Paul Fenech

Paul Fenech (born 21 November 1972)[2] is an Australian filmmaker, film and television actor, director, producer and writer.[3] He is best known for writing, directing, producing and starring in the television series Pizza, Swift and Shift Couriers, Housos and Bogan Hunters and the motion pictures Fat Pizza (2003), Housos vs. Authority (2012), Fat Pizza vs. Housos (2014) and Dumb Criminals: The Movie (2015).

For the Maltese international footballer, see Paul Fenech (footballer).

Paul Fenech
Paul Fenech on left in 2017
Born
Paul Fenech

(1972-11-21) 21 November 1972 [1]
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationFilmmaker, film and television actor, director, producer and writer
Years active1995–present

Career

Early in his career, Fenech directed More Than Legends, a documentary highlighting Aboriginal culture through the eyes of elders from the Nyungar (W.A.), Arrernte (N.T.) and Tiwi (N.T.) groups.[4]

He first achieved prominence by winning third place in Sydney's annual Tropfest short film festival in 1995 for a biographical short entitled Pizza Man based on his experiences as a pizza delivery driver. He won the Tropfest award for best film in 1998 for Intolerance, although he had submitted the film under the pseudonym Laura Feinstein to appeal to the sensitivities of the judges, particularly Tropfest founder John Polson, who hoped that a female director would win the award.[5]

Fenech was then able to secure a deal with Australian community broadcaster SBS to produce a sitcom based on his short film. Entitled Pizza, and premiering in 2000, it ran for five seasons, with the final season airing in 2007. A full-length motion picture based on the series entitled Fat Pizza was released in 2003. Over a decade later, Fenech combined the storyline of Pizza with that of his third SBS Series Housos to create the feature film Fat Pizza vs. Housos.[6][7][8][9][10]

Following the success of Pizza, he created the sitcom series Swift and Shift Couriers. Series 1 began airing on SBS on 27 October 2008 and Series 2 premiered on 15 August 2011.[11][12]

His third television show for SBS, Housos, first aired on 24 October 2011. To date, two series have been produced, in addition to two full-length, cinematically-released motion pictures, Housos vs. Authority (2012) and Fat Pizza vs. Housos (2014). Housos won the award for Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program at the 2014 Logie Awards.[9][13]

Fenech's most recent program Bogan Hunters, a combination of comedy and reality television, began airing on 13 May 2014 on 7mate and was the channel's highest-rating entertainment program and second highest rating show to date.[14][15]

Filmography
Feature films
Year Title Credit Role Notes
2018 That's Not My Dog! Himself
2015 Dumb Criminals: The Movie Director, writer, producer and executive producer Rabbit
2014 Fat Pizza vs. Housos Director, writer, producer and executive producer Franky Falzoni/Pauly Falzoni
2012 Housos vs. Authority Director, writer, producer and editor Franky Falzoni
2003 Fat Pizza Director, writer and producer Pauly Falzoni/Alfredo Falzoni
1999 Somewhere in the Darkness Lawnmower Man
Television
Year Title Credit Role

Notes

2018 Deadly Down Under Presenter, Creator Pauly 10 episodes
Drunk History Australia Jesse Dowson Pilot
2015 Dumb Criminals Motorcycle Club Creator, director, writer and producer Rabbit
Summernats and the Hunt for the Great Aussie Hoon Pauly TV Movie
2014 Bogan Hunters Creator, director, writer and producer Host 10 episodes
2013 Celebrity Splash! Contestant Himself [16]
2011–2013; 2020 Housos Creator, director, writer and producer Franky Falzoni 18 Episodes
2008–2011 Swift and Shift Couriers Paul 'Mario' Gauci 19 Episodes
2006 World Record Pizza Pauly Falzoni 6 Episodes
2006 The Da Vinci Cup 3 Episodes
2004 Pizza: Special Deliveries 10 Episodes
2004 Pizza Live 5 Episodes
2000–2007; 2019 Pizza / Fat Pizza / Fat Pizza: Back in Business 49 episodes
1999 The 50 Foot Show Director
1998 Heartland Title Design Mini-series
Short films
Year Title Credit Role Notes
1998 Intolerance Director and producer
1997 Dangerous Pizza Director, writer and producer
1996 Space Pizza
1995 Pizza Man
1994 More Than Legends Director and writer

Awards and nominations

Tropfest

  • 1998: Best Film (Intolerance, won)

Slamdance Film Festival

  • 1999: Grand Jury Prize (Somewhere in the Darkness, nominated)

Logie Awards

  • 2001: Most Outstanding Comedy Program (Pizza, nominated)
  • 2002: Most Outstanding Comedy Program (Pizza, nominated)
  • 2004: Most Outstanding Comedy Program (Pizza, nominated)
  • 2005: Most Outstanding Comedy Program (Pizza, nominated)
  • 2014: Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program (Housos, won)

Australian Comedy Awards

  • 2003: Outstanding Australian TV Comedy – character based (Pizza, nominated)

Australian Writers' Guild

  • 2011: Comedy – Situation or Narrative (Housos, nominated)

Charity Work

In 2014, Fenech broke the Guinness World Record for 'Most Self Portrait (selfie) Photographs Taken in 24 hours’, taking a total of 2408. In order to qualify, each 'selfie' photograph had to be taken with a different participant. The event was held to raise money and awareness for Barnardo's Australia.[17]

References
  1. "Our Authors: Paul Fenech". Pan Macmillan Australia. 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  2. "Our Authors: Paul Fenech". Pan Macmillan Australia. 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  3. "Ohmoy Gourd!". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 August 2003. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  4. "More than legends [videorecording]". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  5. Bookallil, Simon, Gone Troppo (documentary), 2004
  6. "Interview With Pauly Fenech". Dimensions. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 July 2003. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  7. "Triple J Film Reviews – Fat Pizza". Triple J. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  8. Woodhead, Cameron (2 March 2006). "Pizza: Subwoofers Of Mass Seduction". The Age. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  9. "Fat Pizza Vs Housos". Hoyts. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  10. Vagg, Stephen (18 August 2019). "Australian Movie Stars". Filmink.
  11. Molitorisz, Sacha (6 November 2008). "Fast delivery of a shifty crew". The Age. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  12. "Episodes". SBS. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  13. "Victory for Aussie battlers at the Logies". SBS. 27 April 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  14. "Bogan Hunters is car-crash TV says creator Paul Fenech". Sydney Morning Herald. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  15. "Sarah Ferguson grilling tops ABC1". TV Tonight. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  16. http://au.tv.yahoo.com/celebrity-splash/cast/article/-/16839292/pauly-fenech/
  17. "PAUL FENECH SNAGS NEW WORLD RECORD!!". FilmINK. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
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