Image: Josh Thomas won Best Screenplay in Television; Please Like Me is pretty close to the spirit of the whole awards show on TV.
In the hands of CEO Damian Trewhella and President Alan Finney, the AACTA Awards have a very clear function. They must help to imprint the sector in the hearts and minds of the Australian public, like the arts version of our national passion for sport.
That is a hard ask and the industry has plugged away at the task for an entire generation, while the world has grown more complex, borders have fallen and old affections have given way to the impatient itch for spectacle. We know that times are changing when agents are thanked and producers have tatts.