Netflix Boards Tony Ayres’ Tech Thriller ‘Clickbait’
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Top Australian film and TV creator, Tony Ayres, “Harry Potter” producer David Heyman and Christian White have set up “Clickbait,” a new thriller series for Netflix. It probes probing the dangers of social media and the widening gulf between people’s real and virtual selves.
The show is to be produced in Melbourne, Australia through NBC Universal-owned Matchbox Pictures and Tony Ayres Productions, together with Heyday Television.
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Ayres (producer of “The Slap” and director of (“Cut Snake,” and “The Home Song Stories”) will serve as creator, showrunner, and executive producer, while White will serve as co-creator, co-producer, and writer. Brad Anderson (“The Sinner”) will serve as lead director of the 8-part series.
Heyman, whose filmography also includes “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood,” and “Gravity,” will serve as a NWEP through his U.K.-based production company, Heyday Television. The company’s Tom Winchester (“The Capture”) will also serve as executive producer.
The series is the first for Netflix to be produced in Victoria state and will shoot at Melbourne’s Docklands Studios. It attracted significant local financing, earning subsidy from both the Australian federal government’s Location Incentive program and the Victorian state government through the Film Victoria Production Incentive Attraction Fund.
“Securing this production will bring more than A$36 million (US$24.3 million) of new international investment to our shores, engage around 540 cast, crew and extras, and use the services of around 290 local businesses,” said Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts.
Ayres called the show “a passion project” and said he hoped it will have real global reach and impact.” “We are equally delighted to produce this U.S. show in Melbourne. It’s an opportunity to showcase the international level of Australian talent both behind and in front of the camera,” Ayres said.
Matchbox has produced more than 45 titles, working with every network in Australia as well as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and the BBC. Its past credits include adult dramas “Glitch,” “Safe Harbour,” “Seven Types Of Ambiguity,” “Secret City,” “Wanted” and “The Slap.” Its children’s dramas include “Nowhere Boys” and “Mustangs FC.” It is currently working with Ayres, and with Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton’s Dirty Films on “Stateless,” for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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