Australian streaming service Stan has announced 14 new commissions, including three drama series, six feature films and five documentaries.
Chief Content Officer Cailah Scobie and Head of Originals Amanda Duthie made the announcements yesterday afternoon at an upfronts showcase held in Sydney.
‘Within a rapidly evolving and competitive landscape, Stan has reinforced itself as one of the most successful single territory SVODs in the world,’ said Stan acting Managing Director Dan Taylor.
‘From premium Stan Originals such as Black Snow and Thou Shalt Not Steal, which delighted critics and audiences alike, to acquired global hits like Yellowstone, Hacks and Twisted Metal, and a world-class sport offering including Rugby, Grand Slam Tennis and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, we continue to provide our subscribers with outstanding local and international content.
Over the past ten years, we’ve brought Australian stories to global audiences and solidified our position as the largest commissioner of Australian drama. We look forward to the next decade of screen storytelling on Stan.’
The upcoming Stan Originals include the dramas He Had It Coming and Love Divided By Eleven, previously delayed feature film Whale Shark Jack, and a horror-comedy series, Gnomes.
New Stan series heading our way: Gnomes, He Had it Coming, Love Divided by Eleven …
He Had it Coming follows Elise, an awkward English scholarship student who forms an unlikely alliance with fashion influencer Barbara after a series of mishaps with men. Drunk, in the dead of night they deface a state of their university’s male founder, and then wake up to find out a star rugby player has been murdered and displayed at the foot of their political protest.
Detective Shepherd begins following the breadcrumbs they attempt to sweep up. It stars Lydia West (It’s a Sin), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Ahsoka: Star Wars) and Liv Hewson (Yellowjackets).
He Had it Coming is created and written by Gretel Vella and Craig Anderson (Double The Fist), with writers Emme Hoy (Renegade Nell), Belinda King (Wellmania), Nicholas Cole (Bump) and Hannah Samuel (The Heights). Rachel House (Mountain) and Anne Renton (The Good Doctor) are set to direct.
Jungle Entertainment is the producer, and Vella (Totally Completely Fine), Chloe Rickard (Population 11), Shay Spencer (Wakefield), Bridget Callow-Wright (Population 11), Robert Taylor and Ellie Gibbons are executive producers. Stan’s executive producers are Cailah Scobie and Alicia Brown. Fifth Season has international sales rights.
Love Divided By Eleven is a six-part drama series from writer-directors Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope. It follows Lillian, a widow coming to terms with the death of her fiancee who finds comfort in seeking out the recipient of his donated organ.
The series stars Brooke Satchwell (Black Snow), alongside Eleanor Matsuura (The Walking Dead), Ryan Johnson (Doctor Doctor), Ben Lawson (Firefly Lane), Annie Maynard (Upper Middle Bogan), Daniel Henshall (A Sunburnt Christmas), Kerry Armstrong (Nugget is Dead: A Christmas Story), Megan Smart (Black Snow) and Khisraw Jones-Shukoor (The Newsreader).
Love Divided By Eleven was filmed across Victoria – primarily in Ballarat, Melbourne and the Yarra Valley. ‘Tender and heartfelt, Love Divided by Eleven exemplifies Stan’s commitment to championing premium local productions,’ said Scobie.
MaryAnne Carroll is the primary producer. The company Gristmill will also produce, marking its first show for the streamer. The executive producers are Butler, Hope and Greg Sitch, alongside Scobie and Brown, with. International sales will be handled by Hat Trick International. The show will premiere later this year on Stan.
Comedy-horror series Gnomes is set in a fading country town, which funds itself under siege by an army of murderous garden gnomes on the eve of a ‘Gnome-a-Palooza’ festival. Two cops, who also happen to be exes, are forced to team up with a motley crew of locals to save their home from a ‘gnome-apocalypse.’
Gnomes is set to go into production this year. It comes from Joel Kohn, who will produce alongside Total Fiction producers John Molloy (Barons) and Richard Kelly (The Tailings). The writers are Tegan Higginbotham and Paul Verhoeven.
The series will be an international co-production, with Total Fiction and Screen Invaders producing alongside co-producers Happy Accidents from the US and Network Movie in Germany. Happy Accidents is handling international distribution. Scobie and Donna Chang are executive producing for Stan.
New Stan films: Whale Shark Jack, One More Shot, and a Bump Christmas
Stan has unveiled several Stan Original-branded feature films, including the additions of Ruben Östlund’s film The Entertainment System is Down and Russell Crowe’s new Beast in Me.
ScreenHub: The Entertainment System is Down: Sharmill nabs rights to new darkly satirical Ruben Östlund film
Whale Shark Jack is a family feature film currently in production in Western Australia. It’s set in the Ningaloo Reef and follows 11-year-old Sarah, whose best friend is a whale shark named Jack. After a tragic accident, Sarah and her dad move to the coastal town of Exmouth.
Desperately wanting to return to her old life at sea, Sarah pins her hopes on Jack’s anticipated annual migration. However, when Jack fails to return, Sarah embarks on a risky mission to find him. The film is the first scripted production to be filmed entirely in the Gascoyne region.
