Netflix’s Baby Reindeer was a global hit and its overwhelming popularity came as a surprise to many in the industry.
Award-winning Australian showrunner, writer and director Tony Ayres (Clickbait, Stateless, Fires) says he wouldn’t have necessarily even expected the series to be a hit in the UK, where it originated, let alone the rest of the world.
He says the success of shows like Baby Reindeer, The Bear and Beef demonstrate that the TV industry needs to take risks to appeal to audiences.
“None of those shows on paper look like sure-fire global hits,” Ayres told ABC News.
“A chef having a nervous breakdown and having to go and make beef sandwiches.
“A road rage incident between two Asians.
“A guy getting stalked and a story of male sexual assault… you do have to be courageous. And that’s where the surprise hits come from.”
Ayres is the the founder and executive producer of Tony Ayres Productions, a founding member of Matchbox Pictures and the co-chair of Future Vision – an inaugural global television summit that will be held in Melbourne in July.
Headline guests include Emmy award-winning creator, writer, executive producer and director of Beef Lee Sung Jin; Co-showrunner, executive producer and director of the Emmy award-winning series The Bear Joanna Calo, who has also written on Hacks and BoJack Horseman and the award-winning co-chair Bruna Papandrea (Big Little Lies, The Undoing, The Dry, Nine Perfect Strangers).
“There are Australian shows that are cutting through and there always have been, and so I think we have to remember that,” Ayres says, pointing to Colin From Accounts as an example.
“I think that Future Vision is really aimed at sort of trying to fertilise the soil that allows us to make more of those kinds of shows, and to try to encourage the bravery and the passion that allows something like a Baby Reindeer, or a Beef or The Bear to actually happen.
“You are taking as much of a chance following an algorithmic formula as you are taking a risk on a unique voice with something unique to say, that gives an audience a particular experience.”
‘It’s all about risk’
Actor and director Daina Reid (The Handmaid’s Tale, Run Rabbit Run) will be a moderator and speaker at Future Vision and says “it’s all about risk”.
“Ironically, being the most unique will connect with more people,” Reid told ABC News.
“We want to connect. And we also want to understand ourselves by seeing what someone else went through.”
The theme of Future Vision is courage, with Reid saying the temptation in a contracted industry is to play it safe and try to appeal to everyone, but successful shows are often unique and particular.
“Anything that breaks through and not just in our business, pretty much in any business, you take a risk and you hit it and you change the way things then follow.”
She says while taking a risk can be scary, sticking to a prescribed formula doesn’t guarantee results.
“In Australia, we’ve got a smaller population. So, the way that anything was going to be economically successful in our business, you had to get the most metaphoric bums on seats, the most ratings.
“So, it is that thing of going ‘well, how can we reach the most people?’ And it ends up being a story that might be a little bit more general.
“We’re going into a different world now. The world of streamers, the world of competition.
“And sure, we could continue to do things that appeal to everyone, procedurals this, that, but that’s not taking a risk. That’s not breaking through.
“That’s not The Bear. That’s not Beef. That’s not Baby Reindeer, [or] The White Lotus.
“It’s about taking a risk and banking on it.”
It isn’t viable to make TV for an Australian-only audience these days
Ayres says it’s become important to attract a global audience to Australian content.
“I think that in terms of whether it’s possible to do an Australian show just for the Australian market, I actually think it’s harder and harder because of the cost structure,” he says.
“It is possible, but you’re making a pretty small show.”
With television becoming more expensive to make, Ayres says there’s an economic argument to why creatives should try and deliver their content to as broad a global audience as possible, but there’s also a cultural argument.
“For instance, Bluey is the biggest show in the world,” Ayres says.
“And American kids are now speaking with an Australian accent, which I love.
“And I just sort of think, there is something great about having a pride in our culture and being able to sort of say, yes, we can speak to audiences.
“It’s our common humanity, which is the connecting point.”
Ayres says shows like Boy Swallows Universe, Heartbreak High, The Slap and Nowhere Boys, which he worked on with Reid, are examples of shows that cut through internationally.
But he says attracting eyeballs at home remains a priority.
“I think the key is that to appeal to an international audience, we actually still have to first appeal to an Australian audience.
“We still have to make work that’s very specific to Australia.
“And if we make it well enough, then I think there’s a chance of appealing to an international audience.”
Future Vision will take place over three days in Melbourne from July 15-17