Thomas Duncan-Watt

Thomas Duncan-Watt is an Australian screenwriter and playwright.[1] He has won three AWGIE awards[2][3][4] for his screenplays from five nominations.[5][6][7] His work on UK series Dennis & Gnasher earned the series its first BAFTA nomination.[8][9][10] In 2017, he was one of the mentors at the Arts/Screen Hackathon, along with Sarah Houbolt and others, which was organized by Australia Council for the Arts.[11] In 2021, he won the Johne Hinde Award for Excellence in Science Fiction Writing for his work on the series Space Nova.[12] In 2022 his original series The Eerie Chapters of Chhaya was announced as the winner of the Kindred co-production initiative between the ABC and CBC networks.[13]

Thomas Duncan-Watt
Born
Sydney, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, Playwright
Years active2012−present
Known forDennis & Gnasher
Pirate Express
Winston Steinburger & Sir Dudley Ding-Dong
Beat Bugs
Alien TV
Space Nova
Home and Away
AwardsAustralian Screenwriters Guild Award
John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science Fiction
Websitewww.thomasduncanwatt.com

Career

TV writing

Duncan-Watt began his career as a writer on Australian comedy series Good News Week.[14] His series credits include Dennis & Gnasher, Pirate Express, Winston Steinburger & Sir Dudley Ding-Dong,[15] Beat Bugs, Alien TV. In 2018, Duncan-Watt was brought on as one of the writers on sci-fi action series Space Nova,[16] for which he also wrote the pilot.[17] The series was subsequently nominated for two AWGIE awards, with Duncan-Watt winning the award for his episode Ghost Station. In 2019, Duncan-Watt, and collaborator, Suren Perera won Best in Show[18][19] at the Asian Animation Summit in Seoul for their 'original concept', Escape from Pirate Asylum.[20][21] Duncan-Watt and Perera were also the first international winners of the Ottawa Animation Festival’s ‘Pitch THIS’ competition, for their original series, Owl & Cloud.[22][23][24]

Plays

Duncan-Watt is the co-creator of two comedy plays, Thank You For Being a Friend[25][26] and That Golden Girls Show: A Puppet Parody,[27][28] both of which use Muppets-style puppets to parody the 1980s television series The Golden Girls.[29] Thank You For Being a Friend toured Canada, where it won ‘Best Independent Theatre Production’ at the Broadway World Awards.[30] That Golden Girls Show: A Puppet Parody debuted in 2016 Off-Broadway. The show commenced a US tour in 2019.[31][32]

Thank You For Being a Friend lawsuit

In 2016, Duncan-Watt, with the producers of the show Thank You For Being a Friend, Neil Gooding and Matthew Henderson, sued long-term collaborator Jonathan Rockefeller and his companies in New York state court over his puppet parody "That Golden Girls Show!"; alleged breaches of the license agreement, fraud, tortious interference with contract, defamation, other claims.[33] The complaint by Duncan-Watt and his producers claimed that Rockefeller "stole the show"; deprived them of royalties; and harassed them.[34] The suit was only partially dismissed in 2018 with presiding Judge Justice Andrea Masley allowing several complaints against Rockefeller to proceed.[33]

In a separate case in Australia filed in 2017, Rockefeller and his company sued Duncan-Watt for defamation. In 2020, the Federal Court of Australia dismissed Rockefeller's defamation claims.[35][36] In his ruling, Justice Thomas Thawley concluded that the Gooding's post was not defamatory because it was "substantially true" that Rockefeller had stolen the show from Duncan-Watt.[35][37][38]

Awards and accolades
Year Award By For Nomination

/Won

2014 British Academy Film Awards The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Dennis & Gnasher Nominated
2015 AWGIE Awards Australian Writers' Guild Pirate Express Nominated
2017 AWGIE Award for Best Screenplay Australian Writers' Guild Winston Steinburger & Sir Dudley Ding-Dong Nominated
2017 AWGIE Award for Best Screenplay, C- Classification Australian Writers' Guild The Deep Won
2018 British Academy Film Awards The British Academy of Film and Television Arts The Deep Nominated
2019 AWGIE Award for Best Screenplay, Animation Australian Writers' Guild Beat Bugs Won
2020 AWGIE Award for Best Screenplay, Animation Australian Writers' Guild Space Nova Won
2021 John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science Fiction Australian Writers' Guild Space Nova Won

