Magpie Pictures options Emma Grey novel, appoints Fiona Eagger and Quan Phung as advisors
Fiona Eagger and Quan Phung
Australian indie production company Magpie Pictures has accelerated development of its new slate and taken on two industry-leading advisors for its next stage of growth, which is being supported by Screen Australia’s Enterprise funding.
The prodco has optioned the screen rights to Australian author Emma Grey’s novel Picture of You, a bestseller in Oz and the US. A redemption love story, it centres on a forensic linguist who suffers amnesia after a car crash that killed her husband.
Magpie Pictures founder and producer Lois Randall will produce the series, with Matt Kelly as exec producer.
Grey said: “From the outset, Magpie Pictures has shared my vision to capture the light and shade in this story, and my desire to translate the novel’s powerful contemporary messages for a fresh audience. I’m thrilled to be working with Lois and the team.”
The emerging slate from Magpie Pictures also includes The Dark Horse & The Hummingbird, an original mystery thriller series created by Lâle Teoman and set in New South Wales’s Blue Mountains, plus dramedy Provenance, which is written by Giula Sandler and based on the Melbourne-set mystery stories by Katherine Kovacic.
“We have curated a slate focused on impactful stories from Australian female creators that will engage and entertain Australian and international audiences,” said Randall.
The two advisors appointed by the regional prodco are veteran Australian producer Fiona Eagger, the co-founder of Australian production company Every Cloud Productions, and LA-based screen executive and producer Quan Phung of Miquan Productions.
Phung said: “I’m thrilled to serve as an advisor for Magpie and a producing partner with Lois on select projects. Magpie’s already shown a keen eye in identifying fresh voices with series like Swift Street. As global audiences and buyers embrace uniquely Australian series, it’s a great time for Magpie to focus on authentic female voices that will create the next big Australian global hit.”
