Betty & Frank Will Have Sex | Press Release Writing

I was enlisted to pen a media release to raise the profile of up-and-coming comedy collective The Cameralla’s burgeoning web-series Betty & Frank Will Have Sex. Tropfest 2012 winner Julian V. Costanzo, resident director with The Cameralla, wanted a lighthearted press release to send out to local filmmaking networks reflecting The Cameralla’s idiosyncratically comedic style, and I was more than happy to oblige.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 29 November 2011

Up-and-coming Melbourne filmmakers ‘The Cameralla’ in the running for $100,000 Movie Extra WebFest prize with a little help from some of their famous friends over at Aussie soap institution Neighbours.

Up-and-coming Melbourne comedy collective ‘The Cameralla’ who scooped the runner-up prize at this year’s 48 Hour Film Project Melbourne, are in the running for a $100,000 prize for their entry to the 2011 Movie Extra WebFest with their often candid, always funny and just a little bit star-studded web-series ‘Betty & Frank Will Have Sex.’

The Movie Extra WebFest sees Movie Extra and Screen Australia partner to offer aspiring filmmakers the chance to win an extraordinary $100,000 budget to produce a seven part web-series, with entrants invited to submit an original 60-second trailer and drum up as much publicity by any means possible for their entry. General voting closes on 30 November; Finalists are announced on 2 December, and the overall Winners are announced on 7 December 2011.

The Cameralla’s Movie Extra WebFest entry, ‘Betty & Frank Will Have Sex’ stars celebrated Australian comedy legend Francis Greenslade alongside Neighbours stars Benjie McNair and Orpheus Pledger in this bromantic family comedy following the exploits of two Aussie teenagers who want to take their relationship to the – sometimes squirmish – ‘next level’.

Focusing on family dynamics, strongly held opinions, and the unintentionally hilarious subject of how teenage sex is handled by our youngsters’ sometimes misguided parents, ‘Betty & Frank Will Have Sex’ deals with social and familial issues as morally ambiguous and contentious as those at the centre of smash hit The Slap, and offers a comedic insight into the tricky subject of parents, teens and sex.

At its heart, ‘Betty & Frank Will Have Sex’ revolves around two families, the Spencers: control freak politician John (Francis Greenslade), emotionally liberated stay-at-home wife Anna and hormonally burgeoning daughter Betty. While in the other corner are the eccentric Bagshawes: philosophical bogan Frank Snr (Benjie McNair), his loud-mouthed – and somewhat unstable – younger brother Bobby (Nathan Strauss, or ‘Jason from RACV’ fame), and of course, Frank Jnr (Orpheus Pledger). It soon becomes obvious that there is another romance forming between the teens’ chalk and cheese fathers as they go to great lengths to protect the ‘innocence’ of their blossoming offspring.

The Cameralla are seven young Melburnians – Troy Larkin, Nathan Strauss, Julian Vincent Costanzo, Nicholas Gunn, Dylan Watson, David Gannon and Carl J. Sorheim – who have worked together for three years, writing and performing for film and theatre. Nominated for Best Overall Performance in Melbourne Short + Sweet 2009 for their self-devised comedy piece ‘The Road to Hell’, they won the Audience Choice Award in the Melbourne 48 Hour Film Festival 2010 for their comedic film noir ‘To Abu Dhabi, with Love’ and were selected as finalists in the Movie Extra WebFest competition 2010/2011 for the trailer ‘True Brains’.

‘Betty & Frank Will Have Sex’ sees the boys from The Cameralla partnering not only with a stellar cast but with award-winning director Alethea Jones, who has come on board to direct this intriguing, insightful and laugh out loud funny web-series. Alethea’s latest short film ‘When the Wind Changes’ premiered at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) as part of its Accelerator program and has since received a slew of awards including the Inside Film Award for Best Short Film, St Kilda Film Festival’s Best Comedy prize, and the People’s Choice award at Flickerfest and St Kilda.

Betty and Frank WILL Have Sex but they need your support and more than a few votes to do so.

www.cameralla.com