essential Media & Entertainment awaits confirmation this week of whether its US adaptation of Rake will go to the Fox network.

The prospects are strong, with the pilot starring Greg Kinnear in Richard Roxburgh’s role and directed by Sam Raimi among the handful of programs Fox highlighted to US affiliates in recent weeks.

If it is picked up, it won’t catapult Essential’s principals to millionaire status, but it will show that Australian screen companies can grow by expanding internationally, says Essential chief Chris Hilton.

“It’s an opportunity, basically (if it gets up). It means they’ve heard about us, so it’s an opportunity we can capitalise on. It’s not going to set us up financially though.”

Rather than have US companies finance Australian producers here, Essential’s plan is to “set up in the US and export our IP (intellectual property) to the US and produce it and make it big there”.

As US networks and producers choose local TV series such as A Moody Christmas, When A Stranger Calls, and The Slap, Essential believes it is well placed, particularly with the appointment of Simonne Overend as its VP of drama development in its Los Angeles office.

Essential has a “factual hub” in Toronto where Kevin Healey has a stranglehold on the hidden-camera genre and access to North American networks. Its factual unit, headed by partner Sonja Armstrong and Alan Erson, has a broad range of material ranging from SBS’s hit Gourmet Farmer to big series such as Australia: The First 4 Billion Years, currently on air on PBS USA, and Time Traveller’s Guide. Its kids’ slate under Carmel Travers is also growing quickly.

“We started in factual, (Ian) Collie and I, five years ago, and that’s been the engine room for the diversification which now includes kids and, in factual, more lifestyle and food programming and factual entertainment formats in the US and Canada,” says Hilton.

Armstrong adds: “The more big budget series we’ve been doing like Australia: The Land That Time Forgot and Time Traveller’s Guide and Voyage to the Planets have all sold into America with very high ratings, so we’ve got that reputation in America where we can deliver.”

One novel aspect of its diversification is the story behind the Disney feature film Saving Mr Banks, starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson. Collie co-produced the film, releasing in December, after developing the Essential documentary about Australian PL Travers, The Shadow of Mary Poppins.

Essential’s partners (Hilton, Collie, Armstrong and Travers) are hopeful they can ride the global drama boom while tapping into their factual expertise.

“Particularly with a lot of US broadcasters like History Channel looking for historical dramas like Hatfield and McCoys and Killing Lincoln, we’re well placed in both history and factual as well as drama,” Collie says.

As producer of Peter Temple’s TV adaptations, Essential has also begun developing Jack Irish’s potential as a global crime character. “Peter Temple is open to the idea,” says Collie.

Filming on The Broken Shore telemovie, starring Don Hany, Claudia Karvan, Erik Thomson and Anthony Hayes, concluded last week as the third Jack Irish telemovie, Dead Point, starring Guy Pearce, continues pre-production. And Rake’s Cleaver Greene looks set for an American life. It all looks easy.

The partners laugh, recounting the two years of near misses and jilted lovers Rake had in the US. “We were almost at the point where we said we’ve given it our best shot but for whatever reasons it’s not going to find a home in the US,” Collie says.