Producers Tony Ayres and David Heyman will be developing a new thriller miniseries for Netflix titled Clickbait. The eight episode series will be produced through NBCUniversal, and will be filmed in Melbourne, Australia.
The thriller series will be heavily tech-focused, exploring many of the horrors of social media. Variety described the show as exploring “ the widening gulf between people’s real and virtual selves.”
Particularly notable for this series is that it is a U.S. series being produced in Australia, making it the focus of international attention. Ayres stated that he was excited to be working on the show in Australia, saying, “It’s an opportunity to showcase the international level of Australian talent both behind and in front of the camera.” Clickbait will be produced out of Melbourne’s Docklands Studios, making it the first Netflix show to be produced in Victoria. This is one of many of Netflix’s attempts to branch out into the international market, such as with their highly acclaimed Indian-produced series Sacred Games.
Ayres and Heyman, the two producers on this project, have both had significant success with their past work in film. Ayres notably worked on the 2011 Australian drama series The Slap, a series exploring the social consequences of child abuse, which received an American adaptation in 2015. Heyman is described by Deadline as a “super-producer,” having been credited as a producer on over 45 films, including the Harry Potter franchise, Gravity, and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. The two coming together plan to create a new thriller series to examine the dark side of technology and social media, in the vein of other popular Netflix program Black Mirror.
An air date for the series is not yet known, but Clickbait is confirmed for eight episodes. The show will be co-produced for Netflix with NBCUniversal, Heyman’s Heyday Television, Tony Ayres Productions, and Matchbox Pictures. According to Deadline, the show is expected to generate significant international investment in Australia totaling approximately A$36 million.