The multi-award winning web series Gut Feeling, created by AFTRS Masters graduate Hattie Archibald, premieres in Australia on ABC iview this Friday 8 May.
Creator/Director Hattie Archibald completed Gut Feeling as her final project for her Master of Arts Screen: Directing at AFTRS in 2018. The series has collected multiple awards around the world (full list below), including the 2019 People’s Choice awards at Melbourne and Minnesota Webfests.
Gut Feeling is a comedy web series about learning how – and when – to trust your gut. The 3 x 12 minute series stars Bridie Connell of Tonightly with Tom Ballard fame. In the series, Bridie Connell plays Liv, a 28-year-old advertising creative, who is pretty happy: good job, nice Sydney apartment, and a good enough relationship with her boyfriend Luke (Liam Seymour). Things are ticking along nicely, until the day she meets her intuition Uta.
With Bridie Connell playing dual roles of both Liv and Uta, the show plays out as a romantic comedy about a girl and her gut. Boasting an amazing line-up of local comedy actors Susie Youssef (The Project), Alex Lee (The Checkout), Greta Lee-Jackson (Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am), and Jeanette Cronin (Wrong Kind of Black), Gut Feeling is laugh-out-loud funny with a warm message about self-love.
Originally from rural NSW, Hattie Archibald is an emerging director, writer and producer with a background in documentary impact producing. Since graduating, Hattie has shadowed a director on Home & Away and worked as a 1st Assistant Director on projects including the feature film Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt) and on Rocky & Me for ABC ME, for which she was also an associate producer alongside producer Emily Bull. Hattie’s other directing credits include the short films The Rehearsal, Asymptotes, The Brazilian and Sac’rebleu, and a range of online content.
“‘Gut Feeling’ is indicative of the incredibly high standard of work created recently by students in the AFTRS Masters program. For example, as well as the success Hattie Archibald has had with the series, writer/director Samuel Van Grinsven’s Masters project, the feature film ‘Sequin in a Blue Room’, has been acclaimed at many film festivals in Australia and around the world.”
- Lyn Norfor, AFTRS Head of Producing and Production
Gut Feeling was created and directed by Hattie Archibald, written by Bridie Connell and produced by Emily Bull of HelloFuture.tv. The director of photography was Toby Jonathan Petch, with production design by Mathilda Robba, editing by James Cowie and Sarah Panzetta, sound design by Nathan Turnbull and original music composed by Mark Douglas Williams.
The series was financed through AFTRS, with the support of HelloFuture, Spectrum Films and the donations of individuals through two crowdfunding campaigns.
Gut Feeling will be available from 7am Friday 8 May on ABC iview. Find out more about the series here.
Screener link available on request.
Full list of awards:
2019 MELBOURNE WEBFEST – People’s Choice Award
2019 MELBOURNE WEBFEST – Best Student Series
2019 SYDNEY WEBFEST – Best Series
2019 SYDNEY WEBFEST – Best Comedy Screenplay
2019 MINNESOTA WEBFEST – Audience Choice Award
2019 MINNESOTA WEBFEST – Best Comedic Performance (Bridie Connell)
2019 TORONTO WEBFEST – Best Lead Performance (Bridie Connell)
Other nominations and selections include:
NYC WEBFEST – Best Director (Hattie Archibald), Best International Web Series (Hattie Archibald, Emily Bull), Best Actress (Bridie Connell); SEOUL WEBFEST – Best Screenplay, Best Comedy, Best Actress (Bridie Connell); STAREABLE – Best Comedy; WEBFEST BERLIN – Best Comedy, TORONTO WEBFEST – Best Comedy; MINNESOTA WEBFEST – Best Dramedy and Best Student; SYDNEY WEBFEST – Best Comedy; SANTA MONICA WEBFEST – Official Selection 2020; MIAMI WEBFEST – Official Selection 2021. The series was also selected to be presented at Cannes MIPCOM 2019 as part of the ‘Best of Short Form’ showcase, and to be further developed for SVOD through the 2019 Graduate Incubator Program from AFTRS and The Studio.
CREDITS
Director/creator/producer: Hattie Archibald
Writer/lead actor: Bridie Connell
Producer: Emily Bull
Production designer: Mathilda Robba
Director of photography: Toby Petch
Composer: Mark Douglas Williams
Starring: Jeannette Cronin, Alex Lee, Greta Lee Jackson, Liam Seymour, Sussie Youssef