Tony Cavanaugh

Tony Cavanaugh began his career at Crawford Productions, working on a film crew from the age of sixteen. After reaching the position of Camera Assistant and focus puller, he joined the script department as an editor. Tony script edited and wrote episodes of "The Sullivans", "Carson's Law", "Zoo Family", the telemovie "I Live With Me Dad", the mini-series "Black Boomerang" for Crawfords and Telemunchen before co-creating, story editing and writing _"Flying Doctors, The" (1985/II)_, a long running, highly successful series for the Nine Network. Tony left Crawfords in the late 1980s and worked for Barron Films where he adapted the book "Clowning Sim" into a mini-series, "Clowning Around", which he also wrote. He also story edited and wrote the sequel, "Clowning Around Encore". Both of these mini-series were co-productions with the BBC and Nickelodeon. During the late 80s he worked on the ABC mini-series "Cassidy" as a script editor, the Australian Children's Television Foundation's "Lift Off" as a story editor and writer, and for all the networks and major production companies as a writer, script editor, story editor or series doctor. He worked on the development of shows as diverse as "Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left", a sci-fi adventure for kids, and "Cluedo", the board game turned into live action game show. He also worked exclusively on all the early Jonathon M. Shiff productions as writer and story editor. He assessed scripts for Tony Ginnane's IFM and for various state and federal government funding bodies. He lectured and taught at the Australian Film School and wrote reviews for "Cinema Papers". In 1989 Tony wrote and produced _Father (1989)_, a picture directed by John Power and starring Max von Sydow and Carol Drinkwater. The screenplay for "Father" was short-listed for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and the film earned AFI awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. In 1990 he was hired by Communicado in New Zealand to story and script edit "Once Were Warriors". Tony guided the original screenplay, by Alan Duff, to its final on-screen dramatic form. In 1991 he formed Liberty Films with Simone North. Its first production, created and produced by Tony and Simone, was Fire (1995), a thirteen part mini-series for the Seven Network. It was the highest rating Australian made show in ten years when it went to air in 1993. Earning two Logie nominations for Best and Most Popular mini-series, "Fire" went into a second season in 1994. It has been sold to all territories around the world. In 1995 Liberty Films formed a co-venture company, Liberty & Beyond Pty Ltd. with the Beyond Group. Liberty & Beyond is owned and run by Simone, Tony Cavanaugh, Mikael Borglund and Ian Ingram. The first production created and produced under the Liberty & Beyond banner was "Adrenalin Junkies" (known as Adrenalin Junkies (1996) in Australia) for the Ten Network. A telemovie was produced in 1995, followed by three seasons of the series, which lasted on-air until 1998. "Adrenalin Junkies" has been sold to most major territories around the world. In 1998 Simone and Tony created and produced The Day of the Roses (1998), a four part mini-series for the Ten Network. Based on real life events surrounding the worst train crash in Australia's history, the mini-series was one of the highest rating shows of the year. It was awarded a Logie for Best Mini Series, an AWGIE award for Best Screenplay, an ACS award for Best Cinematography, a Music Industry award for Best Music, the Australian Make-Up artist's award for Best Make Up, and AFI awards for Best Screenplay, Best Direction and Best Mini Series. In early 2000 Simone and Tony produced The Love of Lionel's Life (2000), a telemovie for the Ten Network. Starring Matt Day and Alex Dimitriades, it was directed by John Ruane. Voted the Best telemovie or mini-series for 2000 by the Melbourne Age, it was a ratings success for the network. In late 2000 Simone and Tony commenced another telemovie for the Ten Network, "Finding Hope", starring Rebecca Gibney. Filming took place in outback Queensland and Glasgow. "Finding Hope" was screened in 2001 to both great reviews and excellent ratings. Tony is on the board of the Australian National Screenwriters Conference. Tony and Simone also share a joint venture arrangement with Thom Mount and have a number of projects in development with The Mount Company in Los Angeles. They are also producers on "Nine Miles Down" to be directed by Anthony Waller. As Liberty & Beyond, Tony and Simone have developed and produced over eighty hours of prime time drama television, worth over $40 million, in Brisbane.