Born: Established: 1955 ;
Script-writer David Ogilvy's first work in the performing arts was in the theatre, where he worked both with Nigel Triffitt and for the parent company of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. Following ten years in the theatre, he undertook a directing course at what was then Swinburne College (now Victorian College of Arts).
After working as a director, he moved into script-writing, and spent twenty years as a freelance writer, script editor, and script producer, in both children's and adult drama. His first scripts were for Let the Blood Run Free, the short-lived sit-com that satirised day-time hospital soap operas. From here, he moved into a period of writing specifically for children's dramas, including Return to Jupiter, Wild Kat, and Outriders.
From 2000 onwards, he focused more heavily on adult dramas, including White Collar Blue, The Secret Life of Us, and Young Lions, but continued to produce scripts for such children's dramas as Blue Water High and Double Trouble.
Ogilvy's scripts for White Collar Blue were the beginning of what would be a productive association with Steve Knapman and Kris Wyld's production company Knapman Wyld Television, including writing scripts for The Strip and acting as both script writer and script producer for the award-winning drama East West 101. He continued to produce scripts for children's drama during the same period, including for Lockie Leonard and Dance Academy.
In November 2010, Ogilvy joined the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) as Commissioning Editor of Fiction. Since this move, his work as executive producer has included Crownies, The Straits, and Mabo.
A co-Australian and German television series, Dance Academy revolves around Tara Webster, a young woman who has grown up on property in outback Australia all the while dreaming of becoming a dancer. When she makes it into the National Academy of Dance, Tara realises that her life is about to change forever. As the series progresses, she also comes to realise that she is not alone in this journey.
Series One of East West 101 focuses on two men whose destinies are irrevocably intertwined. Malik is driven by a hunger for justice. He was twelve when a masked gunman held up the family shop. Malik refused to hand over the money and his father was subsequently shot and injured. He later joined the police force and has been looking for the shadowy figure who pulled the trigger. When he finally finds him, Malik's belief in the justice system is challenged by a powerful desire for revenge. As he hunts down the truth, it is revealed that one of his colleagues, Crowley, had a part to play in the original investigation. Crowley is a man whose vision has been blighted by pain and prejudice. His son, Paul, was found dead of an overdose on drugs sold to him by a Lebanese dealer. When the drug dealer who sold Paul the heroin is found murdered, Internal Affairs come asking questions.
In Season Two, East West 101 expands to seven episodes as the Major Crime Squad investigate crime and murder in all quarters of multicultural Sydney. But overarching all is the quest for Detective Zane Malik to find the truth behind a car bomb attack which kills two men. The Major Crime Squad form a joint task force with the NSO (National Security Organisation) to deal with the crime. There is paranoia in the city and fallout on the Muslim community. Malik knows that in order to stop the circle of hate, he must solve the crime. Was the bomb really an act of extremists, as the media suggest, or a sophisticated killing by a career criminal? Malik doggedly pursues the truth until he, too, becomes a target. Inspector Patricia Wright questions his motives but her vision is clouded by personal issues that she wants to keep hidden from the squad. Crime has touched her own family.
Season Three : The Hero's Journey. 'In [this] third season of East West 101, the Major Crime Squad investigates a 36 million dollar robbery in Australia and its connections to the murder of 17 people in Afghanistan. Is the robbery to fund an act of terror by military trained radicals, or the work of sophisticated criminals? For Detective Zane Malik the case has savage personal and professional ramifications. Malik is obstructed in his quest to find those responsible by the interference of newcomer Detective Neil Travis. Travis has fought in Iraq and his attitude and approach to the investigation cause conflict with Malik. In the hunt for an elusive foe, ultimately both men are forced to confront what makes a man a hero, or a coward...'
(Source: East West 101, SBS website)
Based upon the novels by Western Australian author Tim Winton, the series revolves around 12-year-old Lockie Leonard, a surf rat whose family moves to the most remote town on Earth, Angelus. Lockie's convinced that this is a total disaster. He has no friends, a new school, and a house that is truly in danger of disappearing into a swamp. But then Lockie spots the one thing that makes it all okay. This weird little town has the best surf he has ever seen.