Australia’s Porchlight Films To Go Dark After 23 Years

Australian production firm Porchlight Films will cease operations after 23 years of making features that include Justin Kurzel’s “True History of the Kelly Gang,” and Garth Davis’ “Mary Magdalene.” The company also produced David Michod’s 2010 Australian “Animal Kingdom” feature that sparked a successful U.S. TV series.

The three founding partners Vincent Sheehan, Liz Watts and Anita Sheehan will move on to pursue new opportunities individually. Watts and Vincent Sheehan will continue to work on projects currently in development. Anita Sheehan, MD of Porchlight since 2015, will take a short break before pursuing other business opportunities.

The three partners will retain ownership of Jetty Distribution, which will continue to manage the ongoing rights in Porchlight’s catalogue.

Productions currently being financed will continue to be produced under the Porchlight banner into 2021. These include Kitty Flanagan’s comedy series “Entitled” and Nakkiah Lui and Gabe Dowrick’s “Preppers.”

The company’s past credits include: Michod’s Netflix film “The King,” starring Timothee Chalamet, Sean Harris, and Joel Edgerton; Michod’s Guy Pearce- and Robert Pattinson-starring “The Rover”; Rachel Perkins’ “Jasper Jones,” starring Toni Collette, Levi Miller, Angourie Rice and Hugo Weaving; Cate Shortland’s German-language second feature film, “Lore”; Willem Dafoe-starrer “The Hunter”; Tony Ayres’ “The Home Song Stories”; and Rowan Woods’ “Little Fish,” starring Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving, which won 5 AFI Awards.

In TV, Porchlight’s credits include: psychological thriller “The Kettering Incident” created by Vicki Madden and Vincent Sheehan, and starring Elizabeth Debicki and Matthew Le Nevez; Peter Duncan’s political satire, “Operation Buffalo,” starring Ewen Leslie, Jessica de Gouw and James Cromwell, which is currently airing on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; and indigenous playwright Nakkiah Lui’s 2017 web comedy “Kiki and Kitty.”

In a message addressed to staff and business partners, Porchlight’s three founders said: “We have loved working together for the past 23 years and remain enormously proud of our catalogue of work. As we all move into a new phase in our careers, individually, we hope to continue to work with you all long into the future.”

Michod acknowledged his debt: “ ‘Animal Kingdom’ would not have happened without them and so, of course, I will be forever grateful to them for everything that has happened for me since.”