Australian streaming service Stan has announced a new batch of homegrown original films and series to its offering. The announcement is on the back of a few key steps in its local content strategy, which includes a partnership with the Australian Children’s Television Foundation on a film production fund, as well an expanded partnership with Roadshow Rough Diamond on a handful of new projects, most of them related to their successful teen pregnancy drama Bump.
Seasons 2 and 3 of Bump, as well as spin-off series called Year Of were announced as part of the Roadshow Rough Diamond partnership. Season 2 is currently in production, and Year Of will focus on existing Bump characters as they deal with their final years of high school.
Topping off the Stan Rough Diamond slate is a series that’s seemingly on the completely opposite end of the tonal spectrum called Ironside. It’s based on the organised crime operation of the same name, run by the AFP and FBI, which culminated in 2021. Gregor Jordan directs and will work with Walkley award-winning journalist Nick McKenzie to write the series.
Bad Behaviour, a series based on the book of the same name by Australian author Rebecca Starford was also announced, which is ‘an emotionally and physically intense glimpse into the lives of teenage girls at the wilderness campus of an exclusive girls’ boarding school.’
Corrie Chen (New Gold Mountain, Wentworth) is set to direct Bad Behaviour, and she is joined by past collaborators Pip Karmel (New Gold Mountain) and Magda Wozniak (Mustangs FC), who will write the series. It will be produced by Amanda Higgs (The Secret Life of Us). They make up the all-female creative team. Stan will produce in partnership with Matchbox Pictures, with major funding from Screen Australia.
The final title in Stan’s batch of announcements is Christmas on the Farm, a holiday film about a New York socialite masquerading as a Queensland farmer. It follows the success of Stan’s A Sunburnt Christmas in 2020, and stars Poppy Montgomery, who executive produces, as well as Hugh Sheridan (Five Bedrooms), Darren McMullen (House Husbands) and Nicholas Brown (Wakefield).
Previously announced Stan Originals include Gold, starring Zac Efron, Justin Kurzel’s Nitram, The Portable Door with Christoph Waltz and Sam Neill, and Wolf Like Me, which stars Josh Gad and Isla Fisher, and is written/directed by Abe Forsythe.
