On August 15,Apple TV announced it had commissioned the 10-part drama seriesShantaram,also to be shot in Victoria. Last week,Amazon Prime Video revealed it has orderedLOL:Last One Laughing,a sketch-comedy competition with a $100,000 prize,to be hosted by Rebel Wilson and filmed in Sydney.
Clickbait is described as a “character-based thriller that explores the ways in which our most-dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fuelled in the age of social media,and reveals the ever-widening fractures we find between our virtual and real-life personas”.
LikeShantaram,the seven-month production will be based at Docklands Studios and shot on location in Melbourne and throughout the state.
The $36 million series is being produced by Tony Ayres Productions,Matchbox Pictures and Heyday Television,the company of UK-based producer David Heyman,whose long list of credits includes the Harry Potter films,Paddington,Gravity and Quentin Tarantino’sOnce Upon a Time … in Hollywood.
Convincing Netflix to shoot a US-set series in Australia counts as quite a coup for Ayres and his team,and no doubt owes something to both carrot and stick incentives.
On the carrot side of the equation is the $4.9 million the federal government will contribute towards the production through its Location Incentive program,the $140 million pool of money announced in May 2018 with the specific aim of attracting Hollywood productions to shoot in Australia.