You honestly don’t need to look far to see how bloody well we can punch above our weight in the TV biz – Cleverman, anyone? – but it seems some of the reeeally big players internationally are just now cottoning on to a broader range of Aussie telly goodness.
How big are we talking? Netflix big, baby. Chief content officer / binge-lord Ted Sarandos has personally let loose on his love for our #content, intimating the streaming overlords are even down to work on some original Aussie productions.
He said “Australia has such a rich production infrastructure and great talent, both in front of, and behind, the camera. There’s no reason we would not [commission] original shows for Australia.”
If we’re staying within the realm of OG Netflix content, we can summarise our emotions thusly:
Despite the company being infamously ratings-shy, Sarandos let loose that he has “friends constantly asking me about Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries [from the ABC]; when the next season is coming.” That’s a pretty big stamp of approval for original ‘Strayan TV.
Furthermore, he let loose on the Yanks‘ apparent love for Foxtel’s Wentworth, and how it’s not perceived solely as an Australian program – just a good one. He said “it’s a huge show, a big success for us everywhere,” chockers with “really interesting stories filled with very rich characters; people they want to spend a lot of time with. That really drives it.”
Netflix has been branching out internationally of late; just this week, they announced they’d be working on an Indian original series, too. Recent OG outings of our own, like Wolf Creek on Stan, have also proven this streaming bizzo might just be able to take our creative output and run with it.
What we’re getting at is GET CRACKING, TED.
Source: The Age.
Photo: Pascal La Segretain / Getty.