Citations
  1. "Thomas Duncan-Watt - The Screen Guide". Screen Australia. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  2. "AWGIE wins for 'Hearts and Bones', 'Penguin Bloom', 'The Hunting', 'Total Control'". IF Magazine. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  3. Groves, Don (12 July 2019). "Nominees for the 52nd annual AWGIE Awards announced". IF Magazine. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  4. Maddox, Garry (25 August 2017). "Hacksaw Ridge and Lion win but Leah Purcell's The Drover's Wife dominates Awgies". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  5. "Mustangs FC, Beat Bugs Writers Win 2019 AWGIE Awards". The Australian Children's Television Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  6. "Little J and Big Cuz, Mustangs FC, Space Nova Writers Receive AWGIE Awards". The Australian Children's Television Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  7. "2019 AWGIE Children's Nominees Announced". The Australian Children's Television Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  8. "Aussie Duo Wins 2016 Pitch This! Competition with 'Owl and Cloud'". Animation World Network. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  9. "Beano: Reinventing the iconic British brand". www.bafta.org. 22 October 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  10. "Thomas Duncan-Watt - ABOUT". www.thomasduncanwatt.com. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  11. "Arts/Screen Hackathon | Australia Council". www.australiacouncil.gov.au. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  12. Slatter, Sean (16 May 2022). "Thomas Duncan-Watt wins 2021 John Hinde Award for 'Space Nova'". IF Magazine. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  13. Slatter, Sean (15 November 2022). "ABC and Canada's CBC renew agreement, announce Kindred projects". IF Magazine. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  14. "NSW Write Night: TV Comedy Panel". Australian Writers' Guild. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  15. "Winston Steinburger & Sir Dudley Ding Dong (2016) - The Screen Guide - Screen Australia". www.screenaustralia.gov.au. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  16. "Space Nova (2021) - The Screen Guide - Screen Australia". www.screenaustralia.gov.au. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  17. "Space Nova's Journey to Screen". ACTF Blog. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  18. "ESCAPE FROM PIRATE ASYLUM. Co Creators Suren Perera and Thomas Duncan-Watt for Pop Family Entertainment.A Image". FilmInk. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  19. "Escape From Pirate Asylum named Best In Show at 2019 Asian Animation Summit | CLPR". clpr.com.au. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  20. "ESCAPE FROM PIRATE ASYLUM NAMED BEST IN SHOW AT ASIAN ANIMATION SUMMIT 2019". FilmInk. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  21. Knox, David. "Aussies recognised at Asian Animation Summit | TV Tonight". Tvtonight. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  22. "Aussie Duo Wins 2016 Pitch This! Competition with 'Owl and Cloud'". Animation World Network. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  23. ""Owl and Cloud" wins "Pitch This!" at OIAF 2016". Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  24. "OIAF opens submissions for Pitch THIS! competition". Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  25. Webster, Andy (23 January 2014). "The Golden Girls, in a Shade of Pink". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  26. "Thank You for being a Friend | The American Sitcom: Half an Hour Well Spent". sites.psu.edu. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  27. "Sex and the Senior Citizens". www.northernexpress.com. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  28. Makin, Bob. "Avenel PAC presents puppet parody of 'Golden Girls' TV show". MyCentralJersey.com. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  29. "That Golden Girls Show! a puppet parody". uispac.com. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  30. Henry, Alan. "Winners Announced For The 2017 BroadwayWorld Toronto Awards; COME FROM AWAY Wins Best Musical!". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  31. "StackPath". www.citybeat.com. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  32. Runnells, Charles. "'The Golden Girls' are back — as puppets! Parody recreates TV sitcom in Bonita Springs". The News-Press. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  33. "Duncan-Watt v. Rockefeller, 2018 N.Y. Slip Op. 30678". Retrieved 26 June 2021 – via Casetext.com.
  34. Barone, Joshua; Chow, Andrew R. (23 October 2016). "Lawsuit Filed Over 'Golden Girls' Puppet Parody". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  35. "JWR Productions Australia Pty Ltd v Duncan-Watt (No 2) [2020] FCA 236". www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  36. "Rocking the boat – Rockefeller sues co-creators of Broadway puppet show". www.allens.com.au. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  37. Michaela Whitbourn, Court throws out defamation fight over Golden Girls parody puppet show, Sydney Morning Herald (March 8, 2020).
  38. Stephen Brook & Samantha Hutchinson, AFL goes to great lengths to calm Olympic-size ruckus, The Age (July 23, 2021).
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