Crime Casters starts shooting in Melbourne soon

The production company set up by Australian comedy troupe Aunty Donna is making its first feature film, a comedy thriller called Crime Casters.

The company, Haven't You Done Well Productions,  is due to start shooting this month in and around Melbourne.

Crime Casters follows Claire, a young journalist whose plan to make a true-crime podcast in a small country town goes wrong after she sees a policeman dumping a body. She ends up caught up in conspiracies and cover-ups involving sinkholes, UFOlogists, missing podcasters, a dead billionaire and a perfectionist audio engineer.

It is directed by Max Miller, pictured, who regularly directs Aunty Donna’s work, and has been written by Scott Limbrick, who has performed multiple character comedy shows on the Australian festival circuit.

Producers are keen to point out this  is not an ‘Aunty Donna film’ but tease that the trio of  Mark Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane, might make cameo appearances. 

Miller said: 'Growing up as a passionate comedy fan and a wannabe filmmaker there has been no bigger dream for me than to direct a comedy feature. Crime Casters is an hilariously wild and fun ride that takes all the experience I've had in comedy to the big screen. It's also a genre and style of film we've been missing and we have the perfect team to bring this to life.'

The film – whose cast has not yet been announced – has backing from Screen Australia and VicScreen, among others.

Screen Australia's director of narrative content, Louise Gough, said: 'It's utterly brilliant to see the experienced creative team behind the celebrated comedy export Aunty Donna make the leap from online and television to their debut feature film. 

‘With their trademark quirky and unmistakably Australian humour, Crime Casters blends small-town mystery, conspiracy theories and the globally popular true crime genre into a comedy that is sure to entertain audiences both here and around the world.'

VicScreen's chief executive, Caroline Pitcher, called Crime Casters ‘a brilliantly funny and gloriously absurd adventure that comedy fans are going to adore’. 

Haven't You Done Well has previously made Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun and Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe. It also runs Grouse House TV, an online platform for comedy creators.

Published: 3 Aug 2026