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By Patrick Frater
Asia Bureau Chief
Australian actor and filmmaker Charles Jazz Terrier has completed post-production on a speculative pilot for “WTFitness,” a comedy series set in Melbourne’s gym scene.
‘WTFitness’ is proposed to be a series with eight half-hour episodes that boasts an ensemble cast including Terrier, Christopher Kirby, Kat Stewart, Jonny Brugh and Trevor Jamieson.
The show was created by Terrier (“Legacies,” “Occupation”) of Fantome Bay Pictures and was developed in conjunction with award-winning filmmaker Nicholas Potaris. Terrier aims to create a genuine Australian workplace comedy while exploring real-world diversity, social and economic issues. He likens it to “The Office” meets “Parks & Recreation.”
“In ‘WTFitness’ we saw a unique opportunity to marry the Aussie sense of humor with a series that navigates both Australian and universal social and economic issues, with the content in some cases acting as a teaching mechanism between the situation and the audience,” said Terrier. “The series has been created in the midst of a global pandemic, I wanted the content to be representative of that and inclusive for all involved, and those watching from home.”
Production and development companies involved to date include Taiwan and Los Angeles-based Organic Media Group and Amie Casey’s Red Empire Productions whose comedy work includes the Network 10 franchise, “Stage Mums.” With the show now seeking a production commitment from a broadcaster or streaming platform, further producers could also be attached. Alternatively, another financier could come on board as an anchor in combination with pre-sales in other English-speaking territories.
Executive producer, Steve Chicorel of OMG says the series can bridge the gap between the Australian domestic and foreign territories. “ ‘WTFitness’ has a special blend of unique, dry, Aussie humor combined with real-world situations and characters that are relatable universally. So, like the hit series ‘Kath & Kim’ which has done so well internationally, we have high hopes.”
OMG, which recently started pre-production on season two of multinational crime thriller “Cypher” for Roku, plans to have the first season of ‘WTFitness’ completed by the first quarter of 2023.
Red Empire Productions and OMG are also connected on another project. This month they attached Ukrainian showrunner Alex Kessel (Netflix’s “Better than Us,” Amazon’s “Londongrad”) to near-future series “Interface.” The show explores eSports and the metaverse landscape of competitive esports as a front for military weaponry and nanotechnology. Terrier is set to star.
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