ScreenHub: Whale Shark Jack and Drone Racers to film in WA
Time-loop comedy One More Shot is described as a ‘rom-com gone wrong’ and stars Emily Browning and Aisha Dee. It’s set on New Year’s Eve in 1999, where Minnie (Browning) has just discovered a bottle of time-travelling tequila.
Each shot takes her back to the start of the night, giving her a bottle’s worth of chances to change the course of the evening and make her ex-boyfriend, Joe, fall back in love with her before the stroke of midnight.
Saccharine is a horror film from the director of Relic. The film follows Hana, played by Midori Francis (Grey’s Anatomy, The Sex Lives of College Girls), a lovelorn medical student who becomes terrorized by a hungry ghost after participating in an obscure weight-loss craze involving the consumption of human ashes.
Danielle Macdonald (The Tourist, Patti Cake$) co-stars as Josie, Hana’s best friend, and Madeleine Madden (The Wheel of Time, Tidelands) plays Alanya, a personal trainer and fitness influencer.
Bump: A Christmas Film will follow the Bump family who starred in the Stan series of the same name. It stars Nathalie Morris, Carlos Sanson Jr. and Claudia Karvan.
ScreenHub: Bump Season 5 review: abundantly gorgeous
New Stan documentaries on the Revealed slate
Stan has unveiled the latest five originals in its Revealed strand. Among them is feature doc Zyzz & Chestbrah: The Poster Boys, about the rise of bodybuilders and internet sensations Aziz and Said, aka Zyzz and Chestbrah. Gal Greenspan of Sweetshop & Green and Tom Blackwell of Olympia Pictures are producing.
Four-part series Into the Night is an investigation into on of Australia’s most baffling crimes. Directed by Janine Hosking and Katrina McGowan, the producers of How to Poison a Planet and A Horse Named Winx, it comes from iKandy Films.
Feature doco Craig Bellamy: Inside the Storm, from Whooshka Media, looks at the life of great NRL coach Craig Bellamy, who has ended 21 of 22 seasons coaching in finals campaigns, as he aims to lead Melbourne Storm to success in 2024.
Joh: Last King of Queensland examines controversial political leader Joh Bjelke-Petersen, whose iron grip over Queenslanders in the 20th Century ended after an inquiry unveiled a vast web of corruption. To avoid facing his party, Parliament and the press, he locked himself in his office when exposed.
Richard Roxburgh will play Bjelke-Petersen in the doc, which is from Kriv Stenders and Matthew Condon. WildBear Entertainment is the producer and has international sales rights.
Death Cap is a three-part series about Erin Patterson, the woman who is standing trial for murder and attempted murder by poisoning guests at a seemingly ordinary family lunch with lethal mushrooms, known as death caps. Gil Marsden is the director, with Dreamchaser, Den of Martians and Fifth Season co-producing. Fifth Season has global sales rights.
New acquisitions
Stan has acquired crime drama Long Bright River starring Amanda Seyfried; courtroom drama The Rainmaker, which is based on John Grisham’s best-selling novel; science fiction mystery The Institute, based on the Stephen King novel; documentary Kevin Costner’s The West; and British espionage thriller Secret Service. Also among the acquisitions is Richard Gadd’s new show Half Man, which stars Jamie Bell.
Stan now also has exclusive on-demand streaming rights to Donald Trump feature The Apprentice, Australia’s award-winning animated film Memoir of a Snail, and Kevin Costner’s Western Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2.
Further announcements
Other announcements made at the Stan showcase include casting for psychological thriller series series Watching You, which premieres this year. It follows a woman who sets out to unmask an insidious voyeur who threatens to destroy her life after a passionate one-night stand is captured by hidden cameras.
Aisha Dee (Safe Home) stars with Josh Helman (Mad Max: Fury Road), Chai Hansen (Population 11), Laura Gordon (Hotel Cocaine), Olivia Vásquez (Sloth Lane) and Luke Cook (Good Cop/Bad Cop) also starring.
Scrublands: Silver, the second season of the Scrublands drama series, has a new trailer. Further trailers are expected for ITV drama The Hack; Season 2 of BBC co-pro Ten Pound Poms; The CW and Roku series Good Cop/Bad Cop, which premieres in Australia this Thursday.
Stan subscribers can also look forward to Season 2 of Natasha Lyonne-starrer Poker Face; Season 3 of dating show Love Triangle; Revealed: Malk Leifer; Nicolas Cage film The Surfer; and another British drama series, Lord of the Flies.
ScreenHub: Stan’s Lord of the Flies is now in production
‘Following ten years of championing exceptional storytelling for Australian audiences, Stan continues to commission premium Original productions and acquire the best in international entertainment,’ said Cailah Scobie.
‘From drama and comedies to features, documentaries and reality television, we remain committed to fostering emerging and established creatives and partnering with the world’s biggest studios and distributors to bring the most anticipated content to our subscribers. As we look to the next ten years, and beyond, we will continue to connect with our audiences and showcase Australian storytelling at its very best.’
For further information, visit the Stan Newsroom.
