by FilmInk Staff
ABC and Screen Australia are thrilled to announce Fresh Blood pilots, Urvi Went to an All Girls School and Westerners, will premiere Wednesday 9 April on ABC iview.
Both uniquely hilarious, the pilots are part of the joint initiative which supports emerging Australian talent and innovative storytelling.
Urvi Went To An All Girls School is a coming-of-age comedy about one teen girl’s survival, with disastrous and hilarious consequences. Urvi (Urvi Majumdar) is an awkward, unpopular 16-year-old girl entering Year 11, at the painfully academic, selective public school Grogan Girls High. She desperately wants to become a famous actress, and dreams of being noticed by Hot Ryan, the hottest Year 12 at Grogan Boys.
Urvi’s school year looks doomed. Her little sister Maya has skipped a grade and joined forces with Urvi’s school bullies, her parents want her to become a doctor and the only boy she knows is her dad. That is until a Grogan Girls alumni turned soap actress named Sophie turns up out of the blue to direct the Grogan Girls and Boys combined school musical. Urvi finally sees a path to stardom – and sacrifices her other subjects (and her sanity) to pursue her dream.
Westerners follows three young diaspora adults navigating the chaos of life in Western Sydney, where even the simplest tasks spiral into the surreal.
Jackie (Natasha Cheng), a struggling artist, makes a deal with the Devil to cure her creative block. Taz (Sana’a Shaik) must choose between living with share house mould or even worse: moving back in with her parents. Dulla (Ubai Dahoud) can’t walk down the street without being chased by a horde of women who all want to play matchmaker. Between existential crises and absurd misadventures, they’re just trying to live their version of an ordinary life.
Both pilots will also make their broadcast debuts on ABC TV with Urvi Went to an All Girls School premiering Wednesday 9 April at 9pm and Westerners on Wednesday 16 April at 9pm.
Always free and Always entertaining, watch all your favourite comedy and entertainment programs on ABC iview now.
Production credit: Commissioned by the ABC, Urvi Went to an All Girls School is a Buxstock Entertainment production. Principal production funding from Screen Australia. Created by Urvi Majumdar. Directed by Nina Oyama. Produced by Lauren Nichols. Written by Urvi Majumdar & Nina Oyama. ABC Executive Producer Rowdie Walden. ABC Head of Entertainment: Rachel Millar
Production Credit: Commissioned by the ABC, Westerners is a Haven’t You Done Well Productions. Principal production funding from Screen Australia. Created by Munasib Hamid and Kevin Duo Han. Directed by Munasib Hamid. Written by Kevin Duo Han and Mark Mariano. Produced by Monique Mulcahy. Executive Producers Rowdie Walden for ABC and Georgia Mappin, Sam Lingham, Max Miller, Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly, Thomas Zahariou and Zachary Ruane for Haven’t You Done Well Productions. ABC Head of Entertainment: Rachel Millar
