London – 14th October 2019 – Starstruck, a brand new six-part comedy written, created by and starring 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Rose Matafeo and produced by Avalon Television, has been picked up by ABC and TVNZ following its commission by BBC Three and HBO Max in the USA.
The 6 x 30 series will follow twenty-something Jessie (Rose Matafeo), a millennial in London juggling two dead-end jobs and navigating the awkward morning-after-the-night-before when she discovers the complications of accidentally sleeping with a film star.
Isobel Hughes, Director of Distribution, Avalon, said: “We are delighted ABC will be the home of Starstruck in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand. It is brilliant to know audiences across the globe will be engaging with Starstruck and Rose Matafeo’s refreshing millennial voice.”
Rick Kalowski, Head of Comedy, ABC, said: “ABC is thrilled to be the Australian home of Rose Matafeo’s delightful Starstruck . Already huge fans of her stand-up, and having worked with Rose on other ABC series, we loved her script, and her pilot even more. We’re incredibly excited to help bring Rose’s truly special talent to audiences around the world”.
Andrew Shaw, Deputy Director of Content, TVNZ: “Rose Matafeo is one of New Zealand’s favourite comedians. She’s brilliantly funny, incredibly witty and we can’t wait to have her back on TVNZ with this exciting new show. We love seeing homegrown talent on the world stage and we think our viewers are going to enjoy this programme as much as we do.”
Rose Matafeo is a comedian and actress who won Best Comedy Show at the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2018 for her solo show Horndog which has enjoyed sell-out performances around the world including at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival and a Barry Award nominated run at the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
Starstruck was commissioned by Shane Allen, Controller Comedy Commissioning at the BBC and Fiona Campbell, Controller of BBC Three, while the Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Gregor Sharp. Executive Producers are Rose Matafeo, Jon Thoday, Richard Allen-Turner and Rob Aslett.
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Florrie Sheehan at Avalon – [email protected]
Dan Lloyd at Avalon – [email protected]
Notes to Editors
About Rose Matafeo
Rose Matafeo won Best Comedy Show at the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2018 for her solo show Horndog which has enjoyed sell-out performances around the world including at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival and a Barry Award nominated run at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Rose’s previous credits include the three-part series Rose Matafeo: Temp for Channel 4’s Comedy Blaps, W1A (BBC Two), Have I Got News For You (BBC One), The Royal Variety Performance (ITV), and Conan (TBS). In New Zealand Rose was the head writer and star of Funny Girls (TV3) and has just completed her first lead film role in the upcoming feature Baby Done (Piki Films).
Notes to Editors:
About Avalon
Avalon is a multi-award-winning talent management, television production and live promotion group with offices in Los Angeles, New York and London. Avalon and ARG, the talent management arm, has discovered and represents many artists that are household names, both in the USA, the UK and around the world.
Avalon Television produces numerous ground-breaking television shows including: multi-Emmy and Peabody award winner Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO); multi-award winning and Emmy-nominated Catastrophe (Channel 4/Amazon Prime Video); RTS and Rose d’Or winning Not Going Out (the BBC’s longest running sitcom currently on air); BAFTA and RTS-nominated Taskmaster (DAVE/UKTV); Sky’s most successful new entertainment launch since 2010, The Russell Howard Hour (Sky); the forthcoming Breeders, co-created by Martin Freeman, Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell (FX/Sky); the recently launched Alternatino with Arturo Castro (Comedy Central USA); two seasons of Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas (HBO); and the recently green lit Starstruck, a sitcom from the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Rose Matafeo (HBO Max/BBC). As well as iconic shows including: Fantasy Football League (BBC/ITV); the multi-BAFTA award-winning TV Burp (ITV); and seven seasons of Workaholics (Comedy Central USA).
Live, Avalon produced Newman and Baddiel: Live at Wembley, the UK’s first arena comedy show; Jerry Springer: The Opera, the first West End show to win all four UK ‘Best New Musical’ awards; and has continued to produce live shows globally, as well as promoting more winners and nominees of the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award than any other company.
For Avalon news visit: www.avalonuk.com/press or follow @avalonent